CPCS is directed by Professor Karin Fierke with a team of core affiliates.
For enquiries, please contact Prof. Fierke, at [email protected].
Dr Nicholas Barnes – Lecturer in International Relations; Coordinator, MLitt/MPhil Peacebuilding and Mediation (Core Affiliate)
Selected Research Publications Research Interests
Dr Ariadne Collins – Lecturer in International Relations (Core Affiliate)
Selected Research Publications Research Interests
Prof Karin M. Fierke – Professor of International Relations
Selected Research Publications
- 2019; Contraria sunt complementa: global entanglement and the constitution of difference. Fierke, K. M., Mar 2019, International Studies Review. 21, 1, p. 146-169 23 p.
- 2019; Global conversations: relationality, embodiment and power in the move towards a Global IR. Fierke, K. M. & Jabri, V., 12 Jul 2019, Global Constitutionalism. First View, 30 p.
- 2018; Language, entanglement and the new Silk Roads. Fierke, K. M. & Antonio-Alfonso, F., 1 Sep 2018, Asian Journal of Comparative Politics. 3, 3, p. 194-206 20 p.
- 2017; Consciousness at the interface: Wendt, Eastern wisdom and the ethics of intra-action. Fierke, K. M., 2017, Critical Review. 29, 2, p. 141-169
- 2017; Introduction: Independence, global entanglement and the co-production of sovereignty. Fierke, K. M., 18 Jul 2017, Global Constitutionalism. 6, 2, p. 167-183 17 p.
Research Interests
- The role of emotion and trauma in international politics
- The relationship between memory and violence
- The political self-sacrifice
Dr Matteo Fumagalli – Senior Lecturer in International Relations (Core Affiliate)
Selected Research Publications
- 2023 (forthcoming): ‘Entry, access, bans and returns. Reflections on positionality in field research on Central Asia’s ethnic minorities’. In Nasir Uddin and Alak Paul, eds., Palgrave Handbook of Social Fieldwork, Sage. (2023 forthcoming).
- 2022: Development aid and domestic regional inequality: the case of Myanmar. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 2022 (with Achim Kemmerling).
- 2022: Krym. Rossiya…Navsegda? Critical Junctures, Critical Antecedents, and the Paths Not Taken in the Making of Crimea’s Annexation. Nationalities Papers, 2022 (with Margaryta Rymarenko).
- 2022: Myanmar’s Mulsim communities unbound: the Rohingya and beyond. In Nasir Uddibn, eds, The Rohingya crisis: human rights issues, policy issues and burdeen sharing, Sage.
- 2022: The post-Soviet Koreans. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, 2022.
- 2022: The next swing of the pendulum? Cross-border aid and shifting aid paradigms in post-coup Myanmar. EUI RSC PP, 08, 2022
Research Interests
- Arts and conflict transformation
- Social movements and resistance under authoritarian rule
- Ethnic minorities and mobilisation
- Development aid
- Higher education and peace-building
- Central Asia and the South Caucasus
- Southeast Asia (especially Myanmar, Laos, Bangladesh)
Stephen Gethins – Professor of Practice in International Relations
Selected Publications
- Saferworld, “The Caucasus: Armed and Divided – Small Arms and Light Weapons proliferation and humanitarian consequences in the Caucasus”, Report Conclusion, “An opportunity for progress,” April 2003.
- Saferworld, “Tackling small arms and light weapons proliferation in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia: the view from Government,” October 2003.
- Scotsman, “Westminster trouble over Scots and EU polls,” 7 February 2013.
- Herald, “Prime Minister has not made the case for war, bombing could pro-long the conflict,” 29 November 2015.
- Herald, “The EU has an impact on us all,” 7 February 2016.
- The National, “Russia is big – it’s what a Common EU Foreign Policy was built for,” 31 May 2016.
- The iPaper, “Scotland will do all it can to stay in the EU,” 24 June 2016.
- The European Parliament Magazine, “Scotland seeks a Life Raft in Brexit’s stormy seas,” 17 February 2017.
- The European Parliament Magazine, “Can Scotland act as a bridge between the UK and EU?” 21 March 2017.
- The Times, “Let’s celebrate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome,” 21 March 2017.
- The National, “Scotland’s MPs can work together to ensure our place in the Single Market,” 7 August 2017.
- The Observer, “MPs need to take a new approach over Brexit – an argument for consensus in politics,” 10 September 2017.
- The Times, “If Northern Ireland can have a Special status then so can Scotland,” 7 December 2017.
- The National, “As we mark St Andrews day let’s unlock Scotland’s foreign policy potential,” 2 December 2018.
- Hansard, Stephen Gethins’ Debate on Scotland’s Foreign Policy Footprint, 3 December 2018.
- The National, “An Independent Scotland will be a Bridge to Europe for what is left of the UK,” 2 June 2019.
- The House Magazine, “UK Arms export guidelines are not working,” 24 June 2019.
- The Sunday Post, “All the promises of the Brexiteers have turned to dust,” 8 September 2019.
- Scotsman, “Here’s how you can say no to Boris and yes to Europe,” 16 July 2019.
- The House Magazine, “We must bring British children trapped in Syrian camps home before it is too late,” 28 October 2019.
- The National, “How Scotland can honour the legacy of heroic nurses like Louisa Jordan,” 21 April 2020.
- The National, “Why is Scotland not using its clout on the Global Stage?” 28 April 2020.
- Book: ‘Nation to Nation: Scotland’s Place in the World‘, 2021
Research Interests
- Scotland’s foreign policy footprint and its role in conflict resolution
- The role of devolution in peacebuilding
- Political decision making processes in foreign policy
Lindsay Jones – CPCS Visiting Fellow 2021-2022
Biography Prior to arriving at St. Andrews as a Visiting Fellow Lindsay served as a Magistrate in the United States and as an Adjunct Professor and Director of the Consensus Project at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He is the managing principal of Neutral Advocacy, a mediation and conflict resolution consultancy firm. He has served as an international faculty member for the International Dispute Resolution Institute, based in Abuja, Nigeria, since 2016. In 2017 Lindsay was recognized with the honorary title of “Peacemaker” bestowed upon him by Emory University, the Carter Center, and the United States Peace Institute. Selected Research Publications Research Interests During the term of his visiting fellowship at St. Andrews Lindsay intends to undertake a writing project based on his qualitative insight from over 30 years of praxis engagement as a practitioner in conflict resolution guided by a framework model, which he first published in 2003 as a member of a university affiliated think tank. Lindsay’s writing will focus on the utility of transformative mediation toward promoting sustainable modern multicultural society. In this context, Lindsay will examine the limitations of the rule of law to preserve socioeconomic stability, the comparative utilities of established mediation approaches and their ethical issues, and the becoming of transformative peacemakers.
Dr Roxani Krystalli – Lecturer in International Relations (Core Affiliate)
Selected Research Publications Research Interests
Dr Jaremey McMullin – Senior Lecturer in International Relations (Core Affiliate) [On leave, 2024-2025].
Selected Research Publications Research Interests
Conflict, Security & Development, 22(5), 517–541.
Professor Kurt Mills – Visiting Scholar – School of International Relations
Selected Research Publications Research Interests
Dr Laura Mills – Associate Lecturer in International Relations
Selected Research Publications
- Forthcoming 2023; “‘These uniforms have been places.’ From combat to paper to exchange: a CMS research encounter” in Alice Cree (ed.) Creative Methods in Military Studies, Chapter 5. (Rowman & Littlefield.)
- Forthcoming; “Messy Security: Aesthetics, Disorientation, Discomfort” (with Caron Gentry)Critical Studies on Security
- Forthcoming 2023; Post-9/11 US Cultural Diplomacy: The Impossibility of Cosmopolitanism, Routledge New International Relations Book Series (London: Routledge)
- 2023; “Facing Torture through Art and the Afterlives of War: Behind the Mask” in Contesting Torture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (eds. R. Cox, F. Donnelly & A. Lang, Jr.), Routledge, pp. 139-164
- 2022; “Unravelling the threads of war and conflict: Introduction” (with L.C. Cole) Contemporary Voices: St Andrews Journal of International Relations, 3(1): 1–6 (Open Access)
- 2022; “International Relations and/as Thread-work: A Dialogue on Threads, War, and Conflict” (with S.S. Jamalullail, R. Bacic, & L.C. Cole) Contemporary Voices: St Andrews Journal of International Relations, 3(1): 7-23 (Open Access)
- 2021; “Personal photographic encounters of/with the pandemic’s pathological politics” Critical Studies on Security, , 9(2): 155-168 (Open Access)
- 2021; “Managing Uncertainty: the everyday global politics of post-9/11 US cultural diplomacy” in Pawel Surowiec & Ilan Manor (eds.),Public Diplomacy and the Politics of Uncertainty, pp. 277-303(Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy, 2021)
- 2020;Empire, emotion, exchange: (dis)orienting encounters of/with post-9/11 US cultural diplomacy. Cultural Studies (2020) 34(5): 763-788.
Research Interests
- Everyday life and global politics
- Cultural and public diplomacy
- Critical military studies, notably military/veteran afterlives
- Aesthetics of/in international relations
- Creative and innovative methods/pedagogies
Dr Mateja Peter – Lecturer in International Relations
Selected Research Publications
- 2021; with Kari M. Osland, ‘UN peace operations in a multipolar order: Building peace through the rule of law and bottom-up approaches.’ Contemporary Security Policy, 42(2), 197-210.
- 2020; ‘The road to Darfur: ethical and practical challenges of embedded research in areas of open conflict’, in Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and Morten Bøås (eds.) Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention: A Guide to Research in Violent and Closed Contexts. Bristol: Bristol University Press, 185-99.
- Edited volume, 2019; co-edited with Cedric de Coning, United Nations peace operations in a changing global order. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
- 2019; with Kari M. Osland, ‘The double proximity paradox in peacebuilding: Implementation and perception of The EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo’. European Security, online first https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2019.1649658
- 2017; with Francesco Strazzari, ‘Securitisation of research: Fieldwork under new restrictions in Darfur and Mali’. Third World Quarterly, 38(7), 1531–50.
- 2016; with Francesco Strazzari, ‘Securitisation of research: fieldwork under new restrictions in Darfur and Mali’. Third World Quarterly, published online 21 December 2016,
- 2016; ‘Legitimnost in relevantnost: Prihodnost mirovnih operacij Organizacije Združenih Narodov’. Teorija in praksa, 53 (3), 676–693. (Legitimacy and relevance: The future of the United Nations peace operations).
Research Interests
- Global governance and international organisations
- Peace operations and peacebuilding
- The politics of international law
- IR theory (critical and constructivist approaches, international political sociology)
Dr Norma Rossi – Associate Lecturer in International Relations (Core Affiliate)
Selected Research Publications Research Interests Dr Natasha Saunders – Lecturer in International Relations
Selected Research Publications Research Interests
Dr Malaka Shwaikh – Associate Lecturer in Peace & Conflict Studies (Core Affiliate)
Selected Research Publications
- 2023: Shwaikh, Malaka and Gould, Rebecca Ruth (2023) Prison Hunger Strikes in Palestine: A Strategic Perspective, International Centre on Nonviolent Conflict, Available to download: https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/prison-hunger-strikes/.
- 2022: Shwaikh, Malaka (2022) “Prison Periods: Bodily Resistance to Gendered Control”, Journal of Feminist Scholarship, Available to download: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/jfs/vol20/iss20/3/.
- 2021; Mulubale, Sanny and Shwaikh, Malaka, “Unequal to the Task of Transitional Justice: The Fractured Justice System of the International Criminal Court”, Social and Legal Studies (forthcoming in late 2021)
- 2020; Shwaikh, Malaka and Gould, Rebecca, Prison Hunger Strikes as Civil Resistance: A Global Perspective on Political Resistance in Prisons, Monograph, International Centre on Nonviolent Conflict (forthcoming in December 2020).
- 2020; Shwaikh, Malaka and Gould, Rebecca Ruth, “The Palestine Exception to Academic Freedom: Intertwined Stories from the Frontlines of UK-Based Palestine Activism”, Biograph An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, Hawaii University Press, (forthcoming in May 2020)
- 2018; Shwaikh, Malaka, “The Dynamics of Prison-Based Hunger Strikes”, Jerusalem Quarterly, pp. 78-90.
- 2016; Shwaikh, Malaka and Martijn, Van Gils, “Fighting without Weapons: Palestinian Documentary Films and Acts of Resistance”, Asian Affairs, 47.3, pp. 443-464.
- 2016; Shwaikh, Malaka, “The Role of International Law in World Politics”, Cambridge International Law Journal, online en€try
Research Interests
- The politics and international relations of the ‘Middle East’
- Peacebuilding from decolonial, critical theoretical and feminist perspectives
- Prison hunger strikes: necropolitics and necroresistance
- Critical approach(es) to (civil) resistance
- Academic freedom
Ruth Unsworth – Head of the University Mediation Service
Biography Ruth leads the University Mediation Service and is an accredited Mediation trainer. Ruth teaches the mediation component on the MLitt/MPhil in Peacebuilding and Mediation. As well as being a practising mediator, Ruth has recently joined the Board of Directors of Scottish Mediation. Ruth is also an accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist and maintains her private practice. Ruth is an assessor with Student Minds Mental Health Charter and has reviewed other related services in her previous role as Deputy Director of Student Services and as Chair of the University Equally Safe and the Mental Health Task Force. Ruth enjoys researching the skills that comprise mediation; negotiation, communication, interpersonal effectiveness, problem solving, evidence-based wisdom, personal resilience and emotional regulation.