Conflict, security and state building

Margot Tudor

I am a historian of international interventions, decolonisation, and sovereignty, focusing on post-colonial state formation and colonial continuities in international security practices during the mid-20th century. As post-doctoral research fellow for the Leverhulme-funded project 'Warnings from the Archive: A Century of British Intervention in the Middle East', I am interested in the political culture of 'lesson-learning' and the role played by public inquiries in shaping historical understandings of state transgression.

Gareth Stansfield

I have been a regular commentator and adviser on Middle East politics over the last decade, focusing in particular on the politics and political economy of Iraq, the Kurdish regions of the Middle East, dynamics of Gulf/Arabian peninsular security, and questions of post-conflict stabilization and nation/state building.

Katie Natanel

My research is grounded primarily in Palestine/Israel, with interests including political participation and mobilisation; conflict and political violence; political emotions and sensation; and decolonisation and anti-colonial movements. I am now pursuing work on decolonial feminist ecologies, which traces transnational connections.

Lise Storm

Democracy and democratization; parties, party systems, and party system institutionalization. These are the topics at the core of my research agenda. Over the past few years, I have published, lectured and debated widely on issues relating to the state of democracy and the likelihood of democratic, political change in North Africa, but I also frequently cover cases outside the Arab world (Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia), particularly when it comes to the study of political parties.

Gregorio Bettiza

My interest is in the role of ideas and identities in international relations, with a specific focus on religious and civilizational dynamics. Empirically I have mostly focused on the US foreign policy and the Middle East, but increasingly looking to explore other cases including China and Russia.

Owen Thomas

I conduct research on state-sponsored accountability and lesson-learning practices (such as commissions of inquiry). In particular, my research has focussed on the use of British official inquiries appointed to investigate alleged failures, transgressions and scandals related to military interventions in the Middle East. These include the investigation of alleged human rights abuses and war crimes during the Global War on Terror (GWOT), the military intervention in Iraq (2003) and the Mesopotamia Campaign of the First World War.

Irene Fernandez Molina

My research deals with international relations of the Global South, foreign policies of dependent and/or authoritarian states, the migration-foreign policy nexus (migration diplomacy), frozen conflicts, contested/unrecognised states and the international politics of recognition – with a regional focus on North Africa, as well as EU foreign policy and Euro-Mediterranean relations.

Catriona Pennell

I am a Professor of Modern History and Memory Studies at the University of Exeter where I specialise in the history of 19th and 20th century Britain and Ireland, with a particular focus on the First World War and British imperial activity in the Middle East.

Henry Jarrett

My research focuses on conflict management in divided societies under the consociational power sharing model. I am especially interested in the (actual and potential) impact of consociationalism on identity in societies where this method has been implemented and, in particular, whether the model has the ability to mitigate or change identities. The geographical focus of my research was initially on Northern Ireland, however I am increasingly drawn to consociational cases in the Middle East, namely Lebanon and Iraq.

Mick Dumper

Prof. Dumper’s research interests are the Permanent Status Issues of the Middle East peace process, the Arab-Israeli conflict, religious institutions in the Middle East and the urban politics of the Middle East.

Adam Hanieh

My research focuses on the political economy of the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. My work examines the role of the Gulf states within global capitalism; as well as the ways in which capital accumulation in the Gulf impacts wider issues of development in the Middle East, including inequality, poverty, and social polarisation.

Brieg Powel

My current research explores relations between human polities across the long term of human history, the way humans organise themselves politically, and how our understanding of the past is shaped by the biases of our present.

Nadia Naser-Najjab

My research work is related to Palestine and the Palestine-Israel conflict with emphasis on peace process, resistance, reconciliation, civil society. My areas of research include Palestinian women and youth.

Klejda Mulaj

Kledja studies political violence and postconflict rebuilding with particular reference on the violence of war against civilians, violent non-state actors, Western foreign policy rationales for intervention, transitional justice, nationalism, state building, and (challenges of) provision of security in the aftermath of violent conflict – primarily focusing on the Balkan region and the Middle East.