Dr Gearoid Millar will attend this year's virtual ISA Annual Convention, Globalization, Regionalism and Nationalism: Contending Forces in World Politics, where he will deliver two papers, chair a panel, and act as a discussant between April 7 and 9.
On April 7, he will chair a roundtable on Indigenous Monitoring and Evaluation Systems for Adaptive Peacebuilding, alongside Dr Sukanya Podder (King's College London), Professor Pamina Firchow (Brandeis University), Professor Isioma Ile (University of the Western Cape), Professor Morten Bøås (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs), Professor Morgan Brigg (University of Queensland), and Lara Olson (University of Oxford).
Drawing on a diverse range of case studies, the panel will reflect on the legacy of the Cold War, which prompted a shift towards Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) in peace-building, and the possibilities to respond to the limitations that have emerged.
Later that day, Dr Millar will be the discussant for a panel chaired by Professor Cedric de Coning (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs), entitled Getting Beyond the Linear and Formulaic: Alternative Approaches to Peacemaking, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding in the 21st Century.
During the panel, the participants will discuss how insights from complexity theory can inform the contextual awareness, analysis, planning, practice and evaluation of peacemaking strategies, peacekeeping operations and peacebuilding programmes.
Drawing on papers presented by Dr Thania Paffenholz (Graduate institute, Geneva), Dr Yvan Ilunga (James Madison University), Lara Olson (University of Oxford), and Professor Erin L. McCandless (University of Witwatersrand), the panel will explore a range of emerging approaches that work to influence the degree to which complex social-ecological systems can sustain peace.
On April 8, Dr Millar will deliver his first paper of the event, 'Trans-Scalar Ethnographic Peace Research: Understanding the Invisible Drivers of Complex Conflict and Complex Peace', on the panel, Building, Supporting, Understanding and Researching Peace, also chaired by Professor De Coning.
In his paper, Dr Millar will explain why and how a trans-scalar Ethnographic Peace Research (EPR) approach would respond to the challenges of complexity and radical alterity.
The second paper, will be delivered on April 9, on the panel, Peace and Peacebuilding in a Changing Global Context, chaired by Angelina Mendes (George Mason University).
Entitled '21st Century Challenges to Peace: Facing Complexity in a Changing World', the paper will address contemporary challenges to peace, before recommending ways to overcome the theoretical, structural, and mundane barriers to academic-practitioner communication and cooperation.
Dr Millar's latest article, 'Trans-Scalar Ethnographic Peace Research: Understanding the Invisible Drivers of Complex Conflict and Complex Peace', published in the Journal of Intervention and Peacebuilding, can be read, here.