hosted by the Conflict & Society Research Priority Area (RPA) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA)
Upcoming Events
More events coming soon.
Past Events
Talk: Counterinsurgent Urbanism: Weaponising Land and Heritage in Northern Kurdistan
Lunch Talk by Ronay Bakan, organized by ACCS and the RPA Conflict & Society
DATE 12 MARCH 2026 | TIME12:00 -13:30 | LOCATION ROETERSEILANDCAMPUS – ROOM B3.05
Emerging technologies of war and counterinsurgency increasingly target urban landscapes, populations, and infrastructures. This talk will explore the role of the built environment in counterinsurgency campaigns. Dr. Bakan will address questions such as: Why do states expend the time and resources to engage in developmental projects targeting urban spaces in the midst of counterinsurgency campaigns? What is the spectrum of tactics so used? How do inhabitants whose self-identity is shaped, in part, through attachments to urban landscapes conceive, adopt, or repurpose the land-heritage-military nexus in the everyday?
Focusing on the civil war between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Turkish state, Dr. Bakan argues that states intervene in the everyday environment of ostensibly unruly populations as part of a broader security strategy to prevent future insurgent formation. She terms this set of processes “counterinsurgent urbanism.”
She identifies three core mechanisms of counterinsurgent urbanism: legal-institutional restructuring of land; policing of the urban landscape; and selective development. Her research draws on a multi-method approach that includes urban ethnography, in-depth interviews, neighbourhood mapping, photography, tourism surveys, and archival research to demonstrate how everyday, non-spectacular forms of violence operate in global counterinsurgencies.
This talk is co-organised by the Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies (ACCS) and the RPA Conflict & Society.
About the speaker
Dr. Ronay Bakan is currently a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute and incoming Assistant Professor at Fordham University/USA. She works on Kurdish insurgency and Turkey’s urban policies of counter-insurgent action.
Workshop: From Archives to Ethnographies
Studying Experiences, Imaginaries and Legacies of Conflict, War and Violence across the Social Sciences and the Humanities
Thursday 5 February 2026, 09:30-17:00 at the Vondelzaal, UB (University of Amsterdam)*
Sign up here
This interdisciplinary workshop brings together scholars at all career stages (including PhD researchers) from both the Social Sciences and the Humanities who study conflict, war, and violence at the UvA. Despite clear societal relevance, shared research interests, and overlapping research experiences, disciplinary and institutional boundaries continue to hinder interdisciplinary understanding and cooperation. This is especially visible in the practicalities of conducting research on these topics.
In this workshop, we aim to explore points of connection as well as tensions by focusing on four interrelated themes. These will serve as the basis for roundtable discussions that elicit and address struggles around:
- Methods: What epistemologies guide our work? Which methods do we employ to study conflict, war, and violence? What counts as data, and how do we analyze it? How do these choices shape our work both in and beyond the field?
- Ethics: Which ethical dilemmas arise when studying conflict, war, and violence? What responsibilities do we have toward our research participants and toward archival material? How do we navigate the “politics of ethics”? And how do we reconcile our ethical research practice with requirements imposed by ethics committees?
- Care practices: How do we deal with the emotional and mental toll of researching conflict, war, and violence, whether through engagement with visual or textual material or through interaction with survivors? What forms of support do we need, and which do we actually receive? How, if at all, do our institutions acknowledge this emotional burden?
- Engagement and activism: Can and should we use our work to contribute to political or societal change, and if so, how? With whom do we collaborate? What is the societal relevance of our research, and how do politics or society respond to the critiques we may put forward, for example in the context of militarization or rising authoritarianism in Europe? How do we deal with situations in which our work becomes politicized or marginalized?
Across four collaborative roundtable sessions, we invite scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds to speak briefly on one of these themes from their own experiences, followed by interdisciplinary discussion and debate. The main aim is to build mutual understanding of each other’s research practices, foster collaboration, inspire new ideas, and lay groundwork for future cross-disciplinary and cross-faculty initiatives.
Please submit your expression of interest in presenting by Monday, 15 December using the link below. We will follow up and compose the program by mid-January. We very much look forward to hearing from you.
This workshop is organized by Samuël Kruizinga, Hanna Mühlenhoff, and Julienne Weegels with the support of the ARTES research cluster Social Justice & Contestation, the research group Conflict, War & Violence, the Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies (ACCS), and the Conflict & Society RPA.
Talk: Peace Agreements, Public Opinion, and Democracy: Lessons from the Colombian Case
Lunch talk by Prof. Miguel García-Sánchez, hosted by the Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies (ACCS) and the RPA Conflict and Society
Date: 12 December 2025 Time: 12:00 -13:30 Location: Roeterseilandcampus Room: B2.01
The presentation will highlight how citizen attitudes toward peace are complex, multidimensional, evolve over time, and are shaped by elite discourse, political polarization, and expectations of future benefits derived from the agreement. Prof. García-Sánchez analyzes the 2016 Havana Peace Accord not merely as a conflict resolution mechanism but as a multidimensional public policy framework aimed at addressing structural democratic deficits.
Findings reveal that public support for negotiated solutions to armed conflict coexists with resistance to components related to democratic inclusivity and transitional justice. Similarly, it is shown that political elites and future expectations about the agreement (rather than experiences of violence) played a pivotal role in shaping public opinion toward the peace process.
In sum, the Colombian case offers broader insights into other peace agreements and into how public opinion interacts with major policy debates. It underscores the importance of understanding multidimensional citizen perspectives, the strategic simplification of complex issues by political actors, and the challenges posed by inclusivity in contemporary democracies. These findings contribute to comparative discussions on peacebuilding, democratic resilience, and the role of political elites in shaping public opinion.
Hosted by the Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies (ACCS) and the RPA Conflict and Society. Lunch will be provided for registered participants
About the speaker
Miguel García-Sánchez is a Professor of Political Science and Global Studies at Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and Co-Director of the Observatorio de la Democracia at the same institution. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on public opinion, particularly how social and political contexts shape citizens’ attitudes and behaviors. His most recent work bridges political behavior and peace and conflict studies to understand how citizens form opinions about peace agreements. Through the Observatorio de la Democracia, he has led multiple consultancies on topics such as police reform and the impact of local development programs linked to Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement.
He is a member of the Colombia Working Group at the Folke Bernadotte Academy and the Citizens in Peace Processes research network and serves on the Executive Committee of the Latin American Peace Science Society. His work has appeared in journals such as The Journal of Politics, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Journal of Development Studies, Latin American Politics and Society, Política y Gobierno, and Revista de Ciencia Política.
Workshop: Unpacking Academic Writing: From Research to Publication
Workshop with Dr. Sebastian van Baalen, hosted by ACCS and the RPA Conflict and Society
Date: Monday 8 December 2025 | Time: 13:00 -15:00 | Location: Roeterseilandcampus Room REC B2.03
Join us for this writing workshop with Sebastian van Baalen, Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Sweden. This workshop will offer a practical guide to moving from research to published article, taking participants step-by-step through the writing, submission, revision, and proof stages of the publication process.
Drawing on more than a decade of professional writing experience and extensive insights from publishing, peer-reviewing, and supervising, the workshop demystifies common hurdles and provides concrete, actionable strategies for improving your academic writing and better selling your research. The aim of the workshop is that participants will leave with a clearer sense of how to craft a strong publishable manuscript, respond effectively to editors and reviewers, and manage the often opaque journey from first draft to final publication.
This workshop is hosted by the Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies (ACCS) and the RPA Conflict and Society.
About the speaker
Sebastian van Baalen is Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Sweden. His research focuses on civilian agency and resistance in contexts characterized by violence and authoritarianism. He is currently leading a three-year research project on the consequences of election boycotts. Sebastian’s research has been published in a range of high-ranking academic journals, including American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Peace Research, Political Geography, and World Development. He has a background as a freelance journalist, and still considers writing the most exciting of his daily tasks.
Talk: Democratic Erosion and Resistance from Below
The RPA Conflict & Society at UvA had the pleasure of hosting a talk by Prof. Kent Eaton (UC Santa Cruz) on Democratic Erosion and Resistance from Below. Prof. Eaton presented his research on how democratic erosion unfolds at the subnational level in the Americas, highlighting the role of local actors in both enabling and resisting autocratisation.Thanks to Prof. Eaton for his insights and all the participants’ thoughtful questions and remarks!
Hosts: Dr. Abbey Steele & Dr. Imke Harbers
- Date: 28 March 2025 | Time: 12:00 -14:00 | Location: REC B9.22
Talk: Defending and Rejecting Democratic Pluralism – The New American Conflict
Against the backdrop of the 2024 U.S. elections, political scientist Lilliana Mason guides us through the divide between American Democrats and Republicans on questions of social equality. She’ll dive into the GOP’s internal struggle between those resisting progress and those fighting for a pluralistic America, and its profound implications for the future of democratic life.
- Date: 13 December 2024 | Time 20:00 uur | Location: SPUI25
- More information: https://spui25.nl/programma/defending-and-rejecting-democratic-pluralism
Event: Conflict & Society Research Priority Launch
The Conflict & Society Research Priority Area (RPA) Officially Launched at the UvA
Last week, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) celebrated the official launch of the Conflict & Society Research Priority Area (RPA) with an all-day event that brought together scholars from across disciplines to explore new perspectives on conflict and violence.
The program opened with an introduction by principal investigators Dr. Abbey Steele and Dr. Alessandro Nai, setting the stage for a day of lively intellectual exchange. A thought-provoking conversation with Enilda Jiménez followed, focusing on resisting political violence in Colombia. Later, a panel of experts discussed aggressive rhetoric and its far-reaching consequences.
The highlight of the day was a keynote lecture by Professor Leonie Huddy (Stony Brook University) on news sharing as expressive partisanship, which sparked rich discussion among participants.
The launch concluded with informal drinks, giving attendees the chance to connect and engage in stimulating conversations. The event marked a successful beginning for the RPA, underscoring its mission to connect researchers, foster collaboration, and push the boundaries of conflict studies at the UvA.
Thank you to everyone who attended!
