Élise Féron (PhD, Docent) is a senior researcher at the Tampere Peace Research Institute (Finland). She is also invited professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), at the University of Turin (Italy) and at the Université Lumière de Bujumbura (Burundi) where she co-convenes a Gender Studies Master Programme. Her research interests include diaspora politics and gender dimensions of conflicts. She has been the general co-ordinator of various research projects, among which two funded by the European Commission called “PEACE-COM - Peace processes in community conflicts: From understanding the roots of conflicts to conflict resolution” (2004-2007), and “INFOCON - International Civil Society Forum on Conflicts” (2008-2011), and more recently one funded by the KONE Foundation, called "Regional Challenges to Multilateralism" (2017-2020) .
This research showed how supporting the work of local women peace actors in conflict zones within... more This research showed how supporting the work of local women peace actors in conflict zones within innovative Finnish collaborative framework enhances Finland’s comprehensive crisis management capacity. The study demonstrated that in Finland, there is a productive, trust-based coexistence and cooperation between the strong Finnish NGO actors that focus on mediation and peacemaking and the Finnish state. The project examined inclusive mediation, the role of local women’s organizations in conflict resolution, and the work Finnish NGOs that focuses on mediation and peacemaking and that is supported by the Finnish state. It consisted of two complementary case studies, namely Burundi and Colombia, and examined the role of local women’s NGOs in different phases of the mediation and conflict resolution continuum, from prevention to post-conflict peace accord implementation and reconstruction. It studied how such organizations contribute to comprehensive, sustainable, inclusive and participatory peace processes. It also identified the ways in which inclusivity and women’s participatory engagement is present in the work of the Finnish NGOs and where are the most important entry-points to peace processes. Enhancing the Finnish way in mediation and conflict prevention requires comprehensive understanding of mediation as well as investment in preventive mediation capacity. Creating preventive mediation capacity necessitates comprehensive funding instruments where peacebuilding is supported by development interventions. The strengths of the Finnish society allow to support training and educating local mediation trainers as well as to provide IT support for local women’s groups.
TAPRI Studies in Peace and Conflict Research, no. 104, 2020
Shedding Light on a Changing International Order: Theoretical and Empirical Challenges examines t... more Shedding Light on a Changing International Order: Theoretical and Empirical Challenges examines the role of regional processes as we are witnessing a deepening crisis of multilateralism, a gradual erosion of the US leadership, and continuous global power shifts towards emergent economies such as China and India. In light of these changes, scholars need to reconsider their current disciplinary approaches. This book primarily focuses on the rising powers and some of their new institutional and cultural initiatives. It studies for instance how new initiatives like the BRICS and the New Development Bank relate to multilateral institutions, and to what extent and how can the concept of culture as well as indigenous traditions of the rising powers be conceptualized and used in scientific approaches. One of the other main aims of this book is to challenge reductive conceptualizations of the world’s cultural developments, notably by shedding light on a networked view of the development of human kind. Through challenging various academic concepts that reproduce power relations, this book aims to stress the more complex processes of the development of socio-economic premises, whether from post- structuralist, realist, or constructivist frameworks.
This book is the final product of the research project funded by the Kone Foundation, called Regional Challenges to Multilateralism (2017-2020). It includes illustrations that stress the popular dimension of the project, by combining art with academic outputs.
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Sexual violence against women within armies, or as a weapon of war in confl ict zones such as in ... more Sexual violence against women within armies, or as a weapon of war in confl ict zones such as in Syria, has recently attracted a large amount of media and academic attention. In the US for instance, a documentary fi lm called "The Invisible War" was launched in 2012; it was widely acclaimed and has spurred various changes in how the US military deals with such crimes. However, much less has been said about the staggering fi gures published by the US Department of Defense about male soldiers as victims of sexual assault: of an estimated 26,000 soldiers who have been victim of sexual assault in 2012, 54 % were men (Department of Defense 2012). Similarly, a study conducted by Johnson et al. (2010) has reported that 23.6 % of men and boys living in Eastern DRC (39.7 % of women and girls) have experienced some form of sexual violence because of the confl ict. This has not yet led to a major debate on how international funds for helping victims of sexual violence in that region were used. These examples highlight that victims of sexual violence, in its various forms such as rape, sexual torture, sexual mutilation, sexual humiliation and sexual slavery, can be both male and female. But why are we seemingly paying less attention to sexual violence perpetrated against men than when it is perpetrated against women? Is our understanding of sexual torture framed in such a way that it cannot be reconciled with situations in which men are the victims? It is increasingly diffi cult to ignore a phenomenon that some researchers and NGOs have been describing and analyzing since the mid-1990s. As explained by Don Sabo, "whereas researchers and public health advocates began to recognize the sexual victimization of women in Western countries during the late 1960s, it was
Like other types of diaspora groups, conflict-generated diasporas display a strong attachment to ... more Like other types of diaspora groups, conflict-generated diasporas display a strong attachment to their countries of origin, and structure their identities and ideologies around discourses referring to their homeland. However, their inner cleavages, born out of the conflicts raging in their home countries, can run very deep. The maintenance of their ethnic, religious, linguistic or political divisions even generations after the migration process has taken place sometimes leads to conflict transportation processes, whereby the conflicts raging in their home countries are reproduced and maintained in countries of settlement. Incidents opposing rival diaspora groups are thus often interpreted as a prolongation or reproduction of core conflicts raging in their regions of origin. Against this assumption, this article argues that if transported conflicts often formally take the shape of core conflicts, and emulate them by using the same language, symbols and ethnic/ religious/linguistic categories, they are also deeply transformed by the migration process itself. In this perspective, this article explores the transformation and reinvention of conflict-generated diasporas' politics, and proposes to look at the autonomisation processes they display vis-à-vis the core conflicts, in terms of content but also of objectives, ultimately generating a drift at the political and organisational levels.
Negotiating Reconciliation in Peacemaking: Quandaries of Relationship Building, 2017
Research, as well as fieldwork observation, has long established the multiple intersections betwe... more Research, as well as fieldwork observation, has long established the multiple intersections between gender and conflicts. How masculinities and femininities are constructed in times of conflict and war, how gender and ethnicity are used in narratives and political discourses, how gender roles, militarism and war are tightly interrelated, and more generally how conflict impacts differently on women and on men, or how the meanings of conflict and security might diverge for women and men. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, norms, and so forth, which affect how both males and females, or rather how masculinities and femi-ninities are defined or understood within society. A gender relations approach examines the interplay between masculinities and femininities. While feminism increased the attention to gender-related issues, most notably in regards to females, more recent men and masculinities research has offered a complementary understanding of how gender and gender relations affect us all. Conflict-related policies such as UNSC 1325, 1 and more generally the broader focus on gender mainstreaming, gender specialists and gender trainers, have further emphasized its centrality to conflict research. The changing nature of conflict itself, including civilians increasingly being targeted, rape as a weapon of war, and both female and male combatants, necessitates a more complex approach, which takes gender into account. It has thus become commonplace to mention gender as a key dimension of conflicts, that has to be taken into account both for better understanding them, but also for better managing, and hopefully, solving them.
Based on a discursive analysis of various media reports published in 2015–2018 by and about the F... more Based on a discursive analysis of various media reports published in 2015–2018 by and about the Finnish right-wing street patrolling organization Soldiers of Odin (SOO), we explore the gendered dimension of contemporary vigilantism. We find that street patrolling as a practice of vigilantism, is justified in this case by using representations of the cityspace as a place of friction between locals and newcomers and of the street as a locus for enacting gendered and racial/ethnic identities. Our findings suggest that SOO’s vigilant practices exhibit a mixture of traditional and new features of masculinity. We argue that the activities of anti-immigration groups such as the SOO in Finland demonstrate a feminist security dilemma concerning the way securitization of public gender-based violence is used to enhance militarized performance of white masculinity. We identify four recurring themes that are used by group members to portray themselves as part of a legitimate social movement: protective masculinity, militarized masculinity, supplement of the state, and indigenous masculinity.
Since 1945, religions, and religious differences, are amongst the most common factors of internal... more Since 1945, religions, and religious differences, are amongst the most common factors of internal or internationalized conflicts. This has generated the idea that conflicts with a strong religious dimension were necessarily more savage, brutal and backward than others. However, research shows that religion can also be inimical to nationalism and conflict, and that it can be used as a soothing element in deteriorating situations or peace processes. In this perspective, this article shows that the impact of religions on conflicts is the result of the interplay between a doctrinal content (which can itself be further disaggregated into what the founding texts say, how religious authorities interpret them in the light of the current context, and how these interpretations are understood and translated at the grassroots level), the sociological dimension of Churches (their status in society, their attitude towards worldly matters and their internal divisions), and the evolution of the context in which they are embedded (in particular the changes that are likely to affect their position in a given society). Résumé Depuis 1945, les religions et les différences religieuses constituent l'une des causes les plus courantes de conflits internes ou internationalisés, ce qui a généré l'idée que les conflits possédant une forte dimension religieuse étaient nécessairement plus sauvages, brutaux et primitifs que les autres. Toutefois, les recherches montrent que religion et nationalisme ne font pas toujours bon ménage, et que la religion peut être utilisée comme facteur d'apaisement en cas d'escalade d'un conflit, ou lors d'un processus de paix. Dans cette perspective, cet article montre que l'impact des religions sur les conflits est le résultat de l'interaction entre le contenu de la doctrine (ce que disent les textes fondateurs, comment ils sont interprétés par les autorités religieuses dans un contexte donné, et comment ces interprétations sont comprises et traduites au niveau local), la dimension sociologique des Eglises (leur statut dans la société, leur attitude vis-à-vis des affaires temporelles, leurs divisions internes), et l'évolution du contexte dans lequel elles sont placées (en particulier les changements qui sont susceptibles d'affecter leur position dans une société donnée).
The Republics of Cyprus, Ireland and Malta, now sovereign members of the European Union, share a ... more The Republics of Cyprus, Ireland and Malta, now sovereign members of the European Union, share a common historical feature: they have been, at a certain point of their history, part of the British Empire. This situation is in no way specific, as other current EU members, such as Denmark and Sweden, share a colonial past. What is however specific to these three cases is the recent character of this history: the Republic of Ireland gained its independence in 1921 (albeit not completely), the Republic of Cyprus in 1960, and the Republic of Malta in 1964. In these cases, the colonial past thus displays a double proximity: temporal (especially as compared to the Scandinavian cases) and geographic (particularly as compared to other African, American or Asian former British colonies). Ireland and Cyprus share another important resemblance: both are still torn apart by unresolved conflicts, whose maintenance can partly be explained by divisions that arose or strengthened during the British colonial period. The fact that both Cyprus and Malta are still part of the Commonwealth, and thus maintain a formal institutional link with the United Kingdom, needs also to be pointed at. The Commonwealth encompasses and organizes a web of relationships which does not substitute itself to the European Union, but which introduces a certain degree of asymmetry. The fact that the States under scrutiny for the purposes of this chapter are all members of the European Union is obviously crucial. In the specific framework of European integration, all member states are in principle considered as equal, and the peaceful resolution of disputes, whether at the internal or international level, is strongly promoted. Does the existence of a colonial past weigh on interstate relationships in spite of this egalitarian framework? In relations between postcolonial states and their former colonial powers, mistrust is usually said to prevail. Arguably though, these countries share quite a wide number of
... Ses recherches portent sur le processus de paix en Irlande du Nord, les conflits communautair... more ... Ses recherches portent sur le processus de paix en Irlande du Nord, les conflits communautaires, les questions identitaires et les mouvements de désobéissance civile. Elle a notamment publié La Harpe et la Couronne. ... Feron, E. 2000. La harpe et la couronne. ...
This article explores understandings of, and narratives on, wartime sexual violence against men, ... more This article explores understandings of, and narratives on, wartime sexual violence against men, as well as some of the questions they raise. Based on interviews conducted since 2009 with male survivors of wartime sexual violence in Burundi and Eastern Congo, the article argues that gender representations that are dominating at local, national but also international levels hinder the acknowledgement of the existence of male survivors of sexual violence, and thus obscure our understanding of the underlying mechanisms sustaining wartime sexual violence. The article explores what accounts for such a silencing at the local, national and international levels, from stories of sexual violence where men always stand as perpetrators, to patriarchal cultures associating masculinity with strength, protection and invulnerability, and to (post)colonial representations of violence and masculinity in the developing world.
This research showed how supporting the work of local women peace actors in conflict zones within... more This research showed how supporting the work of local women peace actors in conflict zones within innovative Finnish collaborative framework enhances Finland’s comprehensive crisis management capacity. The study demonstrated that in Finland, there is a productive, trust-based coexistence and cooperation between the strong Finnish NGO actors that focus on mediation and peacemaking and the Finnish state. The project examined inclusive mediation, the role of local women’s organizations in conflict resolution, and the work Finnish NGOs that focuses on mediation and peacemaking and that is supported by the Finnish state. It consisted of two complementary case studies, namely Burundi and Colombia, and examined the role of local women’s NGOs in different phases of the mediation and conflict resolution continuum, from prevention to post-conflict peace accord implementation and reconstruction. It studied how such organizations contribute to comprehensive, sustainable, inclusive and participatory peace processes. It also identified the ways in which inclusivity and women’s participatory engagement is present in the work of the Finnish NGOs and where are the most important entry-points to peace processes. Enhancing the Finnish way in mediation and conflict prevention requires comprehensive understanding of mediation as well as investment in preventive mediation capacity. Creating preventive mediation capacity necessitates comprehensive funding instruments where peacebuilding is supported by development interventions. The strengths of the Finnish society allow to support training and educating local mediation trainers as well as to provide IT support for local women’s groups.
TAPRI Studies in Peace and Conflict Research, no. 104, 2020
Shedding Light on a Changing International Order: Theoretical and Empirical Challenges examines t... more Shedding Light on a Changing International Order: Theoretical and Empirical Challenges examines the role of regional processes as we are witnessing a deepening crisis of multilateralism, a gradual erosion of the US leadership, and continuous global power shifts towards emergent economies such as China and India. In light of these changes, scholars need to reconsider their current disciplinary approaches. This book primarily focuses on the rising powers and some of their new institutional and cultural initiatives. It studies for instance how new initiatives like the BRICS and the New Development Bank relate to multilateral institutions, and to what extent and how can the concept of culture as well as indigenous traditions of the rising powers be conceptualized and used in scientific approaches. One of the other main aims of this book is to challenge reductive conceptualizations of the world’s cultural developments, notably by shedding light on a networked view of the development of human kind. Through challenging various academic concepts that reproduce power relations, this book aims to stress the more complex processes of the development of socio-economic premises, whether from post- structuralist, realist, or constructivist frameworks.
This book is the final product of the research project funded by the Kone Foundation, called Regional Challenges to Multilateralism (2017-2020). It includes illustrations that stress the popular dimension of the project, by combining art with academic outputs.
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Sexual violence against women within armies, or as a weapon of war in confl ict zones such as in ... more Sexual violence against women within armies, or as a weapon of war in confl ict zones such as in Syria, has recently attracted a large amount of media and academic attention. In the US for instance, a documentary fi lm called "The Invisible War" was launched in 2012; it was widely acclaimed and has spurred various changes in how the US military deals with such crimes. However, much less has been said about the staggering fi gures published by the US Department of Defense about male soldiers as victims of sexual assault: of an estimated 26,000 soldiers who have been victim of sexual assault in 2012, 54 % were men (Department of Defense 2012). Similarly, a study conducted by Johnson et al. (2010) has reported that 23.6 % of men and boys living in Eastern DRC (39.7 % of women and girls) have experienced some form of sexual violence because of the confl ict. This has not yet led to a major debate on how international funds for helping victims of sexual violence in that region were used. These examples highlight that victims of sexual violence, in its various forms such as rape, sexual torture, sexual mutilation, sexual humiliation and sexual slavery, can be both male and female. But why are we seemingly paying less attention to sexual violence perpetrated against men than when it is perpetrated against women? Is our understanding of sexual torture framed in such a way that it cannot be reconciled with situations in which men are the victims? It is increasingly diffi cult to ignore a phenomenon that some researchers and NGOs have been describing and analyzing since the mid-1990s. As explained by Don Sabo, "whereas researchers and public health advocates began to recognize the sexual victimization of women in Western countries during the late 1960s, it was
Like other types of diaspora groups, conflict-generated diasporas display a strong attachment to ... more Like other types of diaspora groups, conflict-generated diasporas display a strong attachment to their countries of origin, and structure their identities and ideologies around discourses referring to their homeland. However, their inner cleavages, born out of the conflicts raging in their home countries, can run very deep. The maintenance of their ethnic, religious, linguistic or political divisions even generations after the migration process has taken place sometimes leads to conflict transportation processes, whereby the conflicts raging in their home countries are reproduced and maintained in countries of settlement. Incidents opposing rival diaspora groups are thus often interpreted as a prolongation or reproduction of core conflicts raging in their regions of origin. Against this assumption, this article argues that if transported conflicts often formally take the shape of core conflicts, and emulate them by using the same language, symbols and ethnic/ religious/linguistic categories, they are also deeply transformed by the migration process itself. In this perspective, this article explores the transformation and reinvention of conflict-generated diasporas' politics, and proposes to look at the autonomisation processes they display vis-à-vis the core conflicts, in terms of content but also of objectives, ultimately generating a drift at the political and organisational levels.
Negotiating Reconciliation in Peacemaking: Quandaries of Relationship Building, 2017
Research, as well as fieldwork observation, has long established the multiple intersections betwe... more Research, as well as fieldwork observation, has long established the multiple intersections between gender and conflicts. How masculinities and femininities are constructed in times of conflict and war, how gender and ethnicity are used in narratives and political discourses, how gender roles, militarism and war are tightly interrelated, and more generally how conflict impacts differently on women and on men, or how the meanings of conflict and security might diverge for women and men. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, norms, and so forth, which affect how both males and females, or rather how masculinities and femi-ninities are defined or understood within society. A gender relations approach examines the interplay between masculinities and femininities. While feminism increased the attention to gender-related issues, most notably in regards to females, more recent men and masculinities research has offered a complementary understanding of how gender and gender relations affect us all. Conflict-related policies such as UNSC 1325, 1 and more generally the broader focus on gender mainstreaming, gender specialists and gender trainers, have further emphasized its centrality to conflict research. The changing nature of conflict itself, including civilians increasingly being targeted, rape as a weapon of war, and both female and male combatants, necessitates a more complex approach, which takes gender into account. It has thus become commonplace to mention gender as a key dimension of conflicts, that has to be taken into account both for better understanding them, but also for better managing, and hopefully, solving them.
Based on a discursive analysis of various media reports published in 2015–2018 by and about the F... more Based on a discursive analysis of various media reports published in 2015–2018 by and about the Finnish right-wing street patrolling organization Soldiers of Odin (SOO), we explore the gendered dimension of contemporary vigilantism. We find that street patrolling as a practice of vigilantism, is justified in this case by using representations of the cityspace as a place of friction between locals and newcomers and of the street as a locus for enacting gendered and racial/ethnic identities. Our findings suggest that SOO’s vigilant practices exhibit a mixture of traditional and new features of masculinity. We argue that the activities of anti-immigration groups such as the SOO in Finland demonstrate a feminist security dilemma concerning the way securitization of public gender-based violence is used to enhance militarized performance of white masculinity. We identify four recurring themes that are used by group members to portray themselves as part of a legitimate social movement: protective masculinity, militarized masculinity, supplement of the state, and indigenous masculinity.
Since 1945, religions, and religious differences, are amongst the most common factors of internal... more Since 1945, religions, and religious differences, are amongst the most common factors of internal or internationalized conflicts. This has generated the idea that conflicts with a strong religious dimension were necessarily more savage, brutal and backward than others. However, research shows that religion can also be inimical to nationalism and conflict, and that it can be used as a soothing element in deteriorating situations or peace processes. In this perspective, this article shows that the impact of religions on conflicts is the result of the interplay between a doctrinal content (which can itself be further disaggregated into what the founding texts say, how religious authorities interpret them in the light of the current context, and how these interpretations are understood and translated at the grassroots level), the sociological dimension of Churches (their status in society, their attitude towards worldly matters and their internal divisions), and the evolution of the context in which they are embedded (in particular the changes that are likely to affect their position in a given society). Résumé Depuis 1945, les religions et les différences religieuses constituent l'une des causes les plus courantes de conflits internes ou internationalisés, ce qui a généré l'idée que les conflits possédant une forte dimension religieuse étaient nécessairement plus sauvages, brutaux et primitifs que les autres. Toutefois, les recherches montrent que religion et nationalisme ne font pas toujours bon ménage, et que la religion peut être utilisée comme facteur d'apaisement en cas d'escalade d'un conflit, ou lors d'un processus de paix. Dans cette perspective, cet article montre que l'impact des religions sur les conflits est le résultat de l'interaction entre le contenu de la doctrine (ce que disent les textes fondateurs, comment ils sont interprétés par les autorités religieuses dans un contexte donné, et comment ces interprétations sont comprises et traduites au niveau local), la dimension sociologique des Eglises (leur statut dans la société, leur attitude vis-à-vis des affaires temporelles, leurs divisions internes), et l'évolution du contexte dans lequel elles sont placées (en particulier les changements qui sont susceptibles d'affecter leur position dans une société donnée).
The Republics of Cyprus, Ireland and Malta, now sovereign members of the European Union, share a ... more The Republics of Cyprus, Ireland and Malta, now sovereign members of the European Union, share a common historical feature: they have been, at a certain point of their history, part of the British Empire. This situation is in no way specific, as other current EU members, such as Denmark and Sweden, share a colonial past. What is however specific to these three cases is the recent character of this history: the Republic of Ireland gained its independence in 1921 (albeit not completely), the Republic of Cyprus in 1960, and the Republic of Malta in 1964. In these cases, the colonial past thus displays a double proximity: temporal (especially as compared to the Scandinavian cases) and geographic (particularly as compared to other African, American or Asian former British colonies). Ireland and Cyprus share another important resemblance: both are still torn apart by unresolved conflicts, whose maintenance can partly be explained by divisions that arose or strengthened during the British colonial period. The fact that both Cyprus and Malta are still part of the Commonwealth, and thus maintain a formal institutional link with the United Kingdom, needs also to be pointed at. The Commonwealth encompasses and organizes a web of relationships which does not substitute itself to the European Union, but which introduces a certain degree of asymmetry. The fact that the States under scrutiny for the purposes of this chapter are all members of the European Union is obviously crucial. In the specific framework of European integration, all member states are in principle considered as equal, and the peaceful resolution of disputes, whether at the internal or international level, is strongly promoted. Does the existence of a colonial past weigh on interstate relationships in spite of this egalitarian framework? In relations between postcolonial states and their former colonial powers, mistrust is usually said to prevail. Arguably though, these countries share quite a wide number of
... Ses recherches portent sur le processus de paix en Irlande du Nord, les conflits communautair... more ... Ses recherches portent sur le processus de paix en Irlande du Nord, les conflits communautaires, les questions identitaires et les mouvements de désobéissance civile. Elle a notamment publié La Harpe et la Couronne. ... Feron, E. 2000. La harpe et la couronne. ...
This article explores understandings of, and narratives on, wartime sexual violence against men, ... more This article explores understandings of, and narratives on, wartime sexual violence against men, as well as some of the questions they raise. Based on interviews conducted since 2009 with male survivors of wartime sexual violence in Burundi and Eastern Congo, the article argues that gender representations that are dominating at local, national but also international levels hinder the acknowledgement of the existence of male survivors of sexual violence, and thus obscure our understanding of the underlying mechanisms sustaining wartime sexual violence. The article explores what accounts for such a silencing at the local, national and international levels, from stories of sexual violence where men always stand as perpetrators, to patriarchal cultures associating masculinity with strength, protection and invulnerability, and to (post)colonial representations of violence and masculinity in the developing world.
Alleviating World Suffering, The Challenge of Negative Quality of Life, 2017
The extent of suffering generated by sexual violence against men in conflict zones is increasingl... more The extent of suffering generated by sexual violence against men in conflict zones is increasingly recognized by the international community and especially by the UNHCR, which has issued guidelines in July 2012 on how to identify and support male victims of rape and other sexual violence in conflict and displacement situations. The challenges in dealing with that suffering are significant, and pertain mostly to the medical, psychosocial, legal and social consequences for the survivors. Yet specific support mechanisms for male survivors are almost nonexistent in conflict zones, where most humanitarian organizations focus on female survivors of sexual violence. Only a few survivors' groups have spearheaded programs directly and specifically addressing the suffering induced by sexual violence against men. What are the strengths, promises, shortcomings and limits of these programs? Relief is often privileged over long term prevention, which would require working on how masculinities are built in times of war, and addressing conflict dynamics themselves. The risk that many of these programs are running is also to over focus on sexual violence and hence neglect other forms of violence that are perpetrated during times of conflict, and to which sexual violence is tightly linked. It seems equally important to understand and tackle sexual violence inflicted upon both men and women as interconnected phenomena, while acknowledging male and female survivors' specific suffering and needs.
Innovation - The European Journal of Social Science Research, 2002
This paper addresses two main questions. First, is it appropriate to talk of the
internationaliz... more This paper addresses two main questions. First, is it appropriate to talk of the
internationalization of EU research policies, and if so in which sense? Secondly, in so far as elements
of internationalization are observable, how can this be explained? After summarizing the objectives,
conceptual framework and hypotheses of the research conducted in the INNOCULT project, from which
this paper is drawn, we consider the various dimensions of internationalization as an issue for policy
analysis: the language of internationalization, as it emerges from documentary sources and expert interviews;
the broader context of trends in European research policies, with particular emphasis on the emergence of
what we call for these puporses a ‘governance’ model of state intervention; and the prospective dynamics
of internationalization in its relation to research policy, in light of recent trends and emerging issues. Our
conclusions qualify the nature of ‘innovation’ in contemporary European research policies, in light of the
structural pressures that shape them, by pointing to its largely unplanned and adaptive character.
Innovation - The European Journal of Social Science Research, 2003
‘Culture’ and ‘change’ are not words typically yoked together in social science. Indeed,
the who... more ‘Culture’ and ‘change’ are not words typically yoked together in social science. Indeed,
the whole point of explanatory recourse to culture is to account for permanencies. Nonetheless, subject to
certain conceptual precautions, middle range cultural analysis can work in conjunction with mainstream
political science to clarify processes of policy change. The paper illustrates this by focusing on the case
of European research policies and practices. After presenting a conceptual framework designed to bring
together cultural analysis and policy science, the paper elaborates, on the basis of the framework, a
theoretical scheme for the analysis of research policy. It then reports on some empirical findings from recent
research and assesses the extent to which they validate the conceptual and theoretical framework. Finally,
the paper offers some conclusions about the scale and innovative nature of policy change in contemporary
European polities.
A lot of literature has been published during the past two decades
highlighting the role played b... more A lot of literature has been published during the past two decades highlighting the role played by some diasporas in the conflicts raging in their home countries, and on the links between diasporas and ‘international terrorism’. Diasporas, especially those originating from conflict areas, are often depicted in policy circles as potential security threats, raising indiscriminate suspicion towards diasporas in general. Contemporary literature similarly treats the links between diasporas and conflicts in a rather simplistic way. Little time is for instance dedicated to understanding how diasporas might emerge and coalesce around conflicts long after the migration has occurred. The article, based on a critical examination of how diasporas originating from conflict areas have been described and defined in the academic literature, proposes an alternative understanding of the nexus between diasporas and conflicts. It notably highlights the limitations and pitfalls of an approach based on single-issue labels, which entails the essentialization of concerned groups, and which perpetuates methodological nationalism. The article instead proposes to understand the mechanisms by which diasporas become involved in conflicts by looking at a series of configurations, which can happen at specific temporalities (critical junctures, crises, etc.), in specific spaces, by specific actors, and through specific discursive articulations (how identities are assigned, which discourses on diaspora are produced, etc.). At the practical level, this entails the study, for instance, of contentious spaces where diasporas are created, or which diasporas create, but also of contentious events or time junctures at which the articulation between conflicts and diaspora groups is effected.
‘Culture’ and ‘change’ are not words typically yoked together in social science. Indeed,
the who... more ‘Culture’ and ‘change’ are not words typically yoked together in social science. Indeed,
the whole point of explanatory recourse to culture is to account for permanencies. Nonetheless, subject to certain conceptual precautions, middle range cultural analysis can work in conjunction with mainstream political science to clarify processes of policy change. The paper illustrates this by focusing on the case of European research policies and practices. After presenting a conceptual framework designed to bring
together cultural analysis and policy science, the paper elaborates, on the basis of the framework, a theoretical scheme for the analysis of research policy. It then reports on some empirical findings from recent research and assesses the extent to which they validate the conceptual and theoretical framework. Finally, the paper offers some conclusions about the scale and innovative nature of policy change in contemporary
European polities.
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Books by Élise Féron
This book is the final product of the research project funded by the Kone Foundation, called Regional Challenges to Multilateralism (2017-2020). It includes illustrations that stress the popular dimension of the project, by combining art with academic outputs.
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Articles by Élise Féron
levels hinder the acknowledgement of the existence of male survivors of sexual violence, and thus obscure our understanding of the underlying mechanisms sustaining wartime sexual violence. The article explores what accounts for such a silencing at the local, national and international levels, from stories of sexual violence where men always stand as perpetrators, to patriarchal cultures associating masculinity with strength, protection and invulnerability, and to (post)colonial representations of violence and masculinity in the developing world.
This book is the final product of the research project funded by the Kone Foundation, called Regional Challenges to Multilateralism (2017-2020). It includes illustrations that stress the popular dimension of the project, by combining art with academic outputs.
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levels hinder the acknowledgement of the existence of male survivors of sexual violence, and thus obscure our understanding of the underlying mechanisms sustaining wartime sexual violence. The article explores what accounts for such a silencing at the local, national and international levels, from stories of sexual violence where men always stand as perpetrators, to patriarchal cultures associating masculinity with strength, protection and invulnerability, and to (post)colonial representations of violence and masculinity in the developing world.
internationalization of EU research policies, and if so in which sense? Secondly, in so far as elements
of internationalization are observable, how can this be explained? After summarizing the objectives,
conceptual framework and hypotheses of the research conducted in the INNOCULT project, from which
this paper is drawn, we consider the various dimensions of internationalization as an issue for policy
analysis: the language of internationalization, as it emerges from documentary sources and expert interviews;
the broader context of trends in European research policies, with particular emphasis on the emergence of
what we call for these puporses a ‘governance’ model of state intervention; and the prospective dynamics
of internationalization in its relation to research policy, in light of recent trends and emerging issues. Our
conclusions qualify the nature of ‘innovation’ in contemporary European research policies, in light of the
structural pressures that shape them, by pointing to its largely unplanned and adaptive character.
the whole point of explanatory recourse to culture is to account for permanencies. Nonetheless, subject to
certain conceptual precautions, middle range cultural analysis can work in conjunction with mainstream
political science to clarify processes of policy change. The paper illustrates this by focusing on the case
of European research policies and practices. After presenting a conceptual framework designed to bring
together cultural analysis and policy science, the paper elaborates, on the basis of the framework, a
theoretical scheme for the analysis of research policy. It then reports on some empirical findings from recent
research and assesses the extent to which they validate the conceptual and theoretical framework. Finally,
the paper offers some conclusions about the scale and innovative nature of policy change in contemporary
European polities.
highlighting the role played by some diasporas in the conflicts
raging in their home countries, and on the links between
diasporas and ‘international terrorism’. Diasporas, especially those
originating from conflict areas, are often depicted in policy circles
as potential security threats, raising indiscriminate suspicion
towards diasporas in general. Contemporary literature similarly
treats the links between diasporas and conflicts in a rather
simplistic way. Little time is for instance dedicated to
understanding how diasporas might emerge and coalesce around
conflicts long after the migration has occurred. The article, based
on a critical examination of how diasporas originating from
conflict areas have been described and defined in the academic
literature, proposes an alternative understanding of the nexus
between diasporas and conflicts. It notably highlights the
limitations and pitfalls of an approach based on single-issue
labels, which entails the essentialization of concerned groups, and
which perpetuates methodological nationalism. The article instead
proposes to understand the mechanisms by which diasporas
become involved in conflicts by looking at a series of
configurations, which can happen at specific temporalities (critical
junctures, crises, etc.), in specific spaces, by specific actors, and
through specific discursive articulations (how identities are
assigned, which discourses on diaspora are produced, etc.). At the
practical level, this entails the study, for instance, of contentious
spaces where diasporas are created, or which diasporas create,
but also of contentious events or time junctures at which the
articulation between conflicts and diaspora groups is effected.
the whole point of explanatory recourse to culture is to account for permanencies. Nonetheless, subject to certain conceptual precautions, middle range cultural analysis can work in conjunction with mainstream political science to clarify processes of policy change. The paper illustrates this by focusing on the case of European research policies and practices. After presenting a conceptual framework designed to bring
together cultural analysis and policy science, the paper elaborates, on the basis of the framework, a theoretical scheme for the analysis of research policy. It then reports on some empirical findings from recent research and assesses the extent to which they validate the conceptual and theoretical framework. Finally, the paper offers some conclusions about the scale and innovative nature of policy change in contemporary
European polities.