Ioannis Tellidis | Kyung Hee University (original) (raw)

Books by Ioannis Tellidis

Cambridge University Press, 2023

The international architecture of peacebuilding and statebuilding is currently responding to a sh... more The international architecture of peacebuilding and
statebuilding is currently responding to a shift from ‘analogue’ to
‘digital’ approaches in international relations. This is affecting conflict
management, intervention, peacebuilding, and the all-important role
of civil society. This Element analyses the potential that these new
digital forms of international relations offer for the reform of peace
praxis – namely, the enhancement of critical agency across networks
and scales, the expansion of claims for rights and the mitigation of
obstacles posed by sovereignty, locality, and territoriality. The Element
also addresses the parallel limitations of digital technologies in terms of
political emancipation related to subaltern claims, the risk of
co-optation by historical and analogue power structures, institutions,
and actors. The authors conclude that though aspects of emerging
digital approaches to making peace are promising, they cannot yet
bypass or resolve older, analogue conflict dynamics revolving around
power relations, territorialism, and state formation.

This book examines potential synergies between the fields of Terrorism Studies and Peace and Conf... more This book examines potential synergies between the fields of Terrorism Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies.

The volume presents theoretically- and empirically-informed contributions, which shed light on whether the two fields can inform each other on issues of mutual interest and importance. The book examines key themes including the conceptualisation(s) of peace and violence; the exceptionalisation of terrorist violence; the relationship between scholarship and political power; the dysfunctionality of the liberal peace and the opportunities offered by post-liberal peacebuilding frameworks; and the implications and challenges of cyber-terrorism and cyber-conflict. Furthermore, the book intends to be a launching pad for future debate on whether the recent 'critical' turn in terrorism studies can offer a pathway for peace studies to engage with the so far largely ignored question of power.

Consisting of not only key scholars but also practitioners and policy makers, the contributors present a number of case studies, including Colombia, Northern Ireland, the Basque Country, and Iraq, where they explore the relationships between terrorism and peace and conflict approaches. They critically analyse the statist approach inherent in both terrorism approaches and liberal peacebuilding frameworks; the role of the grassroots levels of society; the inefficiency of simplistic frameworks of understanding and implementation; and the chains of governance from international (and transnational) actors to national actors and finally from national to local actors.

This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, peace and conflict studies, IR and security studies.

This book opens up the discussion of the interrelation between terrorism studies, and peace and c... more This book opens up the discussion of the interrelation between terrorism studies, and peace and conflict studies. Even though it is often accepted that terrorism is a form of political violence, it is also quite frequent that research on the topic is dismissed when it is approached with conflict analysis frames. More importantly, policy approaches continue to inhibit, obstruct and reject frameworks that are concerned with the transformation and resolution of terrorist conflicts – partly because they see the state as the ultimate referent object to be secured. At the same time, peace and conflict studies seem to be excessively focused on problem-solving approaches, overemphasising the role of parity during negotiations and misdiagnosing the distribution of power both within conflicts as well as within conflict management, resolution and/or transformation approaches. By examining the instances and circumstances in which both these fields can benefit from each other, this book enhances our understanding of this crucial area.

This book was published as a special issue of Critical Studies on Terrorism.

Special Issue by Ioannis Tellidis

Critical Studies on Terrorism, Apr 1, 2013

Articles by Ioannis Tellidis

GLOBALIZATIONS, 2020

The international architecture of peacebuilding and statebuilding, with the United Nations’ effor... more The international architecture of peacebuilding and statebuilding, with the
United Nations’ efforts central among them, is currently responding to a shift
from ‘analogue’ to ‘digital’ approaches in international relations. This is
affecting intervention, peacebuilding and development. This article analyses
the potential that these new digital forms of international relations offer for
the reform of peacebuilding – namely, the enhancement of critical agency
across networks and scales, the expansion of claims for rights and the
mitigation of obstacles posed by sovereignty, locality and territoriality. The
article also addresses the parallel limitations of digital technologies, as well as
the risk of co-optation by historical and analogue power structures, existing
modi operandi and agendas of the United Nations, and other international
actors. We conclude that though aspects of emerging digital approaches to
peacebuilding are promising, they cannot yet bypass or resolve older,
analogue conflict dynamics revolving around the state, territorialism, and
state formation.

Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 2020

Taking stock of critical peace research and agonistic politics, this article revisits the Basque ... more Taking stock of critical peace research and agonistic politics, this article revisits the Basque conflict to examine the role of the state's counter-terrorist narrative and that of the Basque civil society in the elimination of violence. It argues that violence could have ended sooner if Spanish governments had sought to engage with the non-and anti-violent independentist discourse of broad sectors of the Basque society, rather than criminalising it as they rightly did with the radical/extremist nationalists. Had they done so, they could have capitalised on Basque civil society's strong anti-violent and anti-ETA discourse to marginalise the terrorist organisation and its networks of support. The article presents a framework that makes possible the marginalisation of militancy and extremism in cases where the state accepts to negotiate the legitimacy of the demands of non-and/or anti-violent nationalists.

Cooperation and Conflict, 2019

This article looks at a project involving nine internationally acclaimed street artists who agree... more This article looks at a project involving nine internationally acclaimed street artists who agreed to make murals in Oslo, following the 22 July 2011 attacks. Resting on the art project's aims ('to promote universal human rights and to counter the intolerance and xenophobia that can give rise to violence and justify terrorism') and the art community's reaction, the article argues that street art's visibility and agency offer alternative ways of thinking about, and approaching, international relations (IR). The article examines the streets as the space where artists express and engage the 'everyday'; and as the medium that allows artists to bring art to the public (as opposed to galleries or exhibitions the public chooses to visit). We argue that the incorporation of street art's spatiality and aesthetics into 'everyday IR' supports more critical frameworks that (a) expose the exceptional logic(s) of illiberal governance; (b) enable the visibility of marginalised and/or dissenting voices in society; and (c) explore experimental, eclectic and creative approaches of doing/thinking everyday security, community and peace.

East Asia Policy, 2017

Although South Korea has had minimal exposure to terrorism, it recently adopted a controversial A... more Although South Korea has had minimal exposure to terrorism, it recently adopted a controversial Anti-Terrorism Act that is characterised by arbitrary and vague definitions of 'terrorism' and 'terrorism'-related crimes. The Act risks manufacturing the 'terrorism' phenomenon with the unnecessary curtailing of civil liberties and stifling political dissent. This article argues that the legislation's objectives are more a rhetorical device to solidify power than to sustain the vibrancy of democratic politics and provide effective human security.

Despite the volume of research exploring the use of information and communication technologies (I... more Despite the volume of research exploring the use of information and communication technologies
(ICTs) for destructive purposes (terrorism, crime, war propaganda) on the one hand, and
development (ICT4D) on the other hand, very little has been said about the role that traditional,
and especially new social media, can play for the transformation and prevention of conflicts. This
paper recognises ICTs as a tool, thus accepting their multi-level and multi-dimensional potential
in the transformation as well as the intransigence and promotion of conflict. The paper seeks to
explore: (a) whether ICTs can empower marginalised actors to transcend the peacebuilding and
statebuilding processes, and lead to a more locally-owned, more representative transformation of
the conflict; (b) whether ICTs can foster more hybrid forms of peace; and (c) whether they can be
co-opted as a platform by donors to promote their agendas and impede resistance.

Emerging actors in peacebuilding are generating a slow transformation of the norms and praxes of ... more Emerging actors in peacebuilding are generating a slow transformation of
the norms and praxes of international peacebuilding, statebuilding, and development.
Although each of the emerging donors have different contexts,
approaches, motives, and methodologies, their power, influence, and—crucially—
their nonadherence to the principles of the Development Assistance
Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
have attracted scepticism and criticism from traditional donors. This
article highlights the nuances of donors’ engagement with peacebuilding
and statebuilding. It examines whether they are critical or status quo states
and what the implications are for practices of intervention. KEYWORDS:
BRICS, peacebuilding, statebuilding.

Critical Studies on Terrorism, Apr 1, 2013

The articles in this special issue are drawn from papers presented at a conference titled Terrori... more The articles in this special issue are drawn from papers presented at a conference titled Terrorism and Peace and Conflict Studies: Investigating the Crossroad. The conference was organised by the Conflict Analysis Research Centre of the University of Kent and the Critical Studies on Terrorism Working Group of the British International Studies Association, and was held at the University of Kent from 10 to 11 September 2012. The conference aimed to highlight and explore the empirical, methodological, ontological and epistemological points of interjection of the two fields through the engagement of scholars, postgraduate students, national and international policy and civil society actors. The articles in this issue reflect those aims.

Terms usurped and capitalised upon by Al-Qaeda and other similar terrorist and extremist organisa... more Terms usurped and capitalised upon by Al-Qaeda and other similar terrorist and extremist organisations have a special place in Islamic culture and a particular resonance with Muslim populations. The aforementioned terrorist groups normally utilise these terms in order to further their objectives and gain, first, the support of larger audiences and, ultimately, legitimacy for their actions. At the same time, Western policy makers, security agencies and, crucially, the media have also used and regurgitated the same terminology in an uncritical fashion. This article explains the semantic nuances behind terms like “Islamic”, “Islamist”, “fundamentalist”, “Salafi”, “Wahhabi” and “jihadi terrorism”, and the potential that such use has for the alienation of moderate segments of the Muslim creed and the obstacles it raises for intercultural counter-radicalisation efforts. The article then suggests the adoption of a more-nuanced term by Western circles – one that is equally embedded in Islamic culture and its value system and one that is not as negligent or power-related as the ones that are currently used.

Noel Large is community worker with Interaction Belfast, an organization working to promote recon... more Noel Large is community worker with Interaction Belfast, an organization working to promote reconciliation and build trust among Catholic/nationalist/republican and Protestant/unionist/loyalist communities, particularly those living along the Shankill/Falls/Springfield Roads interface of West Belfast. A former gunman for the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), he served 16 years before being released on licence following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Although he still strongly supports Northern Ireland’s union with Britain, Large has used his standing in the loyalist community as an ‘ex-lifer’ to advocate for non-violent engagement with loyalism/unionism and to promote dialogue between loyalist and republican communities.

The emergence of the BRICS has generated a renewed debate about peacebuilding and donor activity.... more The emergence of the BRICS has generated a renewed debate about peacebuilding and donor activity. This has slowly influenced the aims, norms and practices of international peacebuilding, statebuilding and development. There are subtle differences in BRICS members’ interests, approaches and motives, power, influence, and adherence to or rejection of established standards (such as OECD-DAC principles). These states’ activities have often attracted scepticism and criticism from traditional donors. An examination of their engagement with interventionary forms of development, peacebuilding, statebuilding, and their related institutions and practices shows that the BRICS can be both “status-quo” and “critical” actors. On the one hand, they all engage with the liberal peace paradigm and its often-neoliberal agenda that allows them to protect sovereignty and non-intervention, pursue trade interests, and advance their own interests (like a seat on the UN Security Council, regional stability or maintaining their often-ambiguous status of being both aid donors and recipients). On the other hand, their involvement has challenged peacebuilding’s and development’s Euro-Atlantic character through the unfolding of their own donor and peace agendas. This report highlights the instances in which traditional and emerging actors’ agendas converge and diverge – and the motivations behind these agendas.

Oliver P. Richmond and David Chandler, have now taken the logical step of moving beyond the malad... more Oliver P. Richmond and David Chandler, have now taken the logical step of moving beyond the maladies of liberal peace and its critique, and provide us with a debate about possible new paradigms whose repercussions are not limited to peace and conflict studies, but also resonate with International Relations theories in general. Richmond’s A Post-liberal Peace and Chandler’s International Statebuilding: The Rise of Post-liberal Governance offer insights to liberalism’s failure when it comes to peace- and statebuilding, and reformulate the very basic assumptions that underpin the theoretical foundations of international interventions. Both studies are destined to leave their mark in the fields of peacebuilding and statebuilding, and they are bound to generate a novel, key debate in International Relations that will attract many more arguments and criticisms from more scholars.

Approaches to terrorism and peacebuilding have a complex relationship with each other, which may ... more Approaches to terrorism and peacebuilding have a complex relationship with each other, which may be explained according to four categories outlined in this article. These range from blocking each others’ aims, nullifying terrorism, supporting a very limited, or a broader peace process. Each of these categories has implications for the inclusion and reconciliation of a wide range of actors and the hybrid nature of the emerging peace. This relates to the critical approach of using theory to create emancipatory forms of peace, which is used as a basis for the examination of the production of hybridity via the interaction of approaches to terrorism and peacebuilding in five cases in this article. These include Sri Lanka, Kashmir, the Middle East, Nepal, and Northern Ireland. We argue that “post-liberal” possibilities for a hybrid form of peace (which are inherent in such conflicts) offer a “post-terrorist” potential for peace processes.

Critical Studies on Terrorism, Aug 1, 2011

The emergence of the school of Critical Terrorism Studies has been attributed to the lack of cont... more The emergence of the school of Critical Terrorism Studies has been attributed to the lack of contextualisation of research on terrorism, primarily, the virtual absence of the state and its role in instigating, funding or promoting terrorism. While this is a much needed development, this article employs the Basque case in order to demonstrate that the dualism of analysis (terrorists versus the state) is not critical enough. What it overlooks is the role that civil societies can play inside that dichotomy by rejecting or upholding violent methods for the satisfaction of political demands.

Chapters by Ioannis Tellidis

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, 2020

This chapter aims to examine the ways in which technology has been used in bottom-up ways that se... more This chapter aims to examine the ways in which technology has been used in bottom-up ways that seek to resist and/or transform violent and oppressive contexts in order to build peace. At the same time, the chapter also highlights those instances by which international actors (organisations and states) seek to co-opt technological advances that debilitate traditional, top-down hierarchies of power and order because they perceive them as a tool that facilitates the erosion of their control. The chapter’s main argument is that technological advances hold great potential for the future of peacebuilding’s praxis and research by including marginalised voices, but it must be born in mind that they are nothing but a tool – meaning that they can be used to promote peace as much as they can be used to foment divisions or instigate and sustain violence. Nonetheless, any future research agenda on peace must unavoidably take into consideration the variety of technological tools and platforms utilised by grassroots actors.

Pagrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, 2020

This chapter looks at street art and its relationship to peace efforts. Specifically, it examines... more This chapter looks at street art and its relationship to peace efforts. Specifically, it examines how street art is used as a medium to express the concerns, needs and wants of societal groups whose everyday lives are affected by decisions made at (and by) higher political levels, but whose voices remain marginalised and/or silenced. The fact that this type of artistic intervention takes place in the street means that its message is by definition accessible by a large audience. Depending on the circumstances of each case and the severity of the situation faced by everyday actors, street art interventions may not only manifest instances of injustice or mistreatment, but may also lead to the transformation of the situation through collective action (mobilisation, protest, manifestation). The chapter looks at a few examples where street art has had this type of effect.

Cambridge University Press, 2023

The international architecture of peacebuilding and statebuilding is currently responding to a sh... more The international architecture of peacebuilding and
statebuilding is currently responding to a shift from ‘analogue’ to
‘digital’ approaches in international relations. This is affecting conflict
management, intervention, peacebuilding, and the all-important role
of civil society. This Element analyses the potential that these new
digital forms of international relations offer for the reform of peace
praxis – namely, the enhancement of critical agency across networks
and scales, the expansion of claims for rights and the mitigation of
obstacles posed by sovereignty, locality, and territoriality. The Element
also addresses the parallel limitations of digital technologies in terms of
political emancipation related to subaltern claims, the risk of
co-optation by historical and analogue power structures, institutions,
and actors. The authors conclude that though aspects of emerging
digital approaches to making peace are promising, they cannot yet
bypass or resolve older, analogue conflict dynamics revolving around
power relations, territorialism, and state formation.

This book examines potential synergies between the fields of Terrorism Studies and Peace and Conf... more This book examines potential synergies between the fields of Terrorism Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies.

The volume presents theoretically- and empirically-informed contributions, which shed light on whether the two fields can inform each other on issues of mutual interest and importance. The book examines key themes including the conceptualisation(s) of peace and violence; the exceptionalisation of terrorist violence; the relationship between scholarship and political power; the dysfunctionality of the liberal peace and the opportunities offered by post-liberal peacebuilding frameworks; and the implications and challenges of cyber-terrorism and cyber-conflict. Furthermore, the book intends to be a launching pad for future debate on whether the recent 'critical' turn in terrorism studies can offer a pathway for peace studies to engage with the so far largely ignored question of power.

Consisting of not only key scholars but also practitioners and policy makers, the contributors present a number of case studies, including Colombia, Northern Ireland, the Basque Country, and Iraq, where they explore the relationships between terrorism and peace and conflict approaches. They critically analyse the statist approach inherent in both terrorism approaches and liberal peacebuilding frameworks; the role of the grassroots levels of society; the inefficiency of simplistic frameworks of understanding and implementation; and the chains of governance from international (and transnational) actors to national actors and finally from national to local actors.

This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, peace and conflict studies, IR and security studies.

This book opens up the discussion of the interrelation between terrorism studies, and peace and c... more This book opens up the discussion of the interrelation between terrorism studies, and peace and conflict studies. Even though it is often accepted that terrorism is a form of political violence, it is also quite frequent that research on the topic is dismissed when it is approached with conflict analysis frames. More importantly, policy approaches continue to inhibit, obstruct and reject frameworks that are concerned with the transformation and resolution of terrorist conflicts – partly because they see the state as the ultimate referent object to be secured. At the same time, peace and conflict studies seem to be excessively focused on problem-solving approaches, overemphasising the role of parity during negotiations and misdiagnosing the distribution of power both within conflicts as well as within conflict management, resolution and/or transformation approaches. By examining the instances and circumstances in which both these fields can benefit from each other, this book enhances our understanding of this crucial area.

This book was published as a special issue of Critical Studies on Terrorism.

Critical Studies on Terrorism, Apr 1, 2013

GLOBALIZATIONS, 2020

The international architecture of peacebuilding and statebuilding, with the United Nations’ effor... more The international architecture of peacebuilding and statebuilding, with the
United Nations’ efforts central among them, is currently responding to a shift
from ‘analogue’ to ‘digital’ approaches in international relations. This is
affecting intervention, peacebuilding and development. This article analyses
the potential that these new digital forms of international relations offer for
the reform of peacebuilding – namely, the enhancement of critical agency
across networks and scales, the expansion of claims for rights and the
mitigation of obstacles posed by sovereignty, locality and territoriality. The
article also addresses the parallel limitations of digital technologies, as well as
the risk of co-optation by historical and analogue power structures, existing
modi operandi and agendas of the United Nations, and other international
actors. We conclude that though aspects of emerging digital approaches to
peacebuilding are promising, they cannot yet bypass or resolve older,
analogue conflict dynamics revolving around the state, territorialism, and
state formation.

Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 2020

Taking stock of critical peace research and agonistic politics, this article revisits the Basque ... more Taking stock of critical peace research and agonistic politics, this article revisits the Basque conflict to examine the role of the state's counter-terrorist narrative and that of the Basque civil society in the elimination of violence. It argues that violence could have ended sooner if Spanish governments had sought to engage with the non-and anti-violent independentist discourse of broad sectors of the Basque society, rather than criminalising it as they rightly did with the radical/extremist nationalists. Had they done so, they could have capitalised on Basque civil society's strong anti-violent and anti-ETA discourse to marginalise the terrorist organisation and its networks of support. The article presents a framework that makes possible the marginalisation of militancy and extremism in cases where the state accepts to negotiate the legitimacy of the demands of non-and/or anti-violent nationalists.

Cooperation and Conflict, 2019

This article looks at a project involving nine internationally acclaimed street artists who agree... more This article looks at a project involving nine internationally acclaimed street artists who agreed to make murals in Oslo, following the 22 July 2011 attacks. Resting on the art project's aims ('to promote universal human rights and to counter the intolerance and xenophobia that can give rise to violence and justify terrorism') and the art community's reaction, the article argues that street art's visibility and agency offer alternative ways of thinking about, and approaching, international relations (IR). The article examines the streets as the space where artists express and engage the 'everyday'; and as the medium that allows artists to bring art to the public (as opposed to galleries or exhibitions the public chooses to visit). We argue that the incorporation of street art's spatiality and aesthetics into 'everyday IR' supports more critical frameworks that (a) expose the exceptional logic(s) of illiberal governance; (b) enable the visibility of marginalised and/or dissenting voices in society; and (c) explore experimental, eclectic and creative approaches of doing/thinking everyday security, community and peace.

East Asia Policy, 2017

Although South Korea has had minimal exposure to terrorism, it recently adopted a controversial A... more Although South Korea has had minimal exposure to terrorism, it recently adopted a controversial Anti-Terrorism Act that is characterised by arbitrary and vague definitions of 'terrorism' and 'terrorism'-related crimes. The Act risks manufacturing the 'terrorism' phenomenon with the unnecessary curtailing of civil liberties and stifling political dissent. This article argues that the legislation's objectives are more a rhetorical device to solidify power than to sustain the vibrancy of democratic politics and provide effective human security.

Despite the volume of research exploring the use of information and communication technologies (I... more Despite the volume of research exploring the use of information and communication technologies
(ICTs) for destructive purposes (terrorism, crime, war propaganda) on the one hand, and
development (ICT4D) on the other hand, very little has been said about the role that traditional,
and especially new social media, can play for the transformation and prevention of conflicts. This
paper recognises ICTs as a tool, thus accepting their multi-level and multi-dimensional potential
in the transformation as well as the intransigence and promotion of conflict. The paper seeks to
explore: (a) whether ICTs can empower marginalised actors to transcend the peacebuilding and
statebuilding processes, and lead to a more locally-owned, more representative transformation of
the conflict; (b) whether ICTs can foster more hybrid forms of peace; and (c) whether they can be
co-opted as a platform by donors to promote their agendas and impede resistance.

Emerging actors in peacebuilding are generating a slow transformation of the norms and praxes of ... more Emerging actors in peacebuilding are generating a slow transformation of
the norms and praxes of international peacebuilding, statebuilding, and development.
Although each of the emerging donors have different contexts,
approaches, motives, and methodologies, their power, influence, and—crucially—
their nonadherence to the principles of the Development Assistance
Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
have attracted scepticism and criticism from traditional donors. This
article highlights the nuances of donors’ engagement with peacebuilding
and statebuilding. It examines whether they are critical or status quo states
and what the implications are for practices of intervention. KEYWORDS:
BRICS, peacebuilding, statebuilding.

Critical Studies on Terrorism, Apr 1, 2013

The articles in this special issue are drawn from papers presented at a conference titled Terrori... more The articles in this special issue are drawn from papers presented at a conference titled Terrorism and Peace and Conflict Studies: Investigating the Crossroad. The conference was organised by the Conflict Analysis Research Centre of the University of Kent and the Critical Studies on Terrorism Working Group of the British International Studies Association, and was held at the University of Kent from 10 to 11 September 2012. The conference aimed to highlight and explore the empirical, methodological, ontological and epistemological points of interjection of the two fields through the engagement of scholars, postgraduate students, national and international policy and civil society actors. The articles in this issue reflect those aims.

Terms usurped and capitalised upon by Al-Qaeda and other similar terrorist and extremist organisa... more Terms usurped and capitalised upon by Al-Qaeda and other similar terrorist and extremist organisations have a special place in Islamic culture and a particular resonance with Muslim populations. The aforementioned terrorist groups normally utilise these terms in order to further their objectives and gain, first, the support of larger audiences and, ultimately, legitimacy for their actions. At the same time, Western policy makers, security agencies and, crucially, the media have also used and regurgitated the same terminology in an uncritical fashion. This article explains the semantic nuances behind terms like “Islamic”, “Islamist”, “fundamentalist”, “Salafi”, “Wahhabi” and “jihadi terrorism”, and the potential that such use has for the alienation of moderate segments of the Muslim creed and the obstacles it raises for intercultural counter-radicalisation efforts. The article then suggests the adoption of a more-nuanced term by Western circles – one that is equally embedded in Islamic culture and its value system and one that is not as negligent or power-related as the ones that are currently used.

Noel Large is community worker with Interaction Belfast, an organization working to promote recon... more Noel Large is community worker with Interaction Belfast, an organization working to promote reconciliation and build trust among Catholic/nationalist/republican and Protestant/unionist/loyalist communities, particularly those living along the Shankill/Falls/Springfield Roads interface of West Belfast. A former gunman for the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), he served 16 years before being released on licence following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Although he still strongly supports Northern Ireland’s union with Britain, Large has used his standing in the loyalist community as an ‘ex-lifer’ to advocate for non-violent engagement with loyalism/unionism and to promote dialogue between loyalist and republican communities.

The emergence of the BRICS has generated a renewed debate about peacebuilding and donor activity.... more The emergence of the BRICS has generated a renewed debate about peacebuilding and donor activity. This has slowly influenced the aims, norms and practices of international peacebuilding, statebuilding and development. There are subtle differences in BRICS members’ interests, approaches and motives, power, influence, and adherence to or rejection of established standards (such as OECD-DAC principles). These states’ activities have often attracted scepticism and criticism from traditional donors. An examination of their engagement with interventionary forms of development, peacebuilding, statebuilding, and their related institutions and practices shows that the BRICS can be both “status-quo” and “critical” actors. On the one hand, they all engage with the liberal peace paradigm and its often-neoliberal agenda that allows them to protect sovereignty and non-intervention, pursue trade interests, and advance their own interests (like a seat on the UN Security Council, regional stability or maintaining their often-ambiguous status of being both aid donors and recipients). On the other hand, their involvement has challenged peacebuilding’s and development’s Euro-Atlantic character through the unfolding of their own donor and peace agendas. This report highlights the instances in which traditional and emerging actors’ agendas converge and diverge – and the motivations behind these agendas.

Oliver P. Richmond and David Chandler, have now taken the logical step of moving beyond the malad... more Oliver P. Richmond and David Chandler, have now taken the logical step of moving beyond the maladies of liberal peace and its critique, and provide us with a debate about possible new paradigms whose repercussions are not limited to peace and conflict studies, but also resonate with International Relations theories in general. Richmond’s A Post-liberal Peace and Chandler’s International Statebuilding: The Rise of Post-liberal Governance offer insights to liberalism’s failure when it comes to peace- and statebuilding, and reformulate the very basic assumptions that underpin the theoretical foundations of international interventions. Both studies are destined to leave their mark in the fields of peacebuilding and statebuilding, and they are bound to generate a novel, key debate in International Relations that will attract many more arguments and criticisms from more scholars.

Approaches to terrorism and peacebuilding have a complex relationship with each other, which may ... more Approaches to terrorism and peacebuilding have a complex relationship with each other, which may be explained according to four categories outlined in this article. These range from blocking each others’ aims, nullifying terrorism, supporting a very limited, or a broader peace process. Each of these categories has implications for the inclusion and reconciliation of a wide range of actors and the hybrid nature of the emerging peace. This relates to the critical approach of using theory to create emancipatory forms of peace, which is used as a basis for the examination of the production of hybridity via the interaction of approaches to terrorism and peacebuilding in five cases in this article. These include Sri Lanka, Kashmir, the Middle East, Nepal, and Northern Ireland. We argue that “post-liberal” possibilities for a hybrid form of peace (which are inherent in such conflicts) offer a “post-terrorist” potential for peace processes.

Critical Studies on Terrorism, Aug 1, 2011

The emergence of the school of Critical Terrorism Studies has been attributed to the lack of cont... more The emergence of the school of Critical Terrorism Studies has been attributed to the lack of contextualisation of research on terrorism, primarily, the virtual absence of the state and its role in instigating, funding or promoting terrorism. While this is a much needed development, this article employs the Basque case in order to demonstrate that the dualism of analysis (terrorists versus the state) is not critical enough. What it overlooks is the role that civil societies can play inside that dichotomy by rejecting or upholding violent methods for the satisfaction of political demands.

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, 2020

This chapter aims to examine the ways in which technology has been used in bottom-up ways that se... more This chapter aims to examine the ways in which technology has been used in bottom-up ways that seek to resist and/or transform violent and oppressive contexts in order to build peace. At the same time, the chapter also highlights those instances by which international actors (organisations and states) seek to co-opt technological advances that debilitate traditional, top-down hierarchies of power and order because they perceive them as a tool that facilitates the erosion of their control. The chapter’s main argument is that technological advances hold great potential for the future of peacebuilding’s praxis and research by including marginalised voices, but it must be born in mind that they are nothing but a tool – meaning that they can be used to promote peace as much as they can be used to foment divisions or instigate and sustain violence. Nonetheless, any future research agenda on peace must unavoidably take into consideration the variety of technological tools and platforms utilised by grassroots actors.

Pagrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, 2020

This chapter looks at street art and its relationship to peace efforts. Specifically, it examines... more This chapter looks at street art and its relationship to peace efforts. Specifically, it examines how street art is used as a medium to express the concerns, needs and wants of societal groups whose everyday lives are affected by decisions made at (and by) higher political levels, but whose voices remain marginalised and/or silenced. The fact that this type of artistic intervention takes place in the street means that its message is by definition accessible by a large audience. Depending on the circumstances of each case and the severity of the situation faced by everyday actors, street art interventions may not only manifest instances of injustice or mistreatment, but may also lead to the transformation of the situation through collective action (mobilisation, protest, manifestation). The chapter looks at a few examples where street art has had this type of effect.

Oxford Handbook of Peacebuilding, Statebuilding and Peace Formation, 2020

This chapter examines the relationship between Terrorism Studies (and the practice(s) of counter-... more This chapter examines the relationship between Terrorism Studies (and the practice(s) of counter-terrorism), and Peace Studies (and the practice(s) of peacebuilding). The chapter seeks to uncover the political implications of the conceptualisations of both 'terrorism' and 'peace' in order to then evaluate how peace was sought (or not) to be built in terrorist conflicts. A brief chronology of long-established approaches in each field uncovers the basic deficiencies with which these two concepts have been dealt with by both academics and practitioners, resulting in a shared definition of objectives: counter-terrorism's preoccupation with the annihilation of terrorists, and peacebuilding's anxiety with domination and imposition-resulting in both of them failing to provide anything other than a victor's peace. The emergence of more critical approaches in both fields have begun rectifying those understandings but more daring epistemological and methodological steps need to be undertaken. The chapter concludes by identifying some of the obstacles and limitations facing these more recent approaches and tries to identify the scope of future research.

This chapter looks at religion and its presumed relationship to terrorism. Contemporary, Western-... more This chapter looks at religion and its presumed relationship to terrorism. Contemporary, Western-rooted understandings of religion, the chapter argues, are very much linked to the concept of secularisation, which leads scholars, policy-makers and the general public to believe that religious violence is the blindest, most lethal violence today. Yet, as the chapter shows, the resurgence of the study of religion in International Relations (IR) that deconstructed concepts like secularisation and religion, may contribute to dispel such perceptions and benefit critical scholarship of terrorism studies in their promotion of reflexivity and problematisation of concepts and frameworks examining terrorist violence.

This chapter looks at the interconnection between terrorism and peace studies. It does so by anal... more This chapter looks at the interconnection between terrorism and peace studies. It does so by analysing the academic and policy conceptualisations of terrorism and peace before and after the milestone of 9/11. It then sketches out how the emergence of Critical Terrorism Studies and Critical Peace Research questioned the inadequacies of traditional/orthodox approaches in both fields, with the view to enhancing both the understandings of the concepts as well as the methods of research behind them. The chapter highlights some of the issues that are shared by both strands, the most visible of which being their attempt to rectify the skewed, statist focus of until recently dominant theories of terrorism and peace. This statist approach is what leads the chapter to conclude that the intersection between terrorism and peace studies is not a recent phenomenon, but one that has existed even before the emergence of critical approaches.

"An examination of how civil society appears to have defeated terrorism in the Basque Country, an... more "An examination of how civil society appears to have defeated terrorism in the Basque Country, and what this means for peacebuilding theories which engage with grassroots debates. Tellidis argues that terrorism may be constituted as politics conducted by other means to represent or respond to nationalist discourses, and the failure of the state as a dictatorship or even a liberal democracy to safeguard human rights. In this, he argues, the most significant actor for the resolution of the conflict in the Basque Country is the Basque civil society. Thus, peace of sorts came about in this case not only through security services, government, or international pressure, but also via the undermining of the legitimacy of the use of violence by local society. Obliquely, his chapter offers significant implications for the current securitisation of peacebuilding and development, and more broadly for mainstream approaches to terrorism."

openDemocracy, Jun 9, 2013

Eleftherotypia , Apr 13, 2013

Transconflict, Oct 12, 2012

LSE European Politics & Policy (EUROPP), Jun 19, 2012

OpenDemocracy, Apr 19, 2012

Plato’s Cave Blog: Humanitarian & Conflict Response Institute (HCRI), Nov 3, 2010

Narrative, Political Violence and Social Change

Studies in Conflict & Terrorism

East Asian Policy

Although South Korea has had minimal exposure to terrorism, it recently adopted a controversial A... more Although South Korea has had minimal exposure to terrorism, it recently adopted a controversial Anti-Terrorism Act that is characterised by arbitrary and vague definitions of ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorism’-related crimes. The Act risks manufacturing the ‘terrorism’ phenomenon with the unnecessary curtailing of civil liberties and stifling of political dissent. This article argues that the legislation‘s objectives are more a rhetorical device to solidify power than to sustain the vibrancy of democratic politics and provide effective human security.

Cooperation and Conflict

This article looks at a project involving nine internationally acclaimed street artists who agree... more This article looks at a project involving nine internationally acclaimed street artists who agreed to make murals in Oslo, following the 22 July 2011 attacks. Resting on the art project’s aims (‘to promote universal human rights and to counter the intolerance and xenophobia that can give rise to violence and justify terrorism’) and the art community’s reaction, the article argues that street art’s visibility and agency offer alternative ways of thinking about, and approaching, international relations (IR). The article examines the streets as the space where artists express and engage the ‘everyday’; and as the medium that allows artists to bring art to the public (as opposed to galleries or exhibitions the public chooses to visit). We argue that the incorporation of street art’s spatiality and aesthetics into ‘everyday IR’ supports more critical frameworks that (a) expose the exceptional logic(s) of illiberal governance; (b) enable the visibility of marginalised and/or dissenting vo...

Critical Studies on Terrorism

ABSTRACT

International Studies Review, 2012

ABSTRACT

Critical Studies on Terrorism, 2013

ABSTRACT

Critical Studies on Terrorism, 2013