Conflict Zone from the LSE
Cutting edge research into the drivers of intractable conflict. Our researchers bring together the big ideas and concepts needed to understand the causes of organised violence in the twenty-first century. We expose the political economy of organised violence: the networks of money and power that stand behind many of the world's trouble spots. Produced by the Conflict Research Programme, an international research project funded by the UK Department of International Development.
Episodes
S3 Ep6: Amid scandal, protest and geopolitical stress: where is Ukraine's economy going?
In this episode of the LSE Conflict Zone podcast, host Maliek Banat talks to Brian Milakovsky, an associate researcher with the PeaceRep-Ukraine programme and the lead author of a recent report, Critical Raw Materials, Local Content Policy and Ukraine’s Economic Recovery and Ukraine programme director Luke Cooper about the turbulent current conjuncture in Ukraine. With protests, scandal and geopol
S3 Ep5: Ukraine and Russia: who is winning on the economic front?
In this special episode, Dr Luke Cooper, the director of our Ukraine research programme sits down with the host to unpack how the war in Ukraine is transofrming state capacity, fuelling economic strength and redefining the path to peace in non military terms. With shifting alliances and increasing domestic pressure, will economics determine the endgame more than firepower?
S3 Ep5: Ukraine in 2025 - what now?
With the return of Donald Trump in the White House – and his insistence that Kyiv and Moscow strike a peace deal “in 24 hours – huge uncertainty now hangs over the future of Ukraine’s democracy and freedom. In this podcast, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams discuss the huge challenges and hardships Ukraine has experienced in the war, drawing on insights from Luke’s recent visit to Ukraine. They are joi
S3 Ep4: Fragmentation of fragile peace: Political Marketplace in Ethiopia
The outlook on lasting peace in Ethiopia has been grim since the cessation of active hostilities in November of last year. A peace agreement between the Tigray’s People Liberation Front, or the TPLF, and the Federal Government in Ethiopia has led to significant political concessions from the Tigrayans but ultimately falls short of resolving the underlying tensions.
In this episode we explain how t
S3 Ep3: State Collapse and the Shrinking of Civic Space under the Taliban: The Politics of Knowledge in Afghanistan
In the aftermath of the Republic’s collapse, a lack of shared understanding of policy priorities and effective civic interventions is impeding development of pathways toward stability for Afghanistan. The situation has since deteriorated across all scores of human security under the Taliban, with concurrent human rights, humanitarian, and political crises.In this episode we look at how narratives
S3 Ep2: From the Revolution of Dignity to Full-Scale War: Civic Resistance in Ukraine
The war in Ukraine is an ‘axial event’ in twenty-first century history, in which the agency of Ukrainians will have, one way or another, a tremendous impact on the future of global security. From Ukrainian soldiers and emergency rescue teams operating on the frontline to the extensive web of civilian volunteers across the country, civic resistance continues to be a potent counterforce to the brute
S3 Ep1: Where are Our Mangoes? Local-driven Contestation of Predatory Practices in South Sudan’s Resource Extraction
In slightly more than a decade of independence, South Sudan has endured civil war and a shaky peace agreement that leaves over 11 million South Sudanese yearning for the a less violent future. Devastating war in neighboring northern Sudan once again underscores Juba’s acute dependence on revenue from oil exports, which have similarly been captured by the country’s kleptocratic rulers. In this epis
S2 Ep5: The logics of conflict in the DRC: from the mineral to the checkpoint economy
Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has long been associated with mineral wealth. Indeed, the country is hugely rich in natural resources - and this has played an important incentivising role in the conflicts seen over the last three decades. But this is by no means the whole picture. And a one-sided focus on minerals alone can lose sight of other important dimensions. In this episo
S2 Ep4: Decolonising conflict research in the Global South: reflections and dialogues
Conflict research as a subject area has often been prone to colonial mindsets and thinking. In a world in which power disparities between wealthy states and the former colonial world remain very large - indeed, often huge - there are significant structural imbalances of power between the the North and South. These are reflected in the resources available to the academic community. Privilege can of
S2 Ep3: What happens when the oil runs out? Traumatic decarbonisation in South Sudan
The transition away from fossil fuels is one of the major questions facing humanity in this century. In many states globally, this is presented as both a necessity and opportunity: to create new and sustainable economies.But what happens if decarbonisation is forced on a state? In this podcast, we explore the 'peak oil' problem in South Sudan. As the country's reserves dwindle, and oil prices coll
S2 Ep2: Investigating the oil rush in Somalia
Somalia is one of the world's poorest countries. It has suffered from a problem of persistent, intractable violence since the 1980s. But there is a new, optimistic atmosphere around Somalia development. All indications are the country has significant oil reserves. Amongst many intellectuals and the Somali elite, there is considerable excitement at this prospect. Is this Somalia's once in a lifetim
S2 Ep1: Ten years of war in Syria: an enquiry into the rights and wrongs of ‘intervention’
Syria is often seen as a tragic case of "non-intervention". One of several examples of where the international community failed to protect civilians from violence and atrocities. But, while there is an element of truth in this view, it also begs many other difficult questions about the rights and wrongs of intervention in societies dealing with intractable violence. In this podcast, we set out to
S1 Ep6: What works? Exploring the role of local peace agreements in contemporary conflict resolution
It can be hard not to get lost in the horror when studying societies experiencing violent conflict. And it can easily lead to the conclusion that 'nothing can be done'. Our findings on the Conflict Research Programme challenge this assessment by uncovering the presence of civic minded groups and individuals pushing for alternatives to exclusionary identity politics and the political marketplace. W
S1 Ep5: What works? Effective security sector reform in conflict situations
State violence and repression can be a particular problem in conflict and post-conflict societies. Constructing democratic and legitimate public authority is vital to overcome this. This means ensuring that the state is not a vehicle for rentier interest groups. And that the unique right to legitimately use force it enjoys is subject to democratic control. This makes the reform of state security s
S1 Ep4: Opportunities for peace and democracy: civicness in conflict societies
In conflict and post-conflict situations it can be easy to get lost in the horror faced by many people in these societies. But we should be wary of this tendency - because it can blind us to the opportunities for change. The belief that ‘nothing good’ occurs in conflict regions is typical of a Western-centric bias and a rather 'top down' model of intervention. In this podcast we challenge this way
S1 Ep3: Identity politics and the political marketplace
It is commonplace to see inter-communal, religious or ethnic conflict as an important factor in war ravaged countries. But the discussion of these features are often crude and one-sided. Tribal, clan or religious based identities, for example, are frequently cast as the only significant factor. To overcome this, the Conflict Research Programme investigates the holistic relationship between differe
S1 Ep2: Buying and selling politics: the political marketplace and its adversaries
Countries experiencing intractable conflict often exhibit high levels of corruption. Politics becomes a question of buying and selling support amongst interest groups, not serving the public interest. And violence can be used as a negotiating tactic to access more resources in the market. In this podcast, we introduce the idea of the political marketplace as a way of understanding the relationship
S1 Ep1: How is war changing? Organised violence in the 21st century
How is war changing in the twenty-first century? What makes contemporary organised violence distinct from past conflicts? In this podcast, the first in a new series from the LSE, we explore the nature of intractable conflict in the modern world. While warfare is no longer seen as a normal mechanism for resolving disputes between states, many states and regions across the globe still live with the
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