Podcasts about oxpeace

Frances Guy and Liz Carmichael sum up the 2020 Oxpeace Conference.

Dr Henri Myrttinen, Gender Associations, gives a talk for the 2020 Oxpeace Conference

Baroness Helić presents 'Seeking Justice for Victims of Sexual Violence in Conflict' at the 2020 OxPeace conference.

Captain Sophie Piper presents 'Uniformed Women in South Sudan' at the 2020 OxPeace conference.

Dr Suad Musa presents 'UNSCR 1325 and the Experience of Women in Sudan' at the OxPeace 2020 conference.

Quhramaana Kakar presents 'Women's participation in peacebuilding and mediation' at the OxPeace 2020 conference.

Dr Kevin McNicholl presents 'Using the PA-X Database to Understand Gender Perspectives in Peace Agreements' at the OxPeace 2020 conference.

Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini MBE gives the keynote address on 'Twenty Years of UNSCR 1325' at the OxPeace 2020 conference.

Dr Liz Carmichael MBE opens the OxPeace 2020 Conference; Teohna Williams gives keynote on “Feminine Peace, Human Security”

Professor Franz Baumann (NYU) presents 'Global Heating: too big for politics?' at OxPeace 2019.

Brian Lander opens the annual OxPeace Conference with his remarks at the Conference dinner.

Professor Henry Shue (Oxford) presents 'How to exacerbate conflict by your response to climate change' at OxPeace 2019.

Professor Sir Charles Godfray (Oxford Martin School) presents 'Options for a Global Food System' at OxPeace 2019.

Oluwasolape Onafowora presents 'Human fatalities and the question of sustainability in Nigeria's ranching schemes' at the 2019 OxPeace conference.

Dr Coline Covington presents 'Taking back control - 'existential threat' and large group anxiety' at the OxPeace 2019 conference.

Professor Romola Davenport (Cambridge) presents 'Population, urbanisation and health' at the OxPeace 2019 conference.

Professor Heather Bouman (Oxford) presents 'Climate change, ice, and the oceans' invisible forest' at the OxPeace 2019 conference.

Professor Mark Maslin (UCL) presents 'New politics for surviving the Anthropocene' at OxPeace 2019.

Brian Lander, Deputy Director, World Food Programme (WFP) presents the 'Challenges of Addressing Food Insecurity' at OxPeace 2019.

Professor Sir Paul Collier delivers the 2018 OxPeace Conference Keynote lecture, discussing ‘How Business affects the chance of peace: the upside – jobs; the downside – crooks; and what to do about them.’ Sir Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony’s College. From 1998–2003 he was Director of the Research Development Department of the World Bank. His research covers the causes and consequences of civil war; the effects of aid and the problems of democracy in low-income and natural resources rich societies; urbanization in low-income countries; private investment in African infrastructure and changing organizational cultures.

Marcel Smits, Institute of Economics and Peace, discusses ‘The economics of conflict versus the economics of peacebuilding and sustainable peace’ at the 2018 Oxpeace Conference. Marcel Smits is the Director of the Europe Office of the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) in The Hague. Each year, IEP produces an estimate of the global cost of violence, adding up the costs associated with containing, preventing, and dealing with the consequences of violence. The least peaceful countries in the world disproportionately suffer economically from the levels of violence they experience. Violence greatly affect economic development which affects poverty, life expectancy, education, health and other development outcomes. For this reason, violent conflict is increasingly recognized as one of the biggest obstacles to reaching the SDGs by 2030. Although, there is an investment gap in developing countries of about $2.5 trillion to achieve the SDGs which the private sector is asked to help bridge, the calculations do not take into account the economic losses from violent conflict. The potential economic benefits from investing in peacebuilding and in sustaining peace in societies are therefore substantial. The session will show that besides a moral argument there is a good financial case to be made for peacebuilding and risk-informed sustainable development interventions by businesses and others as a way to prevent conflict and reduce the cost of violence.

Tina McKenzie discusses ‘Equality and Business in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland: Building shared space and community’ at the 2018 Oxpeace Conference. Tina McKenzie is an award-winning business leader, having worked across Europe over the last 20 years to connect people with the right skills with the right jobs. Whilst leading three multimillion pound turnover businesses in Ireland, Tina won awards from Women in Business and led Staffline Group to win the Fast Growth Business of the Year Award from UTV/Business Eye in 2015; going on to be named the European Ambassador for Women’s Entrepreneurship in 2016. Tina was then awarded Director of the Year by the Institute of Directors in 2017 and has recently been appointed as Chair of the FSB’s Policy Unit in Northern Ireland. Tina is also a board member for the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building, and a passionate advocate for building a better Northern Ireland.

Josie Lianna Kaye gives a talk titled ‘How to maximize business contributions to peace? Insights from a practitioner-researcher’ at the 2018 OxPeace Conference. Josie Lianna Kaye is the Director and Founder of TrustWorks Global, a London-based company which prevents and manages natural resource-related conflicts in high-risk settings. Drawing upon her experience as a researcher-practitioner, Josie’s intervention will seek to explore insights and lessons associated with three inter-linked key questions: first, how can multi-nationals in high-risks contexts prevent conflict and ‘sustain peace’? Second, what role does the United Nations – and other multi-lateral entities - have to play in enabling and/or supporting businesses to play such a role? Third, how can research in this domain catalyse a relationship between businesses and UN actors that fosters more constructive contributions to conflict prevention and sustaining peace?

Eva Grosman gives a talk on ‘Strategy, Innovation and Peacebuilding: lessons from Northern Ireland’ at the 2018 Oxpeace Conference. Eva Grosman is the Chief Executive of the Belfast based Centre for Democracy and Peace Building and Director for Public Affairs at the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict at Harris Manchester College. The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement is an excellent example of social innovation, which radically changed the architecture of the whole eco-system and focused on rebuilding three sets of disturbed historic relationships – between Protestant Unionists and Catholic Nationalists in Northern Ireland; between the people of Ireland, North and South; and between Britain and Ireland. However, while the 1998 Agreement created an environment for consensus and stopped the large scale political violence, the sectarian division continues to paralyse Northern Ireland. Segregation in social housing and education is still a major issue. Public services incur an additional annual cost of up to £833 million in which division may be a factor. Northern Ireland economic performance is consistently below the UK average, with long-standing issues in the labour market including low productivity and high rate of economic inactivity. So, how do you innovate in the political environment where systems, people, organisation and culture are fragmented, and general public not quite ready for the open system of innovation?

Dr Sarah von Billerbeck presents her talk titled the ‘The Role of Commercial Banks in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: Anecdotal Evidence from the DRC’ at the 2018 Oxpeace Conference. Sarah von Billerbeck is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations and co-Director of the UN and Global Order Programme at the University of Reading. While the role of private sector actors during conflict has been explored in academic research, literature on their role after conflict and during peacebuilding is less developed. In particular, a crucial player has been entirely omitted: commercial banks. Post-conflict countries often see an influx of commercial banks in what is usually a weakly regulated market, but they nonetheless take on a number of important functions, including financial services reform, overseeing public sector salary payments, facilitating disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) programs, and foreign investment. However, we have no systematic understanding of the actual effects of commercial banks in post-conflict settings. While they can contribute to personal financial stability, combat illegal taxation and corruption, spur economic recovery, and buttress state authority, they can also have negative effects by serving as vehicles for money laundering, contributing to financial crises, deepening public debt, and weakening faith in the government’s ability to manage the economy. This presentation highlights anecdotal evidence from a 'bancarization' programme in the DR Congo to demonstrate the importance of commercial banks in helping or hindering peacebuilding and the re-establishment of stable state-society relations after war.

Dr Liz Carmichael discusses the ‘Progressive roles of business in the South African transition’ at the 2018 Oxpeace Conference. Dr Liz Carmichael is Emeritus Research Fellow in Theology at St John’s College, University of Oxford, and the convenor of the Oxford Network of Peace Studies (OxPeace), a multidisciplinary initiative to promote the study of peace, peacemaking, peacebuilding and peacekeeping in the University. Dr Carmichael became Chaplain, Fellow and Tutor in Theology at St John's in 1996, and in 2004 published Friendship: Interpreting Christian Love, a history of the interpretation of 'agape' as friendship-love in the western Christian tradition. She is currently researching on the origins and operation of the South African National Peace Accord and the work of its structures in the transition period 1991-94.

Andres Ucros presents his talk on ‘Private Sector and Peacebuilding: Lessons from Colombia’ at the 2018 Oxpeace Conference. Andres Ucros is currently Director of Peace Building in the Chamber of Commerce of Bogota, Colombia. Colombia has suffered one of the longest internal armed conflicts in the world. This long and tainted war has been active for over five decades and its magnitude was, and still is greater than many major internal conflicts around the world. During the last five years, the Colombian government and the FARC-EP guerrillas have been engaged in peace talks with the aim of putting an end to armed struggle. Throughout this process, both parties have deployed a number of innovative strategies and techniques that are setting new standards in the field of conflict resolution. These new approaches are now informing developments in peace-making, peace-building, security, human rights, and international law at the regional and global levels. The aim of this presentation is to describe how the private sector has engaged in the negotiation and with the implementation of the agreement itself to draw some lessons from the Colombian experience.

How schools are contributing to truth-seeking, social cohesion and active citizenship in Sri Lanka. The civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended in 2009, with total defeat of the LTTE and many thousands of civilian casualties. With the election of a new government in 2015, efforts are being made to address the ethno-religious and cultural tensions that led to the war. We have investigated how schools are contributing to truth-seeking, social cohesion and active citizenship, through a qualitative study of six state secondary schools in the north, south, east, west and centre of the country, covering the main different ethnic and religious groups. Teachers are trying to impart values and skills for social harmony, and there is a strong emphasis on leadership but little or no critical thinking or discussion.

Overview of the 2017 OxPeace Conference

Tangible steps that can be taken to better organise the world for peace. World peace is out of fashion: not even pacifists believe in it nowadays, wrote Susan Sontag. Yet a series of recent UN reviews came to the conclusion that peace is fundamental to the achievement of other goals. The peace imperative was recognised by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which call for peaceful and inclusive societies. This talk examines the challenges that make world peace so difficult, considers past efforts and ideas, and introduces some tangible steps that can be taken to better organise the world for peace. - See more at: https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/1cbff6e8-44d7-4ee7-895a-dc0d2c06e027/#sthash.c72k6Nor.dpuf

Negative Peace is when violence has stopped, but the underlying issues remain unresolved. It is thus often seen as an unsustainable peace, since violence may erupt again. Negative Peace is when violence has stopped, but the underlying issues remain unresolved. It is thus often seen as an unsustainable peace, since violence may erupt again. Positive Peace by contrast is when people and institutions have the ability to resolve or at least manage their differences without recourse to violence, while continuing to make progress in improving their lives – a process which often gives rise to new conflicts. In his presentation Phil will define and explain Positive Peace, and illustrate this with practical peacebuilding examples and challenges at local, national and international levels.

Increasing resilience against violence is the aim of Aegis Trust’s peace education programme in Rwanda. Increasing resilience against violence is the aim of Aegis Trust’s peace education programme in Rwanda. Achieved through building empathy, critical thinking, trust and commitment to action, the programme was integrated into the Rwandan National Curriculum in 2016. Aegis works with the Rwandan Education Board to train teachers and develop learning and teaching resources. Rwandan educators are adapting their approach as a tool for prevention in unstable states, notably in Central African Republic.

The evolution of thinking on peacebuilding in DFID, and the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. The evolution of thinking on peacebuilding in DFID, and the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. Building on Goals 1-15 – on ending poverty, building strong economies and infrastructures, promoting access to health, resources and work, inclusivity, combating climate change, protecting ecosystems - Goal 16 aims to “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

This talk uses first person interviews to present the on-the-ground attitudes to peace in post-ISIS Iraq. The international community, led by America, regularly proclaims a commitment to the integrity of Iraq, a country bitterly and often violently divided along sectarian-ethnic lines (Arab Sunni, Arab Shia and Kurdish). This talk uses first person interviews to present the on-the-ground attitudes to peace in post-ISIS Iraq, after first sketching the post-invasion events which led to the seeming stalemate we are seeing today. Interviews with soldiers on the frontline with ISIS, Kurdish political, military and intelligence leadership, and civilians in the cities all point to a desire for complete Kurdish independence, but also show sharp divisions even within this group. Interviews with Sunnis fighting both for and against ISIS and also with Sunni civilian refugees fleeing ISIS show a bitterness with the status quo which points to a future cycle of violence. Improvements require action from the central government in Baghdad, which in the current climate are difficult to imagine. Possible actions from all groups will be considered with an eye to what has failed in the past 14 years to build a stable, flourishing Iraq.

Cultural heritage in peacebuilding This presentation was given at the Conference Dinner on May 5, 2017

Business, Peace and Interfaith Understanding; Concepts and Practice of Positive Peace: Overview of the Conference, Business, Peace and Interfaith Understanding; Concepts and Practice of Positive Peace: Overview of the Conference,

Discussion on whether offline and online participatory budgeting processes could foster positive peace in Colombia and, if so, under what circumstances. After fifty years of war, Colombia is about to start the implementation of an ambitious peace deal between the Government and the FARC-EP guerrilla. Participation is one of the most used words in the agreement between the parties, and peacebuilding in the local areas will depend on the active participation of citizens in more than forty participatory spaces featured in the final accord. One of them is participatory budgeting, which is a process that allows citizens of a locality to directly decide how to spend part of the local budget. Based on qualitative research, the presentation will discuss whether offline and online participatory budgeting processes could foster positive peace in Colombia and, if so, under what circumstances.

Young participants from a conflict-affected town express their ideas about peace, which contrast starkly with the country’s dominant optimism. In the aftermath of the ‘no’ victory in the Colombian peace plebiscite, great emphasis has been placed on youth movements’ push for peace. Violent groups in Latin America are largely made up of male youths. In my documentary made during 9 months of fieldwork: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT_BqPT9E-U), a short section of which will be shown, young participants from a conflict-affected town express their ideas about peace, which contrast starkly with the country’s dominant optimism. For them, the peace process is nothing more than corrupt politics. When they do talk of peace, they emphasise its domestic, inner and apolitical dimensions. More often, however, they simply believe that peace is not possible at all. The marginalisation of youths constitutes an enduring form of structural violence in Colombia’s post-conflict phase – one which should be urgently addressed through the lenses of social justice if Colombia’s peace is to last.

Outline some of the conceptual and practical difficulties regarding the clearance of Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) and reflect on the implications for states and populations in transformation. Fifteen to thirty percent (15-30%) of armaments fail to function when deployed: these include missiles, rockets, shells, mines, bomblets and carrier munitions. Direct violence does not fully cease - and, perhaps, conflict transformation cannot truly begin - until the explosive remnants of war (ERW) are cleared away. ERW may problematise a nascent state's monopoly on violence. ERW are commonly associated with Cambodia, Laos, Angola, Mozambique and Bosnia-Herzegovina; it somehow escapes attention that countries such as France (1st World War) and the UK (the Blitz, Falkland Islands) also possess enduring ERW problems. In this talk I will outline some of the conceptual and practical difficulties regarding the clearance of ERW and reflect on the implications for states and populations in transformation. Examples will be drawn from many different sites ofconflict in the last 100 years.

John Curtis will describe the destruction of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Iraq, beginning with the first Gulf War in 1991 and continuing to the ravages of ISIS in 2014-2017. John Curtis will describe the destruction of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Iraq, beginning with the first Gulf War in 1991 and continuing to the ravages of ISIS in 2014-2017. He will review the mostly unsuccessful attempts to protect that cultural heritage, and examine what prospects there might be for rebuilding it, particularly after the defeat of ISIS in the north. Lastly, he will consider what implications this has for a lasting peace in Iraq and for the future of the Iraqi state.

Empirical insights from four country studies (Myanmar, Pakistan, South Africa and Uganda) on the topic of youth agency for peacebuilding. I am presenting empirical insights from four country studies (Myanmar, Pakistan, South Africa and Uganda) on the topic of youth agency for peacebuilding, and the role of non-formal and formal education in fostering or hindering such spaces. I reflect on the processes of knowledge generation about youth peacebuilding agency across diverse conflict-affected contexts, through a ‘critical cultural political economy of education’ approach that explores young people’s agency and empowerment. The report analyses youth agency for peacebuilding, through studying: 1) political agency (representation); 2) economic/sustainable livelihoods (redistribution); 3) socio-cultural relations/identity formation (recognition); and 4) dealing with the past and building trust (reconciliation). The report highlights the importance of the voices, This requires a context-specific, conflict-sensitive and cultural political economy understanding of the challenges and opportunities that various youth constituencies are faced with, and how education initiatives (fail to) respond to this.

On peace-building in The Peace Community of San Joseì de Apartadó The Peace Community of San Joseì de Apartadó is a peasant farmer community in Urabaì subregion who declared themselves 'neutral' to the Colombian armed conflict in 1997. One of the most emblematic victims’ groups in the country, they have been alternately glorified and condemned, but this paper, based on five years’ ethnographic work, shifts the human rights frame with which they have typically been viewed and proposes a gaze based on Galtung’s ‘positive peace’ concept, revealing two key narratives which co-exist in their collective identity: the radical narrative, according to which the Community interprets politics; and the organic narrative, the way in which they perceive their relationship to the environment and to their organisational process. These combine with the cultural practice of production of cacao (cocoa) and produce a concept of alternative community.

On the Global Peace Index, developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) - the world's leading measurement of country peacefulness. The Global Peace Index, developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP, is the world's leading measurement of country peacefulness. Through this, IEP has also created the first global, quantitative approach to measuring Positive Peace based on the social factors that have strongest statistically significant relationships with the absence of violence. Murray will present on why and how the IEP measures peace, the development of its thinking on the properties of Positive Peace and how well-developed Positive Peace represents the capacity for a society to meet the needs of citizens, reduce the number of grievances that arise and resolve remaining disagreements without the use of violence.

Professor Richard Caplan (Oxford) gives a talk in the final plenary - Conceptualizing Peace. Part of the 2016 OxPeace Conference.

Dr Denisa Kostovicova (LSE) gives a talk in the final plenary - Conceptualizing Peace. Part of the 2016 OxPeace Conference.

Polly Higgins gives a talk in parallel session D - Environmental Peace and Conflict. Part of the 2016 Oxpeace conference.

Dr Shonil Bhagwat gives a talk in parallel session D - Environmental Peace and Conflict. Part of the 2016 Oxpeace conference.

Jon Bennett gives a talk in parallel session C - Syria: governance, conflict and peace – two practical perspectives. Part of the 2016 OxPeace conference.

Prof David Keen (LSE) gives a talk for the first plenary session -Studying Peace and Studying Conflict: Complementary or Competing Paradigms? Part of the 2016 OxPeace conference.

Prof John Gledhill (Oxford) gives a talk for the first plenary session -Studying Peace and Studying Conflict: Complementary or Competing Paradigms? Part of the 2016 OxPeace conference.