Different actors in the international system aims to bring change. The UN system produces resolutions to deal with conflict; states and international institutions use diplomacy and conflict resolution mechanisms, trade; peacekeeping, peace-enforcement and peacebuilding are used to bring peace; states and international institutions distribute aid to eradicate poverty and promote development; humanitarian actors operate to address urgent catastrophes; negotiations and agreements are mechanisms to try to solve climate change; NGOs and social movements use advocacy and mobilization. How does knowledge contribute to change? How can we act and think in responding to that what we think is wrong? What is the relationship between knowledge, power, policy and ethics? What is the role and responsibility of academics and intellectual work? How can we marry work in academia with policy advocacy? What does working as an activist/policy advocate entail? What are some of the dilemmas and pitfalls?

This panel discusses such issues, from the perspective of our own experiences. Prepare yourselves through reflecting upon how you think about knowledge and change. Importantly, please come prepared to ask questions of the panelists!

Panelists: Maria Stern, Damon Barrett, Sofia Barakate, and Philip Wade

Obligatory Reading:

Bleiker, Roland and David Shim. 2019. ‘Can we move beyond conflict?’ (Chapter 24), in Global Politics: A New Introduction, edited by Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfus. New York: Routledge, pp: 500-523.

Zehfus, Maja. 2019. ‘Conclusion: What can we do to change the world?’ (Chapter 26), in Global Politics: A New Introduction, edited by Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfus. New York: Routledge, pp: 545-562.

Suggested extra-reading:

Autussere, Sèverine, 2019, ‘The Crisis of Peacekeeping: Why the UN Can’t End Wars’. Foreign Affairs. 98(1). https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.ub.gu.se/docview/2263079830?pq-origsite=primo

Bayat, Asef, 2017, ‘Is there a Youth Politics?’. Middle East: Topics and Arguments. https://doi.org/10.17192/meta.2017.9.7219