Co-hosted with the Conflict Research Group at LSE and the Conflict, Security & Development Research Group at King’s College London.
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19 May 2016
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Speaker: Professor Elisabeth Jean Wood
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Discussant: Dr Kieran Mitton
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Chair: Dr des Livia Schubiger
Much of the literature (academic, policy and journalism) holds that when rape occurs frequently on the part of an armed organization, it has been purposefully adopted as a strategy of war. But rape by members of an organization during war is sometimes better understood as a practice: it is not organizational policy but is nonetheless tolerated by commanders. In this presentation Professor Elisabeth Jean Wood will present a typology of rape by armed organizations during war, one that distinguishes between rape adopted as policy (including as a strategy), as a practice, and opportunistic rape. Dr Wood will discuss the conditions under which each is likely to emerge. After arguing that the typology contributes to analysis of political violence generally, not just wartime rape, she will conclude with an assessment of the argument’s implications for researchers and policy-makers.
Elisabeth Jean Wood is Professor of Political Science, International and Area Studies at Yale University and a member of the External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute. She is currently writing two books, one on sexual violence during war, drawing on field research in several countries, and a second on political violence in Colombia (with Francisco Gutiérrez Sanín). She is the author of Forging Democracy from Below: Insurgent Transitions in South Africa and El Salvador and Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador, and co-editor with Morten Bergsmo and Alf B. Skre of Understanding and Proving International Sex Crimes and with Ian Shapiro, Susan C. Stokes, and Alexander S. Kirshner of Political Representation.
Among her recent articles and book chapters are “Multiple Perpetrator Rape during War,” “Transnational Dynamics of Civil War,” “Rape during War Is Not Inevitable: Variation in Wartime Sexual Violence,” “Armed groups and sexual violence: when is wartime rape rare?” “Sexual Violence during War: Variation and Accountability,” and “The Social Processes of Civil War: The Wartime Transformation of Social Networks.”
Elisabeth serves on the Board of Directors of the Peace Research Endowment and as Coordinator of the International Scientific Committee of the Observatorio de Restitución y la Regulación de Derechos de Propiedad Agraria (The Observatory of Restitution and Regulation of Agrarian Property Rights), and other policy related organizations. She also serves on the Editorial Board of the Contentious Politics series of the Cambridge University Press.
Elisabeth was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010. She has carried out field research in Colombia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Peru, and Israel/Palestine. At Yale she teaches courses on comparative politics, political violence, collective action, and qualitative research methods. She received the Graduate Mentor Award for the Social Sciences in May 2013.
Dr Kieran Mitton, (discussant) is Lecturer in International Relations - Conflict, Security & Development Research Group at King's College London.
Dr des. Livia Schubiger (chair) is Assistant Professor in Comparative Politics - Conflict Research Group at LSE.