Conflict and Violence

Our work provides a nuanced and realistic understanding of the relationship between violence, conflict, security and development. It aims to help policymakers, practitioners and citizens to develop policies and practices that strengthen people’s efforts to secure their own lives and livelihoods and improve the functioning of political institutions responsible for security and the management and prevention of conflict, and for the development of peace.

We examine the multiple layers and contexts in which violence manifests – from household to state and global level – and pinpoint the links and overlaps between these layers. This includes exploring the nature of, and responses to conflict and violence in rapidly expanding urban areas.  We have a done pioneering work on the dynamics of micro-level conflict, violence and development as well as on citizen action in violent contexts. Our research on gender, men and masculinities and gender-based violence has provided new insights on how to change attitudes, norms and behaviours for equality, peace and justice.

Another focal area is the dynamics of policy processes around conflict, violence and security examining the key framing and narratives. We explore non-traditional forms of security, especially linked to water, energy, food and health as well as post conflict and state building issues affecting service delivery and livelihoods, and are also developing new participatory approaches to peacebuilding. 

People

Patricia Justino

Professorial Fellow

Rebecca Mitchell

Postgraduate Researcher and Programme Manager

Gauthier Marchais

Research Fellow

Jeremy Allouche

Professorial Fellow

Jeremy Lind

Professorial Fellow

Juan Carlos Muñoz-Mora

Post Doctoral Researcher

Marinella Leone

Research Fellow

Robin Luckham

Emeritus Fellow

Programmes and centres

Recent work

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Showing 25–36 of 15281 results

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Nigeria

Countering Rollback Country Brief

Nigeria’s socio-political and economic environment presents significant challenges for women’s rights and for LGBTQI+ rights. Women also face discriminatory practices, such as in the northern Kano state, where civil service rules penalise women for pregnancy-related training interruptions.

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Mexico

Countering Rollback Country Brief

In Mexico, significant progress has been made in promoting gender equality but, despite these advances, organisations operate in an environment that remains adverse for women and LGBTQI+ people.

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Kenya

Countering Rollback Country Brief

Kenya’s socio-political environment presents significant challenges for women’s and LGBTQI+ rights. Conservative social attitudes – deeply influenced by religious beliefs, political leaders, and traditional norms – exacerbate these challenges.

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Kazakhstan

Countering Rollback Country Brief

In Kazakhstan, social tensions between the Soviet legacy and the country’s identity as an independent nation perpetuate deep-seated homophobia. Despite the decriminalisation of consensual same-sex conduct in 1998, individuals who are LGBT+ continue to face fear and abuse, leading them to...

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Indonesia

Countering Rollback Country Brief

Indonesia is experiencing significant democratic backsliding, threatening the freedoms and rights of women and of LGBT+ communities. Civil society organisations, which have long been central to advancing democracy and human rights, are facing increasing restrictions under President Prabowo...

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: India

Countering Rollback Country Brief

Over the past decade, entrenched intersectional inequalities in India have been deepened by the shrinking space for civil society, the criminalisation of dissent and mass-incarceration of activists, state-sponsored violence against marginalised communities, the corporatisation of media, and the...

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Ghana

Countering Rollback Country Brief

In recent years, Ghana has faced significant pushback against LGBTQI+ rights, marked by stricter legal restrictions and widespread societal opposition. Similarly, progress on women’s rights has been slow, with inadequate policy implementation.

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Egypt

Countering Rollback Country Brief

Egypt has a rich history of feminist activism, but progress on LGBTQI+ rights and women’s rights ‘remains elusive, characterized by fits and starts along a non-linear trajectory’. Although Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, regularly pays lip service to women’s rights, his...

16 April 2025

Brief

Rapid Scoping Review 2025: Brazil

Countering Rollback Country Brief

The Brazilian government made significant strides in advancing rights for women and LGBTI+ people since 2000. However, in 2016, President Dilma Rousseff was impeached in a parliamentary coup and Michel Temer, her former vice-president and a centre-right politician, took over as president.

16 April 2025

Opinion

Making sense of the circular economy in an unequal world

The global transition towards the circular economy is often presented in an idealised and apolitical way, as the recirculation of matter and energy within a closed economic system that encompasses a homogeneous humanity and nature. This model promises resource and energy security, as well as a...

Emilio Bertrand Bunge Gonzalez, MA Development Studies, Class of 2024-25

16 April 2025

Opinion

Woman or Indigenous? How the UN human rights treaties simplify discrimination

The UN human rights treaties separate rights into categories, misrepresenting the reality of some cases of discrimination. There are cases where Indigenous people have sought justice for states violating their cultural rights through the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights...

Sofie Nielsen, MA Gender & Development, Class of 2024-25

16 April 2025

Why learn with us.

In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).

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