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Conflict and Criminalization

Conflict and Criminalization written over the face of a person in combat camo with a camo balacava
October 2 - October 3, 2025
10:30 am - 1:30 pm
1039 Derby Hall

Conflict and Criminalization 

This two-day event marks the launch of a new Mershon project, From Political Violence to Criminality, led by Prof. Roddy Brett of the University of Bristol and Dr. Teri Murphy. The comparative project developed out of a series of discussions between political scientists, sociologists, police intelligence and criminality experts in Colombia this past July. Key questions guiding the research include:

  • How and why do armed political groups/structures (and individual perpetrators) overlap with criminal networks before, during, and after conflict?
  • Which factors shape how armed groups/structures and their individual (former) members may mutate from internal armed conflict to criminality and organized crime?

Forum: Conflict and Criminalization 
October 2, 2025


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This forum will consider the entanglements, both material and conceptual, of criminality and armed conflict. Some of these relationships might be seen as linear: how do wartime disruptions create criminal opportunities in the aftermath; how do the impediments to reintegration marginalize ex-combatants, stigmatizing them as criminal and/or leading them to extra-legal economic strategies? Others are more interactive: whether non-state actors are represented as criminal or political, and by whom; how alternative resource networks maneuver around state structures and legal frameworks. 

Professor Brett and selected OSU scholars will each share insights from their research into the constitution and strategies of non-state actors in conflict and post-conflict situations. How can we meaningfully distinguish between crime and political resistance in conflict-affected settings? Can we find patterns in how crime and resistance interact over time in shared spaces? In the face of unequal rhetorical resources, how can the distinction between crime and resistance help us to work toward both everyday social order and the recognition of legitimate claims by non-state actors?

All researchers interested in these areas are invited to attend. More details. 

 

A Master Class for Graduate Students Researching in Conflict-Affected Settings (for registered applicants only)
October 3, 2025


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Graduate students in any discipline and at any stage of their research are invited to share their projects in a two-hour session, followed by lunch. Discuss your research questions and agenda along with your methodological challenges in a constructive environment led by a leading expert in peace and conflict studies. 1-2 page research summaries will be shared with the group in advance, and participants are expected to engage with the projects of their peers in addition to receiving feedback on their own. Limited to 15 students. More details.  

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