All blog posts
24 MAR 2021: Mis–/disinformation, social media censorship, and divided societies
Author: Dr Phillip Nelson
The rise of social media and the echo chambers created by computer algorithms are directly contributing to polarisation and divided societies, in which hard-line views are lauded and compromise is not considered. When confronted with opinions from an outside group, the proponent is labelled a ‘fascist’, ‘left-wing liberal elite’, or ‘woke-<<insert insult>>’....
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26 FEB 2021: Let us Talk about Young Men and their Participation in the Niger Delta Violence
Author: Dr Modesta Alozie
Anjo limped as he walks towards me for an interview, I wondered what had happened to his leg. He had been shot in 2003 in Bayelsa during a violent clash between the military and the local youths, many of whom were men. For months, local youths sabotaged oil pipelines in the region and kidnapped oil company staff for ransom, which led the federal government to send in the military to repress dissidents...
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10 FEB 2021: On Victims' Recognition: Gendered Politics of the FARC's Forced Recruitment
Author: Dr Sonia Garzon-Ramirez
When the peace talks between ex-Colombian president Santos and the then Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were about to kick off in 2012, the word “forgiveness” started to occupy Colombian social media and newspapers. While some victims were confronted with the dilemma of whether or not to forgive their perpetrators, others expected the FARC guerrilla to make a gesture of peace and ask their victims for forgiveness. However, at the beginning of...
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26 JAN 2021: Out of Sight, Out of Mind?
Author: Henrik Kjellmo Larsen & Eleanor Gordon
After the fire that destroyed the Moria Reception and Identification Centre on the Greek island of Lesvos, on 08 September, the 13,000 migrant-residents were moved into a quickly assembled new camp in Kara Tepe. Within a month this camp was already being referred to as ‘worse than Moria’, which had itself been described as ‘hell on earth’...
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13 JAN 2021: Harnessing Networks for Good
Author: Prerna Aswani
Networks are inherently complex. And increasingly, I can’t help but think that like social media, networks are a tool that can be used both for good and bad: networks can catapult positive social change, but also have complex power dynamics embedded within them...
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15 DEC 2020: COVID–19, Women and Water in Urban India
Author: Mansha Marwah
The first case of COVID-19 in India was reported on 30 January 2020 and a lockdown was announced on 24 March 2020. On 3 April 2020, the Central Government produced an advisory for the state governments: “Advisory for ensuring safe drinking water during lockdown and effective management of pandemic caused by Corona Virus”. This statement, however, does not reflect reality.
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08 DEC 2020:How COVID-19 is affecting the socio-economic conditions of women in Nigeria
Author: Ruth Duniya
From the Global North to the Global South, regardless of social classifications, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all. The trending mantra- ‘we are all in this together’ resonates across borders. The socio-economic conditions of millions of people globally have been adversely affected by the pandemic. Women in the Global South, many of whom were already living below the poverty
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18 SEP 2020: Wither Reconciliation? The Factors at Play in the Upcoming Ivoirian Elections (French translation)
Authors: Adou Djané Dit Fatogoma, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques and Institut National de Santé Publique and Briony Jones, University of Warwick and WICID
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27 JUL 2020: COVID-19 and the Future of the International Order
Authors: Renske Doorenspleet, Abdul Mohammed, Michael Saward, David Welch
Editors: Briony Jones and Maeve Moynihan
This post is part of a larger collection covering the Global Insights webinar series, hosted jointly by Balsillie School of International Affairs (Canada), the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the Institute for Strategic Affairs (Ethiopia), American University’s School of International Service (USA), and Konstanz University (Germany). This series of Global Insights has finished and the next series will resume in September. You can access a recording of this week’s webinar here.
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20 JUL 2020: COVID-19: Surveillance, Intelligence and Security
Authors: Ann Fitz-Gerald, James Goldgeier, Florian Kerschbaum, Tom Sorell, Berhan Taye
Editors: Briony Jones and Maeve Moynihan
This post is part of a larger collection covering the Global Insights webinar series, hosted jointly by Balsillie School of International Affairs (Canada), the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the Institute for Strategic Affairs (Ethiopia), American University’s School of International Service (USA), and Konstanz University (Germany). This series of Global Insights has finished and the next series will resume in September. You can access a recording of this week’s webinar here.
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13 JUL 2020: COVID-19 and the Crisis of Social Reproduction in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: Nicola Pratt, University of Warwick
COVID-19 and the Crisis of Social Reproduction in the Middle East and North Africa: Implications for Gender Relations and Women's Activism
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06 JUL 2020: Global Insights: COVID-19: War, Peacebuilding, and Conflict Resolution
Authors: Ann Fitz-Gerald, Charles T. Call, Solomon Dersso, Timothy Donais, Anthony King, Julia Welland
Editors: Briony Jones and Maeve Moynihan
This post is part of a larger collection covering the Global Insights webinar series, hosted jointly by Balsillie School of International Affairs (Canada), the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the Institute for Strategic Affairs (Ethiopia), American University’s School of International Service (USA), and Konstanz University (Germany). This series of Global Insights has finished and the next series will resume in September. You can access a recording of this week’s webinar here.
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29 JUN 2020: Global Insights: COVID–19 and Gender Divides
Authors: Ann Fitz-Gerald, Juanita Elias, Jenna Hennebry, Sehin Teferra, Liane Wörner, Thespina (Nina) Yamanis
Editors: Briony Jones and Maeve Moynihan
This post is part of a larger collection covering the Global Insights webinar series, hosted jointly by Balsillie School of International Affairs (Canada), the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the Institute for Strategic Affairs (Ethiopia), American University’s School of International Service (USA), and Konstanz University (Germany). This series of Global Insights has finished and the next series will resume in September. You can access a recording of this week’s webinar here.
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24 JUN 2020: Security or Development: UK Government’s changing priorities
WICID Executive response to the announcement merging DfID with the FCO
Authors: Shirin M Rai, Briony Jones, Oyinlola Oyebode, Maeve Moynihan
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12 JUN 2020: Global Insights – COVID–19: Migration, Refugees and Borders
Authors: Ann Fitz-Gerald, Maria Koinova, Alison Mountz, Maurice Stierl
Editors: Briony Jones and Maeve Moynihan
This post is part of a larger collection covering the Global Insights webinar series, hosted jointly by Balsillie School of International Affairs (Canada), the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the Institute for Strategic Affairs (Ethiopia), American University’s School of International Service (USA), and Konstanz University (Germany). Global Insights webinars take place every Thursday at 16:00h (BST). You can access a recording of this week’s webinar here.
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09 JUN 2020: Healthcare workers ‘at the frontline’ of COVID–19
Author: Dr Sharifah Sekalala
In Susan Sontag’s seminal essay on ‘Illness as Metaphor’ (1978), she argued that military metaphors profoundly shape our responses to public health crises. ‘Fighting’ against a disease positions it as an ‘enemy’ that must be defeated, and risks stigmatising those who ‘lose their battle’ as weak or lacking courage. In the same way, describing healthcare workers at the ‘frontline’ of an offensive invokes warlike language, and the gendered nature of this discourse may lead us to misperceive the complexity of caring during a crisis...
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01 JUN 2020: Global Insights – COVID–19: Climate Change and Energy
Authors: Ann Fitz-Gerald, Simon Dalby, Selam Kidane Abebe, Caroline Kuzemko, Jatin Nathwani, Malini Ranganathan
Editors: Briony Jones and Maeve Moynihan
This post is part of a larger collection covering the Global Insights webinar series, hosted jointly by Balsillie School of International Affairs (Canada), the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the Institute for Strategic Affairs (Ethiopia), American University’s School of International Service (USA), and Konstanz University (Germany). Global Insights webinars take place every Thursday at 16:00h (BST). You can access a recording of this week’s webinar here.
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27 MAY 2020: Global Insights: COVID–19 and the Global South
Authors: Jonathan Crush, Ann Fitz-Gerald, Hallelujah Lulie, Briony Jones, Anja Osei, Shirin Rai, Rachel Robinson
Editors: Briony Jones and Maeve Moynihan
This post is part of a larger collection covering the Global Insights webinar series, hosted jointly by Balsillie School of International Affairs (Canada), the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the Institute for Strategic Affairs (Ethiopia), American University’s School of International Service (USA), and Konstanz University (Germany). Global Insights webinars take place every Thursday at 16:00h (BST). You can access a recording of this week’s webinar here.
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20 MAY 2020: Global Insights – COVID–19: Stress Test for the Global Economy
Authors: Ann Fitz-Gerald, Tewodros Mekonnen, John Ravenhill, Lena Rethel, and Stephen Silvia
Editors: Briony Jones and Maeve Moynihan
This post is part of a larger collection covering the Global Insights webinar series, hosted jointly by Balsillie School of International Affairs (Canada), the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the Institute for Strategic Affairs (Ethiopia), American University’s School of International Service (USA), and Konstanz University (Germany). Global Insights webinars take place every Thursday at 16:00h (BST). You can access a recording of this week’s webinar here.
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15 MAY 2020: A Regenerative State or Business as Usual?
Authors: Shirin M Rai (WICID) and Jacqui True (GPS, Monash)
A key aspect of social relations that has been brought into sharp relief during the international COVID-19 crisis, is the labour of women in care work – paid and unpaid.Unpaid care work in households has increased during the pandemic shutdown, with home schooling of children, greater care needs of older persons, and overwhelmed health services...
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05 MAY 2020: Responding to a crisis in the face of a rigid Government: Oxfam India’s work in Bihar
Author: Ranjana Das, Oxfam India
The Covid19 pandemic followed by an unprecedented lockdown in India called for an immediate humanitarian response. The double whammy which has thrown India’s poor into immediate food and essentials crisis calls for action where the government, civil society and non-government organizations must come together rising above their individual agenda and politics. The pandemic has particularly hit hard the east Indian state of Bihar...
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16 APR 2020: Understanding social realities through gender transformative and participatory research methods
Author: Diya Dutta, Oxfam India
In the summer of 2019, Oxfam India embarked upon an innovative research to understand the intersection between women’s unpaid care work burden and violence against women and girls. The study was conducted in rural and urban areas of the northern state of Rajasthan in India.
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10 APR 2020: COVID–19 in Multiple Registers
Authors: Briony Jones, Maeve Moynihan, Oyinlola Oyebode, Shirin M Rai (WICID Executive Team)
On March 11 2020, WHO declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. Governments were urged by the WHO to make urgent decisions to reduce the spread of this new disease. These decisions are being made with scarce data and in a politically pressured context. Three things jump out for us in the cacophony around COVID-19: the importance of governance regimes that frame it and are being (re)shaped by it, its effect on our (im)mobilities[1], and the deepening of social inequalities in this time of crisis...
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18 MAR 2020: Excellence in Research leadership requires ethical commitment
Author: Milena Cuccurullo, PhD Education, University of Warwick
Globalisation allows an unprecedented exchange of human resources across the world. This is the future of research and education. Enterprises, Universities and research institutions take huge advantage of this movement, but they must equally take responsibility and work hard to protect the rights of the people who move in search of knowledge and educational attainment.
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31 JAN 2020: "We All Have a Role to Play in Peace": From the International to the Local and Back Again
Author: Briony Jones, Associate Professor in International Development; Deputy Director of the Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development
Geneva Peace Week 2019 took place from 4th – 8th December 2019, and in the words of the organisers: “emphasises that each and every person, actor and institution has a role to play in building peace and resolving conflict”[1]. Following the 2017 Geneva Peace Week I reflected on the implications for knowledge of bringing researchers, policy makers and practitioners together[2]. I remain convinced of the benefits and indeed necessity of challenging boundaries between epistemic communities and striving for constructive dialogue between peace makers as broadly conceived...
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24 JAN 2020: Introduction to WICID
Author: Shirin M Rai, WICID Director
WICID has been established in 2019 to address urgent problems of inequality and social, political and economic change on a global level. Interdisciplinary, critical and robust analysesthrough collaborative knowledge building and exchange characterize WICID’s approach and ensure impact in the fields we work in...