Workshop on 24 May 2021, 8:45 - 19:15 CEST (i.e. UTC+2), Scuola Normale Superiore and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, co-organized by Silvia Carenzi and Lydia Letsch, Scuola Normale Superiore

The study of governance by non-state armed actors, including rebel groups, is an emerging field of research that has experienced greater scrutiny over recent years. Phenomena such as civil wars, in which insurgent groups or other armed groups might take control over swaths of territory and administer public life, have shown the limits of state-centered paradigms, thus stimulating the emergence of new approaches. This workshop aims to foster and expand current debates in the field of rebel governance and governance by armed groups. By bringing together both theoretically oriented and more idiographic contributions, it seeks to stimulate dialogue between different approaches and strands of research. A broad range of aspects will be discussed — including, but not limited to, modes and characteristics of rebel governance, armed groups’ strategies and inter-group dynamics, and the relationship between armed groups and local populations

Program

Please note that all the times specified in the schedule are in CEST (i.e. UTC+2)

Keynote Speakers
8:45-9:30 - Opening Address by Stefan Malthaner, Research Fellow, Hamburg Institute for Social Research (HIS)
14:30-15:15 - Jérôme Drevon, Research Associate, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies  (IHEID) and Advisor for Non-State Armed Groups, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)


9.30-11:00 - Session 1 – Armed Groups, Local Populations, and Legitimacy

  • Francis O’ Connor, COSMOS Centre on Social Movement Studies
  • Vidushi Kaushik, Dublin City University
  • Arshi Javaid, Free University of Berlin (co-authored with Burjis Shabbir):
  • Wolfgang Minatti, European University Institute

11:30-13:30 - Session 2 – Non-State Actors in Syria: Governance, Inter-Group Relations, and Trajectories

  • Esther Meininghaus, Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC)
  • Mauro Primavera, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan
  • Johannes Rothe, European University Institute
  • Silvia Carenzi, Scuola Normale Superiore & Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
  • Suhail al-Ghazi, Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy

15:15-16:45 - Session 3 – Non State Actors and the State: Opposition, Competition, or Cooptation?

  • Giulia Piccolino, Loughborough University
  • Nestor Zante, University of Leipzig
  • Sulley Ibrahim, Centre for Democracy & Development
  • Benjamin Toubol, Laval University

17:15-19:15 - Session 4 – Modes, Strategies, and Features of Rebel Governance

  • Kai Thaler, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Feike Fliervoet, European University Institute
  • Abdalhadi Alijla, Orient-Institut Beirut
  • Ahmed Badawi Mustapha, University of Ghana
  • Eva Kahan, Harvard Davis Center Negotiation Task Force (co-authored with Miranda Pierce)

VIEW THE FULL PROGRAM

To join us on Teams platform: Click here - Perspectives on Governance by Non-State Armed Actors, 24 May 2021

For info: eventiculturali.firenze@sns.it