Francisco González Centeno
MSc Sociology (2013)
LSE gave me a set of analytical tools that continue to guide my work today: the ability to question institutions, to understand how law and politics are embedded within social structures, and to approach complex global challenges with both critical distance and intellectual curiosity.
Tell us about your journey since graduating from LSE.
One of the moments that best captures my journey since graduating from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) took place in the streets of Bangui, in the Central African Republic (CAR).
We had installed a large screen in a neighbourhood square to show a summary of an International Criminal Court (ICC) hearing taking place thousands of kilometres away, in The Hague. Within minutes, hundreds of people gathered to watch. For many in the crowd, it was the first time they had ever seen an international criminal trial or understood how these judicial processes worked. In that moment, the ICC’s hearings room seemed to become part of the public space of Bangui itself.
People stayed, asked questions, and debated what justice meant. That moment reflected many of the ideas I had encountered during my time in the LSE Department of Sociology: that justice is not only about courtrooms and legal decisions; it is also about public narration, the reconstruction of collective memory, potential peacebuilding, reconciliation, and deterrence.
Since 2019, I have served at the ICC in roles spanning public information and external relations. I currently serve as External Operations Planning Coordinator, supporting the strategic coordination that enables all Court’s operations through engagement with States Parties to the Rome Statute, the United Nations, and other international partners. Earlier, as Public Information Coordinator, I worked on advancing access to justice through the human right of access to information across situations including CAR —where I lived for almost five years— as well as Venezuela, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Sudan, and across seventeen situation countries.
My time in the field in CAR —including several periods as Officer-in-Charge of the Head of ICC Country Office— allowed me to apply in practice the sociological insights I gained at LSE about how international justice interacts with societies emerging from conflict.
Before joining the ICC, I also worked in international and multilateral environments that shaped my understanding of the relationship between institutions, law, and society. At UNESCO, I worked on external relations initiatives connected to the protection of cultural heritage and the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural goods —issues that reveal how culture, identity, and collective memory intersect with development and peacebuilding. Earlier still, I served at the Supreme Court of Argentina in the Chambers of the Chief Justice, contributing to work on judicial diplomacy, multilateral engagement, and international cooperation, but in the domain of external and public information, making relevant decisions of the Tribunal intelligible for the external audiences.
Looking back, the sociological perspective I developed at LSE has been central to how I understand these experiences. During my MSc programme, I explored how transitional justice processes interact with collective memory and national identity. Drawing on thinkers such as Slavoj Žižek, Maurice Halbwachs, Judith Butler, Achille Mbembé, and Paul Ricoeur —some of whom I had the privilege of hearing speak at LSE public lectures— my research examined how societies narrate traumatic pasts and how those narratives shape reconciliation and political reconstruction.
Today I see those questions every day in practice. International criminal justice does not only adjudicate crimes; it also contributes to the historical record through trials, testimonies, and public engagement. In that sense, courts can become what historian Pierre Nora famously called lieux de mémoire —sites where societies confront, interpret, and narrate their past.
In many ways, this reflects the spirit of LSE’s motto, rerum cognoscere causas: understanding the causes of things in order to build more just and peaceful societies. If my work today contributes in some small way to that endeavour, it is largely thanks to the intellectual curiosity and critical tools I encountered during my time at LSE.
My connection with LSE has also continued well beyond graduation. Over the years I have had the privilege of returning to the School as a guest lecturer in different Departments, and engaging with students interested in careers in international organisations and global justice. I have also remained involved in the alumni community through initiatives such as the LSE Alumni Regional Liaison Committee and other alumni networks. Staying connected to the School has been a meaningful way to contribute to the community that shaped my intellectual path and to continue the dialogue between academic ideas and professional practice.
What advice would you give to current students?
My main advice would be to embrace intellectual curiosity and allow yourself to explore questions that genuinely intrigue you, even if you are not yet sure where they will lead.
One of the things that makes LSE unique is its ability to connect rigorous academic thinking with real-world challenges. During my time in the Department of Sociology, I became fascinated by how societies attempt to confront their past and rebuild political communities and identities. At the time, this was simply an academic interest that led me to write my dissertation on transitional justice and collective memory in Liberia. Yet those questions eventually became the intellectual foundation of my professional life.
LSE gave me a set of analytical tools that continue to guide my work today: the ability to question institutions, to understand how law and politics are embedded within social structures, and to approach complex global challenges with both critical distance and intellectual curiosity.
My advice would therefore be to take full advantage of the extraordinary intellectual and international environment the School offers. Attend lectures beyond your discipline, engage with professors and researchers whose work inspires you, and learn from the diverse perspectives of your classmates. Some of the most valuable learning at LSE happens not only in the classroom but also in conversations that challenge how you see the world.
If you approach your studies with curiosity and openness, the experience will shape not only your career but also how you understand society and your role within it.
What skills or experiences from your time at LSE equipped you for the future?
One of the most valuable things LSE gave me was a set of intellectual tools to analyse institutions and social processes with critical distance. Studying Sociology encouraged me to look beyond formal structures and examine the deeper historical, political, and cultural forces that shape them.
Equally important were the methodological tools I learned. Approaches such as ethnography and participant observation trained me to observe how institutions function in practice, paying attention not only to formal rules but also to everyday interactions, narratives, and social dynamics, including social control. These skills have been extremely useful throughout my career, particularly in contexts where understanding how people perceive institutions is just as important as understanding how those institutions operate.
One of the Sociology assignments that stayed with me most vividly involved accompanying a patrol of the London Metropolitan Police for an afternoon. Under the guidance of my LSE Sociology and Criminology professor and mentor, Janet Foster, we were encouraged to observe the broader social dynamics surrounding the work of law enforcement in particular urban spaces in London. The task was to analyse how different actors —law enforcement officers, witnesses, passers-by, and members of the public— interpreted and constructed those situations. That experience offered a powerful introduction to ethnographic observation and to the sociological insight that institutions are not only defined by formal rules but are continually shaped through everyday interactions and perceptions.
These sociological tools —critical analysis, sensitivity to social context, and attention to lived experience— continue to guide my work today, particularly when engaging with communities affected by conflict and explaining international justice processes.
What is your proudest achievement?
One of the achievements I value most is helping bring international justice closer to communities affected by conflict.
During my time working in CAR with the ICC, much of our work focused on ensuring that people could understand, have a sense of ownership and engage with judicial processes taking place thousands of kilometres away in The Hague. In many contexts affected by conflict, justice institutions can feel distant or abstract. Through initiatives such as community radio programmes, public screenings of Court proceedings, and dialogues with civil society groups, we sought to create spaces where people could follow the Court’s work, ask questions, and discuss what justice might mean for their communities.
Seeing hundreds of people gather in neighbourhood squares in Bangui and in the hinterland of CAR to watch summaries of Court hearings remains one of the most powerful moments of my career.
For me, the most meaningful achievement has been contributing to making international justice more accessible, understandable, and connected to the lived experiences of communities.
What is your fondest memory from LSE?
One of my fondest memories from LSE is the intellectual atmosphere that seemed to permeate the entire campus. It felt like a place where global debates were constantly unfolding —in lectures, seminars, and conversations in the corridors between classes.
The different corners of LSE’s campus architecture each became, in their own way, spaces where ideas began to take shape for me. Whether it was a bench on campus, a quiet moment in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, or a conversation over a drink at The George IV, discussions seemed to emerge everywhere. Some of the most memorable debates happened in these open and informal settings, where conversations continued long after lectures had ended and where peers from different disciplines and parts of the world challenged one another’s perspectives —while also forming friendships and life connections.
Those spaces embodied something special about LSE: intellectual curiosity was not confined to the classroom. The campus itself felt permeated by dialogue. Sitting anywhere on campus surrounded by others working on entirely different questions or continuing a lively discussion with classmates at the pub after a class, was a constant reminder of being part of a truly global academic community. That atmosphere —where ideas were freely debated and refined through conversation— was incredibly inspiring and remains one of my fondest memories of my time at LSE.
Beyond that, some of the most memorable moments were attending public lectures across the School. Hearing leading thinkers and decision-makers —whether I agreed with them or not, which is perhaps the most important element of LSE— discuss issues ranging from political theory to global justice reinforced the sense that LSE was not just a place to study, but a place where ideas about society, power, and institutions were constantly being debated and reimagined.
Looking back, what made those experiences special was not only the academic learning but also the feeling of being part of a community of curious minds trying to understand the causes of things —and how that understanding might contribute to improving society.
What moments have reminded you why your work matters?
Some of the moments that have most clearly reminded me why my work matters have occurred when engaging directly with people —an experience deeply connected to the sociological perspective I developed during my studies at LSE.
During my time working in CAR with the ICC, I often saw how important it was for people to feel a sense of ownership over justice processes. When communities could follow proceedings, ask questions, and engage with the meaning of justice, those processes became far more tangible and meaningful.
These experiences also connected with insights I had gained earlier in my career and through my academic training at LSE. At UNESCO, I helped coordinate the #Unite4Heritage campaign in South America, an initiative aimed at mobilising public awareness around the protection of cultural heritage and countering the destruction of culture used by extremist groups as a strategy for erasing identity and history. Working on that campaign meant communicating how culture and heritage are deeply intertwined with identity, collective memory, and the narratives through which societies understand themselves.
Earlier still, my role at the Chambers of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Argentina involved external and public information initiatives aimed at making the Court’s most relevant decisions intelligible and accessible to broader audiences —including academia, international partners, and civil society. That experience reinforced the importance of ensuring that judicial institutions communicate clearly with the societies where they operate.
Across these different experiences, I have come to appreciate the importance of communication, recognition, and collective ownership of institutional processes —ensuring that institutions speak to societies, and that the stories of victims and communities are integrated into broader efforts toward social improvement-. Moments when people engage with these processes —asking questions, debating ideas, or recognising that their experiences are being acknowledged— continue to remind me why my work matters.
In many ways, they also reaffirm something I first encountered studying Sociology at LSE: that institutions do not exist independently of society but are constantly shaped through the interaction between structures and the people who inhabit them —an idea captured powerfully in the work of Anthony Giddens, an LSE sociologist and former Director of the School. Institutions become meaningful only when they are understood, discussed, and embedded within the social worlds in which they operate.
What challenges have you had to overcome in your career?
One of the most significant challenges in my career has been working in contexts where the institutions meant to uphold justice or protect cultural heritage can feel distant or abstract to the people most affected.
In places affected by conflict or historical trauma, trust in institutions is often fragile. One of the challenges has therefore been helping bridge the gap between institutions and the communities —ensuring that processes are understandable, meaningful, and accessible to those whose lives they most directly impact.
In contexts where State institutions may be weak and where communities have experienced years of violence or instability, explaining these processes requires cultural sensitivity, and genuine two-ways dialogue. It also requires recognising that justice, for instance, is not only a legal concept but a deeply social one, shaped by people’s experiences, expectations, and memories.
Another challenge has been navigating the complexity of international and multilateral environments, where institutions operate across different legal traditions, political dynamics and cultural contexts. In these settings, communication and diplomacy become essential —not only to coordinate actors but also to ensure that the underlying goals of justice and cooperation remain clear.
At the same time, these experiences have been among the most meaningful in my career. They have reinforced a sociological insight I first encountered during my studies at LSE: that institutions do not exist in isolation but are continually shaped through their interaction with the societies in which they operate. Understanding these relationships —and helping ensure that justice processes are accessible and intelligible to the people— remains one of the most meaningful aspects of my work.