Other News

Dr Juanita Elias and Dr Lena Rethel have been awarded a grant of £83,000 from the Newton Fund Institutional Links scheme to investigate the gender impacts of slum resettlement projects in Jakarta, Indonesia. The project involves a partnership with Universitas Indonesia’s Centre for Election and Political Party (CEPP) and also involves input from civil society partners engaged in housing, architecture and development work. The project partners at Universitas Indonesia are Dr. Chusnul Mar’iyah and Dr. Reni Suwarso, co-directors of CEPP.

The research, funded under the Newton scheme’s ‘future cities’ theme, will focus on low-income dwellers in two Jakarta slum locations. These areas are amongst the most vulnerable of Jakarta’s population, affected by floods, fire and economic precarity. The project seeks to understand how current rehousing projects affect the lives of women and what their developmental needs are, e.g. safe spaces, access to finance, opportunities for (in)formal economic activity and how these can be delivered. In dialogue with local women’s groups, the project will develop resources and an online toolkit for women's empowerment. The project will run for two years.

Oula Kadhum, PhD Research Fellow in PAIS, has been selected as a Fellow for the American Political Science Association's MENA Workshop 2016. Fellowships are highly competitive and the workshop programme develops current research related to civil society in the Arab region and the changing state-society dynamics engendered by the Arab Uprisings post-2010.

The website for the Political Studies Association Research Commission on the Crisis of Care in Austerity Britain has officially launched its website. The research commission involves Dr. Juanita Elias and Prof. Shirin Rai from PAIS in association with partners from Sheffield University, The Fawcett Society and the Women's Budget Group.

Please take a look at the website http://www.commissiononcare.org to find out more about the work of the commission and to find out about our forthcoming events and other activities.

In an article for European Geostrategy, PAIS PhD researcher Ragnar Weilandt argues that it is in the West’s interest to provide far more substantial support to Tunisia in order to consolidate its democracy and make it an example for other states in the region.

The article can be read here.

Dr Vincenzo Bove has recently written an article for The Journal of Politics titled Does Immigration Induce Terrorism?

"There is a heated debate on whether immigration is associated with domestic and transnational terrorism. As of yet, however, we lacked rigorous evidence that could inform this debate. As a contribution to address this shortcoming, we report spatial-econometric analyses of migrant inflows and the number of terrorist attacks in 145 countries between 1970 and 2000. The results suggest that migrants stemming from terrorist-prone states moving to another country are indeed an important vehicle through which terrorism does diffuse. Having said that, the findings also highlight that migrant inflows per se actually lead to a lower level of terrorist attacks. This research significantly improves our understanding of international and domestic terrorism and has critical implications for the scholastic approach to terrorism, as well as for countries’ immigration policies worldwide."

The article can be purchased online here and the University's press release can be read here.

Dr Bove's article has also received considerable media coverage:

Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/17/theres-no-real-link-between-immigration-and-terrorism-study-finds/

International Business Times: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/experts-say-more-immigration-could-create-decrease-terrorist-attacks-1544432

Slate: http://www.slate.fr/story/114259/immigration-terrorisme

Homeland Security News Wire: http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20160216-immigration-overall-not-a-source-of-terrorism-study

Columbus Dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2016/02/17/0217-immigration-terror.html

Migrants Rights: http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/news/2016/immigration-not-blame-terrorism-global-study

Takepart: http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/02/18/migration-study