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Welcome to the first CIS newsletter of 2012! On behalf of everyone at CIS, I would like to wish you all the best for the year ahead. We are grateful for your continued interest in the Centre and look forward to working closely with all our stakeholders in the coming year.
In December, DCU announced that Dr. John Doyle has been appointed Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences here at DCU. John was founding Co-Director of CIS and he has worked tirelessly over the years to advance the study of international studies at DCU. Recognised as one of the leading scholars of international relations in Ireland, John's research interests include comparative nationalist and ethnic conflict; Northern Ireland, conflict in South Asia and Irish foreign policy.
John has taken part in a number of studies of comparative peace processes, including two EU funded projects with colleagues in South Asia, which brought academics from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan together for a series of workshops, in New Delhi, Brussels and at DCU, examining both European examples such as Northern Ireland and the Balkans and South Asian cases including Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Indian North East and Afghanistan. He has been a visiting professor in conflict resolution in both India, at the Nelson Mandela Centre in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and in Pakistan, in the School of Social Sciences in Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).He recently edited Policing the Narrow Ground: lessons from the transformation of policing in Northern Ireland, Royal Irish Academy. A full list of publications is available here.
I want to take this opportunity to thank John for all his work for CIS and the School of Law and Government more generally. We wish John all the best in his new and role which will see him lead a faculty of five academic schools and four research centres at what is undoubtedly a period of great challenge for higher education and research in Ireland.
Shane Martin
Director, CIS
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| CIS STAFF NEWS |
Dr. Karen Devine delivered an invited talk on Irish neutrality at an international conference entitled "Neutrality in the 21st Century: Lessons for Serbia" in Belgrade, 1-2 December 2011 sponsored by the ISAC Fund organisation and the Swedish Armed Forces. Dr. Devine's talk covered the reasons for Irish neutrality, Irish membership of the UN and non-membership of NATO and the current status of neutrality in the wake of the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, addressing an audience of academics, journalists, members of the public, security analysts and policy makers from Serbia, the Western Balkans and the EU alongside other experts from Austria, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland. Pdf available here.
James Fitzgerald has just had an article published in Critical Studies on Terrorism - a major journal in the field. The paper is a reflective and conceptual account of the collaborative terrorism course delivered here at DCU (and simultaneously at the State University of New York with Professor Anthony F. Lemieux) for the past two years.
Fitzgerald, J., Lemieux, A. F. 2011. 'Embracing subjectivities in the collaborative teaching of terrorism: pedagogy in a "critical" learning environment', Critical Studies on Terrorism, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 441-450 (Available here)
Dr. Adam McAuley spoke at the UCC Law Society Conference on Euthanasia and assisted suicide on 30th November. Click here for coverage of the event.
Dr. Eoin O'Malley recently met with the UK House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee which visited Dublin to investigate the possible impact of various potential political and constitutional changes, including whether the UK should codify its constitution and increase the use of referendums. Dr. O'Malley was one a small number of political scientists and constitutional lawyers in Ireland consulted by the committee, which also met with politicians and journalists. Dr. O'Malley is a frequent commentator in Irish media on the issue of political reform.
Dr. Paola Rivetti has recently edited a special issue of 'Storia Urbana' (131) on 'Iranian complexities. Telling and conquering the Land' (ISSN: 0391-2248).
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| CIS PODCAST |
We have just uploaded a new CIS Video Interview featuring a conversation with Dr. Noelle Higgins where she discusses her research on international humanitarian law and conflict and security law.
Noelle has Masters degrees in both Law and Irish and a Higher Diploma in Education. She obtained her Ph.D. in International Law from the Irish Centre for Human Rights. Prior to joining the School, she held a lecturing position in the law faculty in NUI, Galway. She was a visiting fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law during the academic year 2009-2010. Noelle is the Director of the Fulltime MA Programmes in the School of Law and Government. For more information click here.
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| PHD PROGRAMME NEWS |
Congratulations to Azra Naseem who passed her PhD oral examination in early January. Azra's thesis "On Evildoers: a Foucaultian Analysis of the Discursive Structuring of Contemporary Terrorism" was supervised by Dr. John Doyle and Dr. Maura Conway and was examined by Dr. Ken McDonagh and Professor Piers Robinson (University of Manchester).
Gezim Visoka, PhD candidate, has recently published 'International Governance and Local Resistance in Kosovo: The Thin Line between Ethical, Emancipatory and Exclusionary Politics', Irish Studies in International Affairs, Vol. 22, 2011, pp. 99-125.
He also has a forthcoming chapter 'The Obstacles to Sustainable Peace and Democracy in Post-Independence Kosovo' in Carol Rank and Marwan Darweish (eds.), Peacebuilding and Reconciliation: Contemporary Challenges and Themes, Pluto Press, London. (Forthcoming in Spring 2012).
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| FOCUS: Sustainable Development Indicators |
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A new website on Sustainable Development Indicators has been developed by Comhar Sustainable Development Council (SDC). It is available at Comhar's website www.comharsdc.ie or at www.comharsustainableindicators.ie.
Economic and social development is dependent on a healthy and functioning environment. One of the key challenges for Ireland is to make sure that our development is sustainable and that we progress towards a low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive society.
It is very important to measure how well we are doing because what is counted counts. Lasting change is built upon knowing where you are, where you want to be and whether your actions are making a difference. Indicators are a way of measuring, simplifying, and communicating these important issues. The presentation of such data in a simplified format can help inform decisions on what actions may need to be taken.
The website has been designed for use by the general public, as well as second level students and teachers, third level students and lecturers and researchers. The website allows users to explore a range of different statistics relating to these challenges. Each indicator is displayed visually on a graph showing progress over time and Ireland is benchmarked against other countries and the EU average. It provides concise and up to date information on sustainable development in Ireland. There are also many resources and links available for further reading and learning.
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