Projekt
Title: Understanding the Allocation of Responsibility after Civil War and Genocide
When mass conflict such as the civil war in Sierra Leone and the genocide in Bosnia occurs, various actors such as the United Nations, International Criminal Court and local organizations become involved in order to end the conflict, seek justice, and attempt to establish peace. There is a procedure which takes place in order to end the violence and seek justice for those affected by the conflict. Questions of responsibility come to the forefront when action is being taken to pursue peace and justice. Many scholars investigate the role of international organizations (IOs), states, and individuals as holding responsibility for remedying the issues present in post-conflict realities. Responsibility in post-conflict reconstruction is often rooted in finding the actor(s) who were responsible for the atrocities and considering ways to make them take up their responsibility as one way forward to establish peace and justice. This process of attributing responsibility in post-conflict situations in order to achieve justice and restore peace is also known as transitional justice and post conflict reconstruction (Eisikovits, 2017). How responsibility is allocated in these situations will be investigated in this dissertation. Current scholarship on the topic analyzes the ways in which responsibility is determined post-conflict, be it individual or collective, considering factors such as moral agency and sovereignty (Erskine, 2001). International organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and International Criminal Court (ICC) often step up and determine the ways in which justice processes should be conducted. Scholars are investigating the ethical implications of this alongside of discussions of intervention during a conflict and the duty and obligation to provide assistance to a society as they rebuild post-conflict (Subotic, 2011). Yet, what is missing so far is a discussion of the allocation of responsibilities, most notably those to rebuild society, post conflict. Given this gap in the literature, this dissertation sets out to address the following research question: What are the roles and responsibilities ascribed to the respective actors involved in post-conflict reconstruction? Doing so, this project will identify the roles and responsibilities of the various actors involved in post-conflict reconstruction as well as understand the justifications and criteria for claiming and ascribing responsibilities post-conflict.
Eisikovits, N. (2017). Transitional Justice, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/justice-transitional
Erskine, T. (2001). Assigning Responsibilities to Institutional Moral Agents: The Case of States and Quasi-States. Ethics & International Affairs, 15(2), 67-85.
Subotic, J. (2011). Expanding the scope of post-conflict justice: Individual, state and societal responsibility for mass atrocity. Journal of Peace Research, 48(2), 157–169.
Forschungsgruppe
Laura Cullen ist Mitglied der Forschungsgruppe Europäische und Internationale Governance und wird von Prof.'in Dr. Antje Vetterlein betreut.
Werdegang
05/2020 Aufnahme in die Graduate School of Politics (GraSP), Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. 2019 Prüfungsleiterin am Department of Economics, University of Western Ontario, Kanada 2018 - 2019 Lehrassistentin für Women’s Studies and Feminist Research - Introduction to Women´s Studien, University of Western Ontario, Kanada 2018 - 2019 Masterstudium Women’s Studies and Feminist Research in Collaboration with Transnational Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, University of Western Ontario, Kanada 2014 - 2018 Bachelorstudium Honors Specialization in Woman´s Studies and Feminist Research, Nebenfach: Transnational Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, University of Western Ontario, Kanada Publikationen
Veröffentlichungen (Auswahl)
- Cullen, Laura C. (2020). Female Combatants and the Post-Conflict Process in Sierra Leone. Journal of International Women's Studies, 21(2), 114-125. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol21/iss2/10
Konferenzbeiträge (Auswahl)
- April 2019: World Women’s Studies Conference – Female Combatants and the Post-Conflict Process in Sierra Leone.
- 2017: Flaunting It! Women’s Studies Undergraduate Conference - Tomb of the “Forgotten” Soldier: Selective Grief and Remembering at the Canadian National War Memorial.
Weiteres
Forschungsinteressen
- Post-Conflict Responsibility
- Transnationale Gerechtigkeit und Wiederaufbau nach Konflikten
- Internationale Beziehungen und Gerechtigkeit
- Menschenrechte
Auszeichnungen und Stipendien
- 2018: Faculty of Arts and Humanities Chair’s Entrance Scholarship, University of Western Ontario, Kanada
- 2017: Dean’s Honor List, University of Western Ontario, Kanada