Giulia

Fundamentally, if you were designing a refugee policy that annoyed everyone, then I'm not sure you could do much worse than still accepting refugees but turning them into a permanently precarious underclass.

Terrible news from Belgium, where a Trumpian-style Flemish government want to close the Institute for Development Policy @uantwerpen.be. Please support and share!

Sign the Petition: Free Joseph Figueira Martin! Humanitarian arbitrarily detained and tortured in the Central African Republic Sign the petition to protect those who risk their lives to save others.

Please sign this petition for the release of Joseph Figueira Martin, a humanitarian who's been arbitrarily detained (for close to 1,5 years..) and tortured in the Central African Republic. petitions.protecthumanitarians.org/en/petitions...

.@irph.bsky.social @lboroor.bsky.social @lborouniversity.bsky.social @thecrs.bsky.social 6/6

The case of #CôtedIvoire shows that, somewhat ironically, post-conflict leaders sometimes achieve the subordination of security forces to civilian rule in contexts marked by the consolidation of authoritarian regimes. 5/6

We show that ex-rebels’ political power is not only dependent on past legacies, but also on the deliberate strategies and actions of the postwar state. We also contribute to the growing literature on non-liberal strategies of #peacebuilding. 4/6

Using #CôtedIvoire as a theory-building case, we develop a typology of regime strategies based on whether ex-rebel leaders’ wartime networks are preserved or destroyed and whether political elites integrate ex-rebel leaders into the core of the regime. 3/6

In this article, we aim to bridge the gap between the literature on #postconflict politics and #authoritarian consolidation and to explain how rulers manage the threat posed by the former leaders of non-state armed groups. 2/6

Ex-Rebel Leaders and Strategies of Regime Survival in Côte d’Ivoire How do political rulers in post-conflict states manage the threat posed by the former leaders of non-state armed groups? Ex-rebel leaders often retain access to material resources and informal arme...

My article "Ex-Rebel Leaders and Strategies of Regime Survival in Côte d’Ivoire",
co-authored with best writing mates Phil Martin (@georgemasonu.bsky.social) and
Jeremy Speight (@uafairbanks.bsky.social)
is finally out Open Access with #SecurityStudies!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 1/6

The US right claimed free speech was sacred – until the Charlie Kirk killing Rightwingers had long complained of a censorious leftwing ‘cancel culture’ but seem happy to now reframe that as ‘consequence culture’

The US right claimed free speech was sacred – until the Charlie Kirk killing

“awful people don’t deserve to be killed, but they don’t deserve to be praised, either” is apparently a thought too complex for the pundit mind

Thanks, I am going to give it a try, I see that I can even pay for a single week :)

Is Peace in Ukraine So Crazy? Maybe Not, But Donald Trump Certainly Is When ordinary people lose their minds, they disappear from view. When powerful men go insane, they can make the entire world crazy.

There was an unprecedented meeting at the White House yesterday. Why? Because America’s allies don’t trust our president anymore. Why? Well the fact he is nuts, loyal to Russia, a liar, and an incompetent surrounded by incompetents has something to do with it. www.thedailybeast.com/is-peace-in-...

Advice needed please :). I'll probably sound old fashioned, but I have never used AI for transcribing interview recordings so far. Any suggestion of a software/tool that can do the job and does not cost too much would be very welcome 😀.

Thousands in Côte d'Ivoire protest exclusion of opposition leaders from election Thousands of Ivorians took to the streets in Abidjan, the main city of the West African nation, to protest against the exclusion of opposition leaders from the upcoming presidential election.

Massive demonstrations in #CôtedIvoire #IvoryCoast, where opposition supporters have gathered to protest #AlassaneOuattara's fourth mandate and the exclusion of prominent candidates (former president #LaurentGbagbo and #PDCI #TidjaneThiam) from the next elections. www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20...

Bah and Emmanuel's book reminds us that, although the path from civil war to peace is never straightforward and linear, UN #peacekeeping, #regionalorganizations and donors can contribute positively to peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery. Hopefully this lesson is not lost for the future! 5/5

While these countries have the means to recover more quickly from a crisis, the ' #peacebuilding contract' favours national actors, who can easily resist international demands regarding peace and democratization. 4/5

The book also shows that, paradoxically, the job of international statebuilders can be more difficult in middle-income countries that have experienced a low intensity conflict like Côte d'Ivoire. 3/5

Looking at these cases together allows to draw some interesting insights. First, the negotiated peace vs military victory dichotomy that pervades many studies of #civilwars does not work here. In all three cases, peace was achieved through BOTH military action and negotiations. 2/5

International State building in West Africa: Civil Wars and New Humanitarianism in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire Published in The Journal of Development Studies (Ahead of Print, 2025)

I am pleased to share free pre-prints of this book review that I wrote for the journal of #developmentstudies. Abu Bah and Nikolas Emmanuel's book about #SierraLeone, #Liberia and #CôtedIvoire #IvoryCoast provides a sympathetic account of international #statebuilding in an era of disillusion. 1/5

The Israeli cabinet ordered the expulsion of Gaza City residents by the 7th October 25. The IDF will then occupy the city.

If this goes ahead in the manner of IDF operations in Rafah, it would entail the physical destruction of Gaza City - one of the oldest cities in the Middle East.

1/

Alassane Ouattara: Ivory Coast president, 83, says he will run for fourth term Ouattara is the poll's frontrunner as numerous major challengers have been banned from running.

Not a good day for #CotedIvoire, where president #Ouattara, 83 year old, has announced that he will run for a fourth term. A sad conclusion for a man who was once a simbol of the importance of democracy and fair elections. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Open letter from UK university staff: Request for biometric deferral and safe evacuation of incoming Palestinian students and scholars from Gaza to UK Universities More than 40 students currently trapped in Gaza with full scholarships to UK Universities are asking for a safe route to come and study. We, the academic community hoping to welcome these scholars, ca...

More than 40 students with full scholarships to UK Universities are currently trapped in Gaza and are facing an administrative block to enable them to take up their places. If you are an academic based in the UK, please consider signing this letter. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

"There is no case since WW2 of starvation that has been so minutely designed and controlled"

Famine expert Alex de Waal on Israel deliberately starving an entire civilian population

Revealed: Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication As Harvard’s feud with Trump escalated, so did tensions over an ‘education and Palestine’ issue of a prestigious journal. Scholars blame the ‘Palestine exception’ to academic freedom

Harvard Educational Review spent a year preparing a special issue on education in and about Palestine. In June, contributors were notified that the Harvard Education Publishing Group had abruptly canceled the issue's release.

This is censorship and cowardice.

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

📢We are delighted to announce that we have kicked off our event with our Security Policy and Practice WG on "Digesting the UK's new National Security Strategy".

🪡Follow this thread for more insight into the event!

Matteo Salvini was a master of this, I remember his social media posts eating Nutella toasts or supermarket-branded tortelli...

Recent PhD graduate/final year PhD student interested in applying for the @britishacademy.bsky.social fellowship? At @lborouniversity.bsky.social, we are selecting proposals - deadline is 11 August. If you have a proposal focusing on peace, conflict and security please email me.

How can Labour turn this mess around? With honesty – and taxes | Polly Toynbee No more plans for mean, unpopular cuts. Instead, explain why taxes must rise – and be clear about the good that will do, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

"For the best examination of how well or badly Labour’s first year has really gone, look at Full Fact’s thorough analysis of 62 manifesto pledges".

Grateful for the mention of our Government Tracker by Polly Toynbee in the Guardian:

Proscribing Palestine Action: Questions and Issues for the UK The freedom of association is a fundamental tenet of liberalism, and interfering with it can evoke authoritarianism.

My @lborouniversity.bsky.social colleague (unfortunately not for much longer, he is leaving us for greener pastures 🥺) has published on @e-international.bsky.social this interesting commentary on the proscription of #PalestineAction @leejarvis.bsky.social www.e-ir.info/2025/06/27/p...