![Professor Gearoid Millar Professor Gearoid Millar](/img/200x200/staffpages/uploads/s01gm3/pathways8.jpg)
MA, PhD
Chair in Peace and Conflict Studies
- About
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- Email Address
- g.millar@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 273238
- Office Address
Edward Wright Building, F21
- School/Department
- School of Social Science
Biography
My work focuses on the local experiences of international interventions for peace, justice, and development in post-conflict states.
In most of my past work (between 2007 and 2015) I used an ethnographic approach (see Routledge 2014) to examine how local individuals and communities understand, experience, and evaluate the impacts of projects planned, funded, and administered by international actors.
This form of research provides a detailed account of the often unseen and usually unpredicted effects that international interventions for peace, justice, and development produce or inspire in senstive post-conflict states, as well as the responses among local actors on the ground.
My research to date has focused on the case of Sierra Leone, but many of the dynamics I have discussed for this case are clearly replicated across a diverse range of other settings.
My theoretical contributions regarding the generation of hybrid peace structures in the Journal of Peace Research (2014), the friction between international actors and local settings in International Peacekeeping (2013), and, most recently, the complex nature of peace and conflict systems in Peacebuilding (2020) and the Journal of Peace Research (2021), are applicable to many different contexts and forms of intervention.
Please see my Research and Publications pages for further information.
Qualifications
- PhD Social Science2010 - Syracuse University
- MA International Peace and Conflict Resolution2006 - American University, Washington DC
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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Head of Sociology (2019-present)
Member of the School Executive Committee
Research Impact Lead for the Department of Sociology
Plagiarism Officer for the School of Social Science
Member of the School of Social Science Internationalization Committee
Member of the School of Social Science Post-Graduate Committee
- External Memberships
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I have been an active member of the International Studies Association (ISA) for over 10 years and have served in various administrative roles, including, from 2016 to 2020, as the Chair of the Peace Studies Section.
I currently serve on the Editorial Board of both Civil Wars and Peacebuilding
As of April 2021 I have peer reviewed articles for the following journals:
- African Affairs (3)
- Africa Today
- Alternatives
- American Political Science Review;
- Cambridge Review of International Affairs
- Civil Wars
- Conflict Resolution Quarterly (2)
- Conflict, Security & Development (2)
- Cooperation and Conflict (7)
- Critical Studies in Media Communications
- Development and Change
- Economy and Space
- Ethnic and Racial Studies (4)
- European Journal of International Security
- Global Policy; Human Rights Review
- International Journal of Transitional Justice (4)
- International Peacekeeping (4)
- International Studies Quarterly
- International Studies Review
- Journal of Comparative Politics
- Journal of Contemporary African Studies
- Journal of International Political Theory
- Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding (3)
- Journal of Modern African Studies (2)
- Journal of Peacebuilding and Development (3)
- Journal of Peace Research (6)
- Land Use Policy
- Media, War & Conflict
- Memory Studies (2)
- Peace and Conflict Studies (3)
- Peace and Conflict: The Journal of Peace Psychology
- Peacebuilding (2)
- Political Geography
- Politics and Religion
- Review of International Studies (3)
- Rural Sociology
- Sage Open
- Security Dialogue
- Social Anthropology
- Social Problems
- Society and National Resources
- Stability Journal
- Third World Quarterly (5)
- Third World Thematics (2)
- Transitional Justice Review (3)
Latest Publications
Participatory action research in neoliberal academia: An uphill struggle
Qualitative ResearchContributions to Journals: ArticlesResponding to “The Greats”: A Problematic Lack of Tension
Civil Wars, vol. 25, no. 2-3, pp. 547-553Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe Long-Term Legacies of Transitional Justice: Understanding the Paradox of Peace In Sierra Leone
Truth Commissions and State Building. Ibhawoh, B., Avelazuno, J., Bawa, S. (eds.). McGill-Queens University Press, pp. 341, 17 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersThe Power of Narratives in Conflict and Peace: The Case of Contemporary Iraq
Civil Wars, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 588-611Contributions to Journals: ArticlesAmbition and Ambivalence: Reconsidering Positive Peace as a Trans-Scalar Peace System
Journal of Peace Research, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 640-654Contributions to Journals: Articles
- Research
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Research Overview
My research interests concern international conflict and peace, transitional justice, and processes of peacebuilding and development.
I am primarily focused on studying the local experiences of international projects in transitional states and assessing how projects planned, funded and administered by international actors in post-conflict settings are experienced by local people. My first monograph outlined a methodology for conducting this kind of research (Routledge 2014), and additional volumes have developed the approach further (Palgrave 2018, Routledge 2019).
Related to these methodological projects, I have also develop theoretical approaches to understanding and conceptualizing these interactions between 'international' and 'local' actors. In an edited volume (Routledge 2016) myself and a number of colleagues forward the notion of friction as a key conceptual tool for this exploration, and my more recent work explores the complex nature of these interactions (2020, 2021).
My current research continues to develop these themes. First, I continue, based on earlier efforts, to develop the potential for Ethnographic Peace Research as an evaluation tool for practitioners. Second, I am focusing on a number of complex cases of global-local interaction to continue to collect empirical data regarding these dynamics. And third, I am examining 21st Century Challenges to Peace.
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Sociology.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Sociology
Accepting PhDsResearch Specialisms
- International Development
- War and Peace Studies
- Development in Africa
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Current Research
AMBITION AND AMBIVALENCE: 21st CENTURY CHALLENGES TO PEACE
In 2018-2019 I was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to start this new project, which is ongoing.
The field of Peace Studies faces significant obstacles in responding to challenges such as climate change, demographic shifts, mass migration, and declining Western influence. These obstacles undermine the field’s traditional normative ambition to contribute to peace and generate ambivalence regarding its ability to tackle future conflict.
This project examines the balance between ambition and ambivalence in Peace Studies. It does so via a mixed-method approach assessing data collected from academics, students, policymakers, and practitioners and reflecting on the past, present, and future state of the field and its capacity to theorize, research, and provide solutions for future conflicts. The first outputs from this product, reflecting on the complex challenges the field faces and how we might respond, were published in Peacebuilding (2020) and the Journal of Peace Research (2021)
ETHNOGRAPHIC PEACE RESEARCH (EPR)
Since late 2015 I have been working to consolidate an Ethnographic Peace Research (EPR) agenda in Peace Studies.
Following a workshop funded by the Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) at the University of Aberdeen in July 2016 I co-edited a book titled "Ethnographic Peace Research: Approaches and Tensions" (Palgrave 2018), a Special Issue of International Peacekeeping on EPR as a methodology published in late 2018, and a further volume titled "Engaging Ethnographic Research" (Routledge 2019). In addition, I have continued this work with a number of articles regarding EPR for policy engagement in Cooperation and Conflict (2018), the benefits of long-term fieldwork for peace and conflict studies research in International Peacekeeping (2018), and very recent articles on trans-scalar EPR in both Peacebuilding (2021) and the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding (2021).
Along with other members of informal international research network that has been involved in this project, I am now working to develop a research agenda and submit research proposals to utilize, test, and calibrate this methodology to meet the needs of contemporary peace research challenges. This effort has recently been focusing specifically on Indigenous Monitoring and Evaluation processes in everyday peace systems.
Just Food? Mutual Exchange Network on Just Food System Transitions
Funded from April 2021 to September 2022 by the British Academy, this action-research project established a mutual exchange network on just food system transitions including food system actors from four usually unconnected geographies. It provided a space for dialogue, exchange and learning between local food system actors working and advocating for justice in their respective food systems. It included organisations and movements linked to the right to food, environment, and agroecological transitions, as well as international advocacy NGOs working for larger global policy change. The primary goal was to establish a trans-scalar (local, national, international) and interregional (Europe, South America, Southern Africa, West Africa) network of actors engaged in food system transitions, which included the experiences of many who have yet to be given the attention they deserve in debates about sustainable development.
This project has recently concluded and the research team is currently working on two different outputs for leading academic journals.
Supervision
I am interested in supervising PhD students with an interest in post-conflict justice, peacebuilding, and development in any region of the world or particularly students with an interest in using ethnographic methods to evaluate international intervention in transitional states.
I am currently supervising Ruben Schneider in his ESRC funded PhD research focusing on the local impacts and experiences of securitized conservation projects in sub-Saharan Africa and the potential conflict or peace promoting dimensions of such interventions.
Funding and Grants
Recent Grants:
2021 - British Academy 'Just Transitions' Research Grant, £15,203
2020 - Research Impact Support Award, £2,000
2018 - Leverhulme Research Fellowshiop, £46,848
2017 - University of Aberdeen GCRF-IPPF, £9,050
2016 - Independent Social Research Foundation, £4,999
2016 - Principal's Interdisciplinary Fund, £1,225
2015 - Principal's Interdisciplinary Fund, £1,163
2013 - The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Research Grant, £2,420
2013 - Principal’s Excellence Fund, £500
2012 - Radboud University Nijmegen, Faculty Fieldwork Grant, €10,235
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
Undergradaute
Together with my colleague, Dr Luisa Gandolfo, I teach the 4th year option course titled "Between Peace and Conflict: Societies in Transition".
Post-Graduate Programme:
I currently co-ordinate two MSc programmes, the first an MSc in Peace and Conflict Studies, and the second an MSc in Policy Evaluation.
Both MScs can be completed full-time over 12 months or part time of 24 months.
PhD Students:
I am interested in supervising PhD students with an interest in post-conflict justice, peacebuilding, and development in any region of the world or with an interest in using ethnographic methods to evaluate international intervention in transitional states.
- Publications
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For whom do local peace processes function?: Maintaining control through conflict management
Cooperation and Conflict, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 293-308Contributions to Journals: ArticlesWhy Institutions of Security Can Fail to Provide Experiences of Security
T-Note, vol. 36Contributions to Specialist Publications: ArticlesBook review: Non-State Challenges in a Re-Ordered World: The Jackals of Westphalia
Cooperation and Conflict, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 289-290Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836717701968
Book Review: Post-Liberal Peace Transitions: Between Peace Formation and State Formation
Civil Wars, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 517-519Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and ArticlesBook Review: The Reappeared: Argentine Former Political Prisoners, Rebekah Park (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press 2014)
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology ReviewContributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and ArticlesLocal experiences of liberal peace: marketization and emergent conflict dynamics in Sierra Leone
Journal of Peace Research, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 569-581Contributions to Journals: ArticlesCultures: Positive and Negative Peace
GeographicalContributions to Specialist Publications: ArticlesKnowledge and Control in the Contemporary Land Rush: Making Local Land Legible and Corporate Power Applicable in Rural Sierra Leone
Journal of Agrarian Change, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 206-224Contributions to Journals: ArticlesIntroduction: Peacebuilding through the lens of friction
Peacebuilding and Friction: Global and Local Encounters in Post Conflict-Societies. Björkdahl, A., Höglund, K., Millar, G., Vanderlijn, J., Verkoren, W. (eds.). RoutledgeChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersPeacebuilding and Friction: Global and Local Encounters in Post Conflict Societies
Routledge, UK. 222 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksHow a Project with Good Aims Delivered Bitter Outcomes in Sierra Leone
Banker Africa, pp. 18-19Contributions to Specialist Publications: ArticlesHow a project with good aims delivered bitter outcomes in Sierra Leone
The ConversationContributions to Specialist Publications: ArticlesBook Review: Importing EU Norms: Conceptual Framework and Empirical Findings
European Foreign Affairs Review, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 155-157Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and ArticlesDisciplinary Divides in Post-Conflict Justice and Peace: Tracking If and How we Share Ideas
Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 302-320Contributions to Journals: ArticlesRespecting Complexity: Compound Friction and Unpredictability in Peacebuilding
Peacebuilding and Friction: Global and Local Encounters in Post Conflict Societies. Björkdahl, A., Höglund, K., Millar, G., Vanderlijn, J., Verkoren, W. (eds.). Routledge, pp. 32-47, 16 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersPerformative memory and re-victimization: truth-telling and provocation in Sierra Leone
Memory Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 242-254Contributions to Journals: Articles"We have no voice for that": Land Rights, Power, and Gender in Rural Sierra Leone
Journal of Human Rights, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 445-462Contributions to Journals: ArticlesInvesting in Peace: Foreign Direct Investment as Economic Restoration in Sierra Leone?
Third World Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 9, pp. 1700-1716Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDisaggregating hybridity: Why hybrid institutions do not produce predictable experiences of peace
Journal of Peace Research, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 501-514Contributions to Journals: ArticlesAn Ethnographic Approach to Peacebuilding: Understanding Local Experiences in Transitional States
Routledge, Abingdon. 208 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksExpectations and Experiences of Peacebuilding in Sierra Leone: Parallel Peacebuilding Processes and Compound Friction
International Peacekeeping, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 189-203Contributions to Journals: ArticlesPeacebuilding Plans and Local Reconfigurations: Frictions between Imported Processes and Indigenous Practices
International Peacekeeping, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 137-143Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13533312.2013.791556
Frictions in Peacebuilding Interventions: The Unpredictability of Local-Global Interaction
International Peacekeeping, vol. 20, no. 2Contributions to Journals: Special Issues‘Our brothers who went to the bush’: Post-identity conflict and the experience of reconciliation in Sierra Leone
Journal of Peace Research, vol. 49, no. 5, pp. 717-729Contributions to Journals: Articles'Ah Lef ma Case fo God': Religious Belief and Personal Autonomy in Sierra Leone's Postwar Reconciliation
Peace and Conflict: The Journal of Peace Psychology, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 131-143Contributions to Journals: Articles