Randi Solhjell is a PhD candidate at the Government Department at LSE. She is affiliated with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) where her work relates to the peace operation in DR Congo, gender and security. She holds an MRes in Political Science, an MPhil in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Oslo/ Sciences Po Paris and a bachelor degree in Development Studies (University of Oslo)
Thesis
The idea of African Statehood and negotiating public goods: A Case study of Bukavu, eastern DR Congo
The PhD stems from an interest to challenge prevailing notions of states in the sub-Saharan African region that are often perceived as weak, consisting of what many observers would term high political disorder, little or limited legitimacy from its citizens and autocratic rule. This PhD takes a different approach by instead focusing on how statehood actually functions rather than stressing what is missing from an ideal Western state concept. Through a political ethnographic approach, I study how negotiations over public goods, such as road, waste management and water access, takes place in the provincial capital Bukavu in eastern DR Congo .
Supervisors: Professor John Breuilly| and Dr Elliot Green|
Research interests
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African statehood literature, especially the more sociological and antropoligiohal readings of politics and states in the vast continent
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The history of the Democratic Republic of Congo, former Zaîre, Belgian Congo and the Congo Free state
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Feminist writings, especially in International Relations theory, on power hierarchies in state-building issues including United Nations Peace Operations.
Publications
Randi Solhjell (2013). Gendered Military Operations? Military Missions in Afghanistan and The Democratic Republic of Congo, in a special issue of Kvinder, Køn & Forskning | with the title Gender, Conflict and Violence , no. 2, 2013.
Randi Solhjell (2013). Gender-sensitive protection and the Responsibility to Prevent: Lessons from Chad , Chapter 5 in Responsibility to Protect and Women, Peace and Security| .Leiden: Brill.
Randi Solhjell (2014). Rwanda – A Collective Responsibility. . Perspective no. 1, 2014|, Op-ed 24 March
Contact
Staff profile: Norwegian Institute of International Affairs|
Email: R.H.Solhjell@lse.ac.uk|