As ever @jamesworrall.bsky.social and myself @alexwaterman.bsky.social will be floating around various panels at the conference, so feel free to DM or email us to arrange a coffee to pitch your project!

Monday, 23 March 1600: We have another cracking lineup for the @civilwarsjournal.bsky.social roundtable! This year we're discussing methodologies in conflict research.

Headed to @ISA2026 #ISA2026 @isanet.bsky.social? Here's our lineup for the conference: Sunday, 22 March 1930-2100: Join us for the @civilwarsjournal.bsky.social drinks reception!

Early Christmas present! Very excited to have signed a contract with Oxford University Press to publish "Managing Insurgency: Counterinsurgency and Order Negotiation in Northeast India." Watch this space in 2026!

Enjoyed delivering this morning’s session on Lit Reviews and Theoretical Frameworks in journal articles with @jamesworrall.bsky.social in @civilwarsjournal.bsky.social contribution to the “International Writing Workshop Mindanao," supporting emerging scholars from Mindanao:

A great #CRS2025 at the University of Kent in Canterbury. Here are some photos from our @civilwarsjournal.bsky.social annual CRS drinks reception. It was great to catch up with friends old and new!

#CRS2025 also saw the launch of our latest @civilwarsjournal.bsky.social Special Issue on the Legacies of Rebel and Paramilitary Governance. Check out the SI here: www.tandfonline.com/toc/fciv20/c... with @nielsterpstra.bsky.social

Rounding off a busy #CRS2025 @civilwarsjournal.bsky.social also held its second Roundtable at CRS with some great discussions about epistemology and methodology, thanks to the very engaged audience and panelists. Check out the write up of our ISA Roundtable here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Civil Wars ISA Roundtable 2025 Civil War and Intrastate Conflict: Reimagining a Field of Study

Published in Civil Wars (Vol. 27, No. 2, 2025)

tandfonline.com

Attending the Conflict Research Society @thecrs.bsky.social conference in Canterbury this week? Come along to our drinks reception tomorrow (see conference programme for details)! Interested in pitching work to us? Get in touch with @jamesworrall.bsky.social to fix a coffee meeting!

Our brilliant Reviews Editors @drincon.bsky.social and @rtapscott.bsky.social are seeking expressions of interest for the journal's revamped reviews section. We look forward to seeing exciting and creative proposals! www-tandfonline-com.brad.idm.oclc.org/action/autho...

Huge thanks to our contributors @christinaboyes.bsky.social @hyyppati.bsky.social @mervekeskin.bsky.social Dana Landau, Rachel Schwartz and @meganastewart.bsky.social for reflecting on the fuzzy edges, ordering processes, need to de-centre violence and issues of knowledge production in the field

Is there a “field” of civil wars research? How is the field evolving, and what challenges is it likely to face in future years? We discussed these questions and more in a fascinating roundtable discussion at @isanet.bsky.social in March, written up here: doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Civil Wars ISA Roundtable 2025 Civil War and Intrastate Conflict: Reimagining a Field of Study

Published in Civil Wars (Vol. 27, No. 2, 2025)

doi.org

Civil Wars Journal@civilwarsjournal.bsky.social · last yr.

We are keen to build on our excellent roundtable at #ISA2025 in Chicago this year (keep an eye out for a write-up in our next issue!) by reflecting specifically on epistemology and the diverse research approaches that make up our field of study

Nice to see that my India Review article with Ben Holt analysing variation in the character of state-rebel conflict across Northeast India's "Highland," "Heartland" and "Hinterland" conflicts is the journal’s 3rd most-read article in the last year! Read it Open Access here: lnkd.in/e-6XjJEw

Reports of large-scale drone strikes against northeast Indian insurgent camps in Myanmar. As with most other conflict zones, the Northeast/Sagaing border area has gradually seen the arrival of drone warfare over the last couple of years www.pratidintime.com/latest-assam...

Indian Army Carries Out Major Drone Strikes on ULFA-I, NSCN(K) Camps in Myanmar

Tinsukia | Assam | Top Stories | The Indian Army reportedly launched a series of drone strikes on insurgent camps belonging to the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent

pratidintime.com

Next Wednesday (11 June) our very own Professor Christoph Bluth is presenting the Freedom Speakers International at the Light Church in Bradford. The three speakers, Yuna Jung, Riha Kim, and Sujin Kim, will share their stories about escaping from North Korea and their journey since.

Pleased to see the second article from our Gerda Henkel Stiftung funded research project on counterinsurgency doctrine published online, plenty more to come. I’ll let @alexwaterman.bsky.social explain this one in his detailed thread!

Alex Waterman@alexwaterman.bsky.social · last yr.

In this open-access article with @jamesworrall.bsky.social in the Journal of Strategic Studies, we theorise how specific elements of knowledge - in this case knowledge of insurgencies - are integrated, negotiated and codified into doctrine doi.org/10.1080/0140...

In this open-access article with @jamesworrall.bsky.social in the Journal of Strategic Studies, we theorise how specific elements of knowledge - in this case knowledge of insurgencies - are integrated, negotiated and codified into doctrine doi.org/10.1080/0140...

Interested in joining us for a discussion? DM us or contact @alexwaterman.bsky.social. We're particularly keen to pull in a broad church of civil wars scholars reflecting the field's methodological diversity, so please do circulate widely!

We are keen to build on our excellent roundtable at #ISA2025 in Chicago this year (keep an eye out for a write-up in our next issue!) by reflecting specifically on epistemology and the diverse research approaches that make up our field of study

Interested in attending @isanet.bsky.social #ISA2026? Interested in discussing how we create and produce knowledge about civil wars, and how this informs our research approaches? We are looking for participants to join a roundtable proposal for our "Reimagining a Field of Study" roundtable series!

India and Pakistan have agreed a precarious peace – but will it last? My short piece with @sudhirselvaraj.bsky.social theconversation.com/india-and-pa...

India and Pakistan have agreed a precarious peace – but will it last?

The ceasefire between these two nuclear powers appears to be holding, but deeper resolution appears unlikely.

theconversation.com

Dr Rashmi Arora gave a talk this week at Manchester Metropolitan University for the Women in Economics Mentoring Scheme, exemplifying PSID's bridge between research and practice!

Yesterday, the department's Global Security Research Group held an informal workshop to discuss a number of fascinating research projects spanning rich archival work, deep ethnographies and quantitative modelling. Particularly great to see our PhD students showcasing the evolution of their projects!

Abstract here 👇 Thank you to @hannahrwest.bsky.social and @alexwaterman.bsky.social for editing this special issue; stay tuned for the full line-up of papers imminently!

New publication in the Journal of Strategic Studies (part of a special issue on "Reimagining COIN after Afghanistan): What lies over the Horizon? In this, I question the meaning of "over-the-horizon" counterterrorism, and what kinds of futures it points towards. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

What lies over the horizon? Remoteness and the evolution of American global counterterrorism

This article examines the War on Terror’s shift to ‘over-the-horizon counterterrorism’ after the 2021 American withdrawal from Afghanistan. I argue that the concept of the ‘horizon’ provides tempor...

tandfonline.com

Excited to share new research from one of our colleagues! Dr Clara Voyvodic @cvoyvodic.bsky.social has two papers out on armed groups and rebel authority in Colombia. Clara’s work explores the intersections of conflict, development, and non-state governance. www.bradford.ac.uk/staff/cvoyvo...

***New Open Access Publication!*** In this India Review article co-authored with Ben Holt, we develop a new typology capturing variation in state-rebel conflict across Northeast India www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Highland, Heartland and Hinterland Conflicts: Introducing a Typology of State-rebel Conflict in Northeast India

The many “forgotten conflicts” of Northeast India remain poorly understood. Important works have highlighted deep nuances and historical variation in patterns of state-society relations across the ...

tandfonline.com

***New Open Access Publication!*** In this India Review article co-authored with Ben Holt, we develop a new typology capturing variation in state-rebel conflict across Northeast India www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Highland, Heartland and Hinterland Conflicts: Introducing a Typology of State-rebel Conflict in Northeast India

The many “forgotten conflicts” of Northeast India remain poorly understood. Important works have highlighted deep nuances and historical variation in patterns of state-society relations across the ...

tandfonline.com

Great end to a productive @isanet.bsky.social in Chicago! Presented preliminary research with Ryan O'Connor on the relationship between Naga rebel narratives and conflict events during a fascinating panel on rebel governance. Fascinating papers and super helpful discussion - thank you all! #IA2025

The calm before last night’s @civilwarsjournal.bsky.social reception @jamesworrall.bsky.social @hyyppati.bsky.social Great to see so many contributors to and friends of the journal, to meet many new faces and to learn about lots of exciting new projects!