What is VIP?

The Violence, Instability, and Peace (VIP) Workshop is a virtual forum for scholars studying conflict, protest, crime, peace, and related topics to receive feedback on research-in-progress, including working papers and well-developed pre-analysis plans. The workshop is open to scholars from political science and related disciplines (e.g., sociology, economics, psychology, communication), and from across subfields.

Program - Fall 2023

September 21, 2023 8am PST/11am EST/4pm GMT Register for Zoom link here

• Sule Yaylaci (UPenn), co-author: Chris Price (Bates College) “Collective Targeting of Violence and Identity Shift: Evidence From Bosnia”

  Discussant: Baylee Harrell (University of Kentucky)

• Nihad Aboud (University of Essex) “Affiliation and Jihadist Rhetoric Dynamics: The Case of Boko Haram”

  Discussant: Emma Boyle (Penn State Harrisburg)

October 12, 2023 8am PST/11am EST/4pm GMT

• Frank Wyer (Naval Postgraduate School) “Who’s to Blame? How Postconflict Violence Affects Public Support for Peace”

  Discussant: Juan Albarracín (University of Illinois, Chicago)

• Lucía Tiscornia (University College Dublin), co-authors: Ines Fynn (Universidad Catolica de Montevideo), Veronica Perez Bentancur (Universidad de la Republica), Gustavo Diaz (McMaster University), “In the Crevices of the State: Criminal Governance in Contexts of High State Presence and Low Violence”

  Discussant: Nicholas Barnes (University of St Andrews)

November 9, 2023 8am PST/11am EST/4pm GMT

• Sean Paul Ashley (Dartmouth) “Wartime Institutions and the Durability of Rebel Regimes”

  Discussant: TBD

• Sigrid Weber (Stanford) “Where to flee? Exploring household-level destination choices and political integration during displacement in the Kasai, DRC”

  Discussant: TBD

Workshop Information

Sign up here to join our google groups receive emails with updates directly.

We consider submissions of full papers (e.g., to be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, a chapter in an edited volume, or a job market paper) and well-developed research designs or pre-analysis plans. If accepted, you will provide a short presentation (about 5 minutes) and receive about 25 minutes of feedback from a discussant and attendants.

We are open to work from scholars at all career stages, although we particularly aim to provide opportunities for junior scholars and early career researchers, including pre-tenure and non-tenure track faculty, post-docs, and graduate students. We are also committed to promoting opportunities for scholars from historically excluded communities.

Do you want to discuss your peers’ work? Volunteer as a discussant here.

Scholars at varying stages of their careers (from advanced PhD candidates to tenured scholars) can serve as discussants, as long as they are willing to read research-in-progress and provide about 10 minutes of feedback. We will do our best to match you with a paper that fits your area of expertise.

Format

Our workshops are one-hour-long sessions dedicated to providing feedback on two featured papers; accordingly, authors will only provide a short 5-minute presentation to provide an overview of the paper. Each paper will then receive 25 minutes of dedicated feedback from both a chosen discussant and other participants. Manuscripts will be circulated at least one week in advance, and all participants are expected to read them.

Organizers

• Amélie Godefroidt (Post-doctoral Scholar, KU Leuven)
• Ana Paula Pellegrino (PhD Candidate, Georgetown University)
• Isabel Laterzo (PhD Candidate, UNC-Chapel Hill)
• MP Broache (Assistant Professor, UNC-Greensboro)
• Neeraj Prasad (Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam)
• Taylor Vincent (PhD Candidate, University of Maryland)

Past Workshops

Spring 2023

• May 4, 8am PST/11am EST/4pm GMT - Register here to join via Zoom

  “The Inter-State Dilemma of Transnational Repression: Origin State Strategies and Host State Variation” by Connor Kopchick (The University of Maryland - College Park)

  Discussant: Myunghee Lee (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies)

  “Returning Home: Child Soldiers, Cleansing Rituals and Reintegration in Uganda” by Allen Kiconco (Wits University)

  Discussant: Rebecca Tapscott (Geneva Graduate Institute)

• April 6, 8am PST/11am EST/4pm GMT

  “Effects of Conflicts on Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from Mexico” by Anousheh Alamir (European Centre for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics)

  Discussant: Marco Alcocer (Predoctoral Fellow, ITAM and Innovations for Poverty Action; PhD candidate, University of California, San Diego; Academy Scholar, Harvard University - fall ‘23)

  “Addressing Contentious Variance: Networks, Urban Space, and Collective Action in a Syrian Uprising, 1979–1982” by Motasem Abuzaid (University of Oxford)

  Discussant: Daniel Solomon (PhD Candidate, Georgetown University)

• March 9, 8am PST/11am EST/4pm GMT

  “The Public Response to Threats of Violence Against Elected Officials” by Alexandra Filindra (The University of Illinois Chicago) & Laurel Harbridge-Yong (Northwestern University)

  Discussant: Elsa Voytas (I.E. University)

  “Political Assassination, Elite Cues and Trust in Institutions: Quasi-Experiment from Tunisia” by Mohamed-Dhia Hammami (Syracuse University)

  Discussant: Mariana Carvalho (Brown University)

• February 9, 8am PST/11am EST/4pm GMT

  “The Political Economy of the Heavy Hand: How Poverty Reduces Politicians’ Incentives to Reform Security Policies” by Andrea Junqueira (Washington University in St. Louis)

  Discussant: Jessie Trudeau (Brown University)

  “Coercion and Capture in Democratic Politics” by Andres Uribe (The University of Chicago)

  Discussant: Alex Braithwaite (The University of Arizona)

Fall 2022

• December 8, 8am PST/11am EST/4pm GMT

  “How Does the Geography of Surveillance Affect Collective Action in the Occupied Palestinian Territories?” by Sandra Penic (University of Geneva)

  Discussant: Emily Ritter (Vanderbilt University)

  “How Corporatist Institutions Shape Criminal Violence: Evidence from Mexico’s Nucleos Agrarios” by Elena Barham (Columbia University)

  Discussant: Alma Bezares Calderón (Whittier College)

• November 10, 12pm PST/3pm EST/8pm GMT

  “The Economic Roots of Violence: The Unintended Consequences of Colombia’s Close Peace Referendum” by Andrés Felipe Rivera-Triviño (Universidad Javeriana-Cali) & Paula Zamora-Raiño (Texas A&M University)

  Discussant: Michael Weintraub (Universidade de los Andes)

  “Support from Afar? The Logic of Diaspora Sponsorship to Rebel Organizations” by Sara Daub (University of Maryland & The Hertie School)

  Discussant: Jessica Soedirgo (The University of Amsterdam)

• October 13, 8am PST/11am EST/3pm GMT

  “Violence Against Women and Political Participation in Mexico” by Angie Torres-Beltran (Cornell)

  Discussant: Jamie Shenk (Harvard University)

  “Taking to Kill: The Lethality of Hostage-Taking in Civil War” by Blair Welsh (Essex)

  Discussant: Jori Breslawski (Tel Aviv University)