Presentation on the impact of pro-government militias on post-war repression

Sabine Carey was presented joint research with Belén González on how pro-government militias (PGMs) affect repression in post-war societies at the workshop on ‘Micro-level perspective on peace’ at the University of Birmingham, 19 September 2018, organised by Martin Ottoman and Felix Haass and at the APSA Annual Convention in Boston. In this paper, they show that PGMs are associated with higher levels of repression after an armed conflict, this deterioration in human rights is driven by militias that already existed in the preceding conflict rather than ones that newly formed in the post-war period.

New study on the impact of PGMs on recurrence of conflict

Steinert, steinert & Carey JPR 2018

This is a new study by Christoph Steinert, Janina Steinert and Sabine Carey that shows that conflicts in which pro-government militias participate in the counterinsurgency campaign are more likely to break out again after they have been terminated; published open access in the Journal of Peace Research.

NEW DATE!! Call for papers: Workshop on Intra-State Peace & Security, 14-16 Nov 2018

We invite paper proposals for a workshop on Intra-State Peace & Security, to be held at the University of Mannheim, now 14-16 November 2018, and organised within the ERC Project RATE No 336019. 

*** The initial date included Thanksgiving. We don't want to exclude our American colleagues, so we changed the date to 14-16 November ***

At this workshop we aim to discuss ongoing research projects on intra-state peace and security, with specific focus on how political violence escalates, de-escalates, or does not escalate despite adverse conditions, such as in post-war societies. We are especially interested in work that assesses the nature and role of state institutions (including security forces) and civil society (particularly the media) in advancing or corrupting peace and the respect for human rights. We invite presentations and papers on questions such as how the role and legitimacy of the security forces and former warring parties changed in post-war settings, how institutions were modified to deal with political dissent and how citizens evaluate and trust political actors in (previously) volatile conditions. 

Limited funding for travel and accommodation is available.

Please email your paper proposals to Sabine Carey by 15 July 2018.

Adam Scharpf successfully defended his doctoral dissertation

Adam Scharpf successfully defended his doctoral dissertation "The military organisation of state repression" on 27 November 2017. He passed his written dissertation and oral defense with the highest marks. The examination committee consisted of Sabine Carey, Kristian Skrede Gledtisch and Nikolay Marinov.

Adam's dissertation provides important and novel insights into the question of how the military influences state repression during counterinsurgency wars. He uses different levels of analysis and generates novel data from an unusually large variety of sources to address the core question with innovative research designs. For his work he already received the Dina Zinnes Award 2016, the Stuart A. Bremer Award 2017 and the CDSS Young Scholar Award 2017.

Congratulations, Adam!

Sabine Carey presenting new research on killings of journalists

Sabine Carey is presenting a joint project with Anita Gohdes, University of Zurich, that aims to shed new insights into why journalists are killed by state authorities. She presents the paper at the Departmental Seminar Series at the University of Essex, Department of Government  on 24 October 2017 and at Conflict Research Group at the London School of Economics and Political Science on 16 November 2017.

Source: Carey & Gohdes (2017)

Sabine Carey participating at the APSA Annual Convention

Sabine Carey is presenting joint research with Belén González on post-war repression at the APSA Annual Convention in San Francisco, 30 August – 1 September 2017. As co-editor of the American Political Science Review she is also attending the APSR Board Meeting.

Sabine Carey contributing to "Human Progress in the 21st Century - Bright and Dark Sides of Democratization", Uppsala University

Sabine Carey is participating on a symposium of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation Centenary, “Human Progress in the 21st Century – Bright and Dark Sides of Democratization”, organised by the University of Uppsala, 21 September 2017. Together with Erica Chenoweth and Carl-Henrik Knutsen she will talk about the Bright Side of Democratisation, chaired by Håvard Hegre.

Watch the panel discussion here.

Presentations at the workshop "Tactics in conflict"

At the workshop "Tactics in conflict" at the University of Konstanz, 27-28 July 2017, we present two of our ongoing projects. Belén González is presenting the paper "How to improve human rights in post-conflict settings: The role of accountability", co-authored with Sabine Carey. Adam Scharpf is presenting "Your behaviour drives me mad: How (non-)violent opposition tactics trigger military coups in counterinsurgency wars", co-authored with Belén González and Christian Gläßel.

Sabine Carey gave lecture at the University of Mainz

Sabine Carey gave a lecture on the organisation of state violence at the University of Mainz on 10 July 2017. This lecture was part of a lecture series on human rights, open to students and the general public. 

Report in the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung

Anita Gohdes and Sabine Carey have written an article about their latest study on the link between the killings of journalists and human rights violations more generally in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 4 June 2017.

FAZ 4 June 2017

Global Dispatches podcast on our research

Sabine Carey talks to Mark Goldberg from Global Dispatches about her research with Anita Gohdes on the killings of journalists: "http://www.globaldispatchespodcast.com/what-political-science-can-teach-us-about/", based on their article in the Journal of Peace Research.

Report by the European Commission about our research

The European Commission posted a short report about our study on using the killings of journalists to assess the risk of wider human rights violations.

Workshop on post-conflict peace and stability

On 4-5 May 2017 we host a workshop on post-conflict peace and stability at the University of Mannheim. This workshop facilitates the discussion and exchange of research projects that focus on post-conflict peace and stability. We also discuss our upcoming field work in Nepal, Georgia and Sri Lanka, where we explore the role of the media and armed groups in the quality and condition of post-conflict peace. External participants include Kristin Bakke, Scott Gates, Indra de Soysa, Alexander da Juan and Nino Abzianidze.