Middle East Centre Emirates PhD Award Winners 2013-2014

Mark Kersten, Department of International Relations

Thesis Title: Justice in Conflict - The International Criminal Court in Libya and Northern Uganda

Mark's work focuses on the nexus of international criminal justice and conflict resolution. Specifically, his work examines the effects of the International Criminal Court on peace processes and negotiations in northern Uganda and Libya. Mark is also the creator and author of the blog Justice and Conflict.| Mark tweets at @MarkKersten|

Suzanne Morrison, Government Department

Thesis Title: The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement: Contentious Politics in Palestine and Beyond

Suzanne conducts research on the Palestinian movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) under the supervision of Dr John Chalcraft. She obtained her MA in Political Science from the American University in Cairo, where she researched the relationship between international institutions and Palestinian state formation. Her master’s thesis earned the Tafiq Doss from AUC for the best master’s thesis in political science. In 2award 012, she was a research fellow at the Kenyon Institute in Jerusalem and conducted field research in Israel and the Palestinian territories. She can be reached at s.morrison@lse.ac.uk|

Navid Nekouei, Government Department

Thesis Title: Popularization of Factional Politics in Islamic Republic of Iran

Navid's main area of research is the relationship between society, political elites, and, factional politics in the hybrid regimes, mainly, contemporary Iran. Within this context his thesis hopes to determine the extent to which the emergence and evolution of factional groups and their politics have been conditioned by elite perceptions of societal demands and to show how factional groups were slowly forced to reach out of the institutional context and seek popular electoral support in order to compete successfully in factional struggles within the institutions of the IRI.

Alaa Tartir, Department of International Development

Thesis Title: Criminalising Resistance, Entrenching Neoliberalism: The Fayyadist Paradigm in Occupied Palestine

Alaa a PhD candidate| and researcher| in International Development Studies and Political Economy. In his thesis, Alaa examines and problematizes the style of governance and state-building project in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, primarily between 2007 and 2013. The thesis examines the transformations that occurred in the two spheres of security and economy, and elucidates their consequences on the people’s security and well-being, as well as the broader dynamics of resistance against the Israeli military occupation. Alaa is also the Program Director of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network| and a research fellow at The Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute; The Palestinian American Research Center; and Bisan Center for Research and Development.

Tobias Thiel,| Department of International History

Thesis Title: Yemen’s Quest for Modern Statehood: Contentious Politics, Collective Memory, and Political Violence in Post-Unification Yemen

Tobias is writing his dissertation on contentious politics, collective memory and political violence in post-unification Yemen. He has spent three years conducting field research in Yemen from 2010 to 2013. His main research interests are social movements, political violence and the MENA region.