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THE LONG EMERGENCY
This summer, images of drought, famine and people queuing for food aid in the Horn of Africa have reappeared on television screens and in newspapers worldwide. Across large parts of the region, livestock are dying in huge numbers because they cannot get water and pasture. The international community and celebrities launch aid appeals in a crisis that is compounded by conflict in Somalia and the presence of terror groups supposedly linked to Al-Qaeda. But are this crisis in the Horn of Africa, and the local as well as international response to it, something new? What are the causes, and what is really at stake? Through a series of four public lectures by scholars, journalists and aid professionals with substantial experience in the region, the Conflict Research Group proposes to look beyond the headlines and emotions. Programme
Thursday, 13 october 2011, 19:00 'Here we go again…': Framing and explaining the Horn of Africa 'crisis' Simon Levine, Humanitarian Policy Group, Overseas Development Institute Auditorium E, Universiteitsstraat 8, Gent
Tuesday, 25 October 2011, 19:00 The crisis caravan: what’s wrong with humanitarian aid? An examination with regard to Somalia and the Horn of Africa Linda Polman, journalist on conflict and development issues for NRC Handelsblad, The Guardian, Volkskrant and The Times Filmzaal Plateau (complex Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid), Paddenhoek 3
Thursday, 10 November 2011, 19:00 Looking beyond relief. Food security and food sovereignity in the complex emergencies of the Horn of Africa Luca Alinovi, Food and Agriculture Organisation in Somalia Auditorium D (Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid), Universiteitsstraat 2-4
Tuesday, 22 November 2011, 19:00 Security, development and the geopolitics of humanitarian disaster in Eastern Africa David Anderson, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford Auditorium D (Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid), Universiteitsstraat 2-4 Photography: ©CIDA East Africa Drought Relief Fund – ACDI Fonds d'aide aux victimes de la sécheresse en Afrique de l'Est, Diane Briand, 2011. |
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HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTIONS IN PROTRACTED CRISIS
Does humanitarian aid helps affected people to cope with crises, or have aid and the international response to emergencies become part of the problem? With the changing nature of conflict and the increasing importance of humanitarian aid since the end of the Cold War, the humanitarian sector has often become an important actor in conflict. The emergence of global news media and the presence of international peacekeeping forces in various conflict and post-conflict areas also added to the complexity of aid. Through four case-based public lectures by international experts and former field workers, the Conflict Research Group wants to discuss and illustrate a number of critical issues of current humanitarian assistance in protracted crises.
Programme
Tuesday 9 March 2010 ‘Condemned to repeat?’ The paradox of humanitarian action Fionna Terry (Duke University, North Carolina)
Monday 22 March 2010 Geopolitical dimensions of military-humanitarian relations in the Balkans and Afghanistan Yann Braem (Deputy Head, Afghanistan-Pakistan Interagency Team, Ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes, Paris)
Tuesday 27 April 2010 ’From our own correspondents’: aid and the media. How user-generated content alters power dynamics in reporting humanitarian crises Glenda Cooper (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford)
Monday 10 May 2010 'Aiding war, aiding peace': the future of humanitarian interventions Théa Hilhorst (Disaster Studies, University of Wageningen) |
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CITIES AT WAR
War and Conflict often acquire an outspoken urban translation. Whether being the scene of armed struggle, or the focal point of a humanitarian operation, the city compels ordinary people to cope with the spatial dimensions of violent social change. A team of international specialists will discuss these contemporary aspects of urban violence in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Programme
1 April 2009 The city as a humanitarian space François Grünewald
21 April 2009 Slumdog warriors? Urban violence in Mumbai and Karachi Ward Berenschot & Laurent Gayer
30 April 2009 From guerrilla to favella: the changing face of violence in Latin America Dennis Rodgers & Kees Koonings
19 May 2009 The (in)visible city: conflict and survival in Kinshasa and Bukavu Femke van Zeijl & Filip De Boeck |
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POST CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION Many of today’s post-conflict reconstruction efforts are represented as ‘revolutions from above’ or even as outright neo-colonialism. By proposing – some say imposing – radical changes and institutional reforms in protacted crises in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq and Afghanistan, international peace builders and their donors are striving to open up conflict areas to the neo-liberal world order. Nonetheless, a number of important setbacks in these countries’ transition and peace processes have cast a shadow over contemporary peace building efforts, sometimes even touching their very foundations. But what, in fact, does post-conflict reconstruction contain? What are the different aspects and interests at stake? What are the experiences and lessons learned in different parts of the world? With this lecture series, the Conflict Research Group at the Centre for Third World Studies of Ghent University wants to answer a number of questions about, and offer insight into, today’s peace-building efforts. This course will consist of eight lectures between December 2007 and May 2008 by international specialists.
Programme
18 December 2007 War and social change in West Africa Paul Richards
20 December 2007 International criminal justice in African war zones Tim Allen
13 February 2008 Post-conflict reintegration in Aceh Leena Avonius
27 February 2008 No war no peace in Burundi Marta Martinelli
13 March 2008 Drugs and peace-building in Afghanistan Jonathan Goodhand
9 April 2008 The limits of power sharing in African conflicts Andreas Mehler
23 April 2008 State collapse and reconstruction: Which scope for fresh starts? Martin Doornbos
7 May 2008 How to pay for the peace Christopher Cramer |
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