By Dr. Gëzim Visoka (@gezimvisoka) The documentation of war crimes and human losses in conflict-affected societies has proven to be more difficult that often is expected. This short piece summarizes my recent research on the role of civil society in documenting war crimes in Kosovo under the conditions of contested transitional justice and ethno-nationalist politics…
By Chiara Loda (@ChiaraLoda) Posted first on Presidential Powers blog on 26 September 2016. On 26 September, citizens of Azerbaijan were called to vote in a constitutional referendum. The constitution, approved in 1995, was already amended in 2002 and 2009. While the current amendments concern numerous topics (including civic liberties and right of assembly), some of them specifically concern…
By Ann Tsurtsumia-Zurabashvili (@TsurtsumiaA) On October 8, 2016 Georgia held its eighth Parliamentary Elections. Only three political parties, the ruling Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia (48.68%/44 mandates), the largest opposition party United National Movement (27.11%/27 mandates) and a relative newcomer the Alliance of Patriots (5.01%/6 mandates) managed to enter the parliament. Runoff elections for 50…
By Mohd Tahir Ganie (@TahirFiraz) All photos are from photo journalist Sameer Mushtaq. This summer I visited Kashmir to collect important data for my research thesis, and also to see my family. While it took a while clearing needless bureaucratic hassles to get access to hardbound newspaper archives, I was optimistic in getting my work…
by Tajma Kapic (@tajmakapic) from the blog Women are Boring, run by Catherine Connolly (School of Law and Government, DCU) and Grace McDermott (School of Communication, DCU) I was 26 and had just finished university when the war broke out. I vividly remember my terror, alone in my apartment, when the shelling started. I witnessed first…
IICRR’s Lecturer Dr Gëzim Visoka together with Prof. Oliver P. Richmond of the University of Manchester have published a major research on the emancipatory peace in the journal International Studies Perspectives. The journal article entitled ‘After Liberal Peace? From Failed State-Building to an Emancipatory Peace in Kosovo’ argues that attempts to build a liberal peace…
Two of the IICRR’s research fellows and PhD students, Dr Shirley Graham and Chiara Loda have forthcoming publications in the current issue of Irish Studies in International Affairs. Please find the abstracts for their articles below. A Gender Paradox: Discourses on Women in UN Peacekeeping Shirley Graham, Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction Research Fellow (shirleygraham.net@gmail.com)…
By Dr. Shirley Graham (shirleygraham.net@gmail.com) All the photos were taken by Shirley Graham ‘Can you take me to Ireland in the back of your car, please teacher?’ This was the request I received from a 16 year old Sudanese boy as I was leaving the Calais refugee camp in early September. We had spent time…
by Gezim Visoka (@gezimvisoka) and John Doyle This blog was first posted at Sustainable Security on 25 July 2016 and posted with their permission. This piece presents a summary of the article: Gëzim Visoka and John Doyle, ‘Neo-Functional Peace: The European Union Way of Resolving Conflicts’, Journal of Common Market Studies. Vol. 54, No. 4, 2016,…
By Donnacha Ó Beacháin (@Donnachakaz) Dead Man Talking The bar for Uzbekistan’s most surreal Independence Day was already very high but it was well-cleared yesterday. As the world pondered whether Karimov was dead or so near-death to make no difference, the presidential website issued a 1339 word congratulatory greeting from – you’ll never guess – the…
