Talk this week - Lene Hansen: Images and World Politics

This week we are delighted to host Prof. Lene Hansen from the University of Copenhagen. Prof. Hansen is known internationally for her work on communication and security, and in particular the role of images. On Wednesday she will give a talk to our research seminar. Details here:

Time: 1pm-2pm Wednesday 20th November 2019

Place: McCrae 1-13

Images and World Politics

Images are crucial to world politics. Could we imagine the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11 without the videos of the planes crashing into the towers? Or the European refugee crisis in 2015 without the photo of Alan Kurdi laying alone on the beach? Images “speak” world politics and (in)security in distinct ways. This calls for the development of new theoretical approaches and methodological strategies. This talk provides an introduction to the growing field of research on visual representations and world politics, and a series of theoretical and conceptual suggestions for how we might move forward.

All welcome!

Book launch, Benjamin Schrader: Fight to Live, Live to Fight: Veteran Activism after War; 21 Nov 5pm Bedford Square

This Thursday evening we are hosting a book launch for Ben Schrader's new book Fight to Live, Live to Fight: Veteran Activism after War. The role of veterans in our societies is very much under-the-rader, yet they play an important role in debates about war and foreign policy. Ben will shed a light on how this unfolds in the US, based on his own experience. He has summarised this in a recent post for the Disorder of Things blog here.

The event takes place at Royal Holloway's central London building, Bedford Square:

Time: 5pm-6.30pm, Thursday 21st November

Place: Bedford Square room 1-01.

Google map for Bedford Square: https://goo.gl/maps/axxNpvfR4Dc6dQFB9

Please join for a lively and important talk and debate.

CfP - Spaces of War: Corporeal War

Call For Papers: Media, War and Conflict Journal Conference

Spaces of War: Corporeal War

May 21st-22nd 2020

Deadline for abstracts: 10th January 2020

Building on the success of our 2018 international conference ‘Spaces of War: War of Spaces’, the Editors of the Media, War and Conflict Journal are holding our second conference at Accademia Europea Di Firenze, Florence, Italy in May 2020.

Alongside traditional papers, the expected conference programme will include film screenings and methodological workshops on Digital verification; Visuality/photography; The archive; Performance that are designed to facilitate the development of new ideas, networks and/or research proposals through dialogue with practitioners.

Conference Themes

In 2018 we were motivated by a feeling that broad theses on the transformation of war in new media environments was distracting attention from the richness of detailed work being conducted on specific cases. Macro theorisations were ignoring the varieties and intricacies of spaces through which war was being waged. That conference drew together a new generation of researchers in the field of war and media, and led to the forthcoming Spaces of War book due for publication in 2020.

But what emerged and gave meaning to the temporal and spatial dimensions of those dynamic, ever evolving spaces was the overarching theme of bodies and the profoundly corporeal, embodied nature of war and its relationship to space.

For this new conference, we invite contributions that explore the intersections of body and space in the field of war and media through two broad themes:

• Bodily Presence/Absence: How can research illuminate how bodies occupy, inhabit and live through and in spaces of war? When and how are bodies made visible in spaces of war, whose bodies (civic, military, technologized etc) and why? What are the implications of bodily presence and absence in relation to the transformative properties of the space? What are the consequences of post-bodily inhabitation?

• Embodied Participation: How do media and digital technologies alter and shift the affective, sensory, mnemonic qualities of space? How are bodies, and the corporeal reality of war, transformed by spaces and visa versa? What are the consequences of our engagement with spaces of war for ourselves, others and the space itself?

Drawing on these broad themes and questions, the conference will showcase exciting new research in this field while pinpointing the emerging puzzles and lines of enquiry we face at the intersection of bodies, media, space and war.

We are interested in scholarly and practice contributions that speak to these themes through a range of topics across various spheres and powers relations. 

While the main theme of this conference is the corporeal nature of war and its relationship to space, we also welcome papers dealing with any aspect of media, war and conflict. 

Please submit an abstract of 250 words with author affiliation and brief biog to: Sarah Maltby: s.maltby@sussex.ac.uk by 10th January 2020

Panel submissions are welcome. Panel proposals should include no more than 4 papers in total, a short description (200 words) together with abstracts for each of the papers (150-200 words each including details of the contributor), and the name and contact details of the panel proposer. The panel proposer should co-ordinate the submissions for that panel as a single proposal.

Registration Open: 24th January to 27th March 2020.

New special issue: Perceptions and Narratives of EU Crisis Diplomacy

Ben O’Loughlin along with Natalia Chaban and Alister Miskimmon have published a new special issue of European Security entitled, Perceptions and Narratives of EU Crisis Diplomacy. The articles present research from the three-year project, Crisis, Conflict and Critical Diplomacy: EU Perceptions in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine (C3EU). The context for the research is that the European Commission and the EEAS aim to more effectively engage with publics and stakeholders in the European Neighbourhood. Ukraine, Israel and Palestine are currently embroiled in conflicts set in differing contexts which threaten the EU’s eastern and southern edges. The research in these new articles diagnoses perceptions and narratives of the EU in these volatile strategic neighbours and tracks expectations about what role the EU should play. Read it here.

If you are interested in how communication works in international relations, this is important reading.

The special issue contains an article by Miskimmon and O’Loughlin that seeks to identify the narratives young people in Israel and Palestine hold about the EU. This is the first article they have published using the ‘Q-sort’ method of identifying the narratives people hold about politics. Read it here.

Conflict wines - gastronationalism and identity narratives, 19 September 2019

The New Political Communication Unit is hosting an interactive an interactive workshop with Professor Daniel Monterescu from the Central European University on the subject of conflict wines on 19 September 2019. This continues our research focus on identity narratives and how they are produced not just by political leaders but by a range of actors in any country.

The workshop/wine tasting will be based on Prof Monterescu's recent work on gastro-politics that focused on claims of indigeneity through the viticultural field in Palestine-Israel and on the Tokaj trade in historical memory (read about this here and here) and other forthcoming work. You can also check out Monterescu's groundbreaking work about the intergenerational marginalisation of radical voices here. In one piece of great relevance to this workshop Monterescu wrote:

"The discourse of terroir has seeped into Israeli and Palestinian wine culture since boutique wineries emerged in the 1990s, playing a major role in narrating the special history of the land. Terroir thus becomes a political project of establishing a quality space that transcends the capitalist logic of the consumer market.

The Zionist claim, which can be described as “a terroir without people for a people without terroir,” seeks to write out non-Jewish narratives. In contrast to the production of other agricultural commodities, such as olives, wheat, and tomatoes, wine production is framed in the Israeli discourse exclusively in terms of Jewish history. The omnipresence of wine in the Bible and in Jewish tradition, coupled with the Muslim prohibition on drinking it, perfectly pairs the teleological story of wine with hegemonic Zionist motifs: from ancient sovereignty, exile, and return to modern sovereignty, creation, and innovation..."

The workshop is by invitation only.

Collignon wins British Academy/Leverhulme grant to study candidate harrassment

Congratulations to NewPolCom’s Dr. Sofia Collignon, who has won a British Academy / Leverhulme Small Grant for her new project, Causes and consequences of harassment and intimidation of candidates standing in local elections.

Every year, candidates for elections are subject to harassment. Recent evidence suggests that harassment in UK elections is increasing. A recent survey of candidates standing in the 2017 General Election found that 32% had suffered some form of intimidation (Collignon et al 2017). Further research is urgently needed to understand the causes and consequences of harassment in political life. Crucially, is harassment limited to the high stakes political competition in a General Election or has it become a more pervasive phenomenon found at all levels of electoral politics?  The project will contribute to our understanding of this important problem by analysing the experience of harassment and intimidation of candidates who stood in the local elections in England on 2 May 2019. Are some candidates more vulnerable to harassment and intimidation than others? What are the most frequent and harmful forms of harassment?  What is its impact on political representation? And what can be done about it?

Influence and its Limits - O'Loughlin speaks at Paris conference

Ben O’Loughlin was a speaker at the international conference L’Influence et Ses Limites in Paris on June 20-21 2019. The conference was held at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences. Ben spoke about the concept of soft power and why he and his co-authors prefer to analyse influence in International Relations through the concept of strategic narrative (see their 2014 paper setting out the original argument here). In this interdisciplinary discussion, many of the participants were eager to consider how they could use strategic narrative analysis for historical research, as well as identify narratives in digital environments.

Thank you to Yves Cohen for organising the conference.

Media and Terrorism in France - new special issue of Media, War & Conflict

The journal Media, War & Conflict has published a new special issue on Media and Terrorism in France, edited by Katharina Niemeyer and Staffan Ericson. Following the Paris attacks of 2015, journalists as well as ordinary citizens in France have used different media to make sense of the events. The special issue offers a range of qualitative and quantitative studies, ranging from studies of street artists’ responses to the attacks to how big data can help us interpret such events, and that consider the impact of the attacks on French national identity as well as how international media reported the events.

Click here to read the articles.

Media, War & Conflict was first launched in April 2008. It is edited by NewPolCom’s Ben O’Loughlin along with co-editors Sarah Maltby, Katy Parry and Laura Roselle.

Paul Bernal - Why do governments always get internet regulation wrong? Tuesday 30th April 5pm Queens 170

This evening Paul Bernal from UEA will present a talk to NewPolCom entitled, Why do governments always get internet regulation wrong? Because they don't embrace the mess...

Time: Tuesday 30th April 5pm

Place: Queens 170

Please find details here of Paul’s talk:

Why do governments always get internet regulation wrong? Because they don’t embrace the mess…

Dr Paul Bernal–Research Group: Media, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law, University of East Anglia.  

The clamour for governments to ‘regulate' the internet has never been greater. They’re worried about offensive speech, about trolling and cyber-bullying, about fake news and political manipulation, about piracy and other forms of copyright breach. The internet, according to some of these accounts, is a dangerous place, a ‘wild west’ that needs to be reined in and controlled. And yet their efforts are largely ineffective - or worse, are actually counterproductive. Plans to address trolling end up creating tools for trolls to use on their victims. Attempts to deal with ‘fake news’ end up making fake news more effective and pushed nearer to the top of search lists. More criminal offences and stronger enforcement make almost no inroads in trolling. The question is why this happens - and the answer, across the board, is a failure to face up to the complexity, the messiness of the internet, but instead to fall into a series of classical traps based on oversimplified views of how the internet works. In this talk, Paul Bernal will explain why and how this happens - and what can be done to improve the situation.

O'Loughlin to speak in Poland on UK soft power after Brexit

On 26 April 2019 Collegium Civitas in Warsaw will host a conference examining Poland and the UK in a Post-Brexit World. Poland and the UK have often had positive and significant relations within Europe, each trying to keep Germany and France in check at key moments, and both assertive in their postures towards Russia. All of this is achieved through communication - through diplomacy, signals and gestures. But with the UK likely to leave the EU, this leaves Poland alone to try to balance against a French-German axis and it leaves Britain to find a new voice outside of Europe and with which to speak to Europe.

At the conference, Ben O’Loughlin will consider how debates and strategies around UK soft power in the past five years indicate what voice and role the UK would most usefully find.

If you are in Warsaw, do join!

Programme:

A New Footing? Poland and the UK in a Post-Brexit World 

26 April 2019

Łazarski University, ul Świeradowska 43, 02-662, Warszawa

(Room 273F)

(Contact: kerry.longhurst@gmail.com Collegium Civitas)

10am Opening Remarks

Martin Dahl (Faculty Dean, Łazarski University)

Alister Miskimmon (Queens University, Belfast)

Stephen Steele (UK Embassy, Warsaw)

Katarzyna Szczepaniak (The British Council, Warsaw)

11.00 – 12.30

Jan Grzymski (Łazarski University) ‘Brexit and the Limits of Europe’ 

Quincy Cloet and Kerry Longhurst (University of Wales, Aberystwyth and Collegium Civitas) ‘Domestic Leakage and Polish Foreign and Security Policy’ 

Vahan Hunanyan (Krzysztof Skubiszewski Foundation) ‘Poland’s Eastern Policy’

Alister Miskimmon Chair (Queens University, Belfast)

LUNCH

14 – 15.30

Marcin Zaborowski (Łazarski University) ‘Implications of Brexit for Central and Eastern Europe’

Ben O’ Loughlin (Royal Holloway University of London)  ‘British Soft Power in a Time of European Disintegration’

Agnieszka Nitza (Collegium Civitas) ‘Exploring the Idea of Soft Power – Applicable Concept or Non-Starter?’

Spasimir Domaradzki Discussant (Łazarski University)