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Forum: Conflict and Criminalization

Forum: Conflict and Criminalization 
October 2, 2025, 10:30am-1:30pm

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This forum will consider the entanglements, both material and conceptual, of criminality and violent 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 work around state structures and legal frameworks. 

Roddy Brett of the University of Bristol 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.  

This two-day event marks the launch of a new Mershon project, From Political Violence to Criminality, led by Prof. Roddy Brett, Director of the Global Insecurities Center and Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Bristol, and Dr. Teri Murphy.