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Week 11: Learning Community Newsletter

Posted on 11 December 2023

All the latest from the department

We made it folks! It's the last week of teaching before the Christmas break, I hope you have all enjoyed the semester so far. But before you go and we all get some rest there is plenty to get involved in this week!

The last Politics the Coffee Morning of the term will be on Wednesday from 09:30-11:00 in the Politics Reception. Do come along for a free pastry and a cup of coffee to warm you up as winter starts to set in.  It will be great to see you all before the break.

Shut-up and Write sessions will be in SLB/004 on Tuesday from 14:00-16:00. So if you want to get a head start on your essays, come along and get a free cup of tea/coffee and some good writing support.

Last but not least od check out the Library Winter newsletter for an overview of what happens in the Library over December and January plus some research tips and details about skills training. Including Key Library dates for the Christmas vacation, The YUSU / Library Tree of Wishes, Dissertation/research tips (useful for all students) and skills training. 

John Evemy (Learning Community Officer)

Events

Human Rights Leadership: Challenges, Perspectives, Futures - CHAR Workshop
Tuesday 12 December - Wednesday 13 December
Bowland Theatre, Berrick Saul Building, Book Tickets

Join us for CAHR@15 as we celebrate generations of master’s students who have engaged critically with the law and politics of human rights in our interdisciplinary programmes. As well as the many CAHR doctoral researchers who advanced the field of applied human rights. We are indebted to the over 100 human rights defenders from across the globe who found respite and protection at CAHR, thus enabling them to continue their activism. We recognise our teaching, research and administrative support staff who, make us what we are. 

'Why are the international community's conflict resolution efforts prone to failure?' - YCCS Annual lecture
Tuesday 12 December
18:00,  D/N/056

In light of recent conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, alongside other notable conflicts in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, Professor Alpaslan Ozerdem (Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, GMU) asks why international efforts to build peace are so often unable to deliver long-term conflict transformation.

Challenging state-building wisdom: Extralegal groups in post-conflict Liberia - Dr. Christine Cheng, King's College London,
Wednesday 13 December 13
15:00-17:00, P/X/001, followed by a drinks reception

In the aftermath of the Liberian civil war, groups of ex-combatants seized control of key natural resource enclaves in the country. With some of them threatening a return to war, these groups were widely viewed as the most significant threats to Liberia’s hard-won peace. However, this characterisation oversimplifies who these groups are and what they represent. Instead, how these groups operated in post-war Liberia challenged the idea that they were simply peace spoilers. Instead, it was equally important to understand that in weak states with contested authority and corruption, these groups provided order and dispute resolution, and were able to establish norms of compliance through trade. Fundamentally, the core building blocks of post-conflict state-building were rooted in trade, not war. These findings raise uncomfortable questions about legitimate governance, trust in states, corruption, and the effectiveness of international peacebuilding and state-building efforts.