INFOCORE

INFOCORE is an international collaborative research project funded under the 7th European Framework Program of the European Commission, the same call as MeCoDEM. Its main aim is to investigate the role(s) that media play in the emergence or prevention, the escalation or de-escalation, the management, resolution, and reconciliation of violent conflict. INFOCORE focuses on three main conflict regions: the Middle East, the West Balkans, and the African Great Lakes area.

Critical Perspectives on New Media and Processes of Social Change in the Global South

With researchers from four Nordic countries and Kenya, this research project examines the patterns of new media appropriations by ordinary citizens in rural and semi-urban areas in the Global South and the implications of these on different processes of social change in the region. The project is financed by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (NOS-HS).

Mediating (Semi-)Authoritarianism: The Power of the Internet in the Post-Soviet World

The project compares phenomena of internet-mediated communication (and their consequences) across three (semi-)authoritarian regimes in the post-Soviet world: Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. The project investigates communicative change in relation to the following areas: political representation, collective action, participation, the decoding of political news, counter-publics, and political scandal. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Project leader is Dr Florian Toepfl, together with Dr Anna Litvinenko and Andrej Zavadski.

Media and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe

The project investigates the often troublesome and poorly understood relationship between democracy and the media in Central and Eastern Europe, but findings should be more broadly applicable to consolidating democracies worldwide. The research takes a novel research by focusing on the quality of the media as a function of the quality of democracy. The project run between 2009 and 2013 and was funded by the European Research Council (ERC). Principal Investigator is Prof. Jan Zielonka.

Representations of Contemporary Soldiering in Digital and Visual Cultures

This British Academy funded project (Feb 2014 – June 2015) asked how mediated discourses of ‘war’ and ‘the end of war’ might work to facilitate, complicate or obstruct the wider cultural and political understandings which occur both within the armed forces, and between them, their families and the wider public. Discussions with serving military personnel, veterans and forces families led to a better understanding of how those most affected by recent conflicts engage with the familiar media portrayals and dominant stereotypes. Project leader was MeCoDEM investigator Katy Parry. She collaborated with Nancy Thumim and Simon Popple as co-investigators, and Ysabel Gerrard as the research assistant.

The project concluded with a symposium: media.leeds.ac.uk/events/military-and-the-media-symposium-university-of-leeds-2-june-2015/

The European Union’s Impact on Conflict between Kosovo and Serbia

This project is supported by the Centre for International Governance and Innovation (CIGI). Its goal is to offer theoretically informed and policy relevant insight into the role of the EU in the Belgrade/Pristina dialogue. The research focuses on the EU’s role in this process and identifies broader implications for the EU’s global security strategy towards fragile and conflict-affected countries. Among the project members is former MeCoDEM country team leader Filip Ejdus.

The Impact of Elections: Voting, Political Behaviour and Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa

The project addresses the role of popular ideas regarding the (im)morality of electoral (mal)practice. It investigates the extent to which electoral practice in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda has been both driven and constrained by popular expectations and demands. The project is a collaboration between MeCoDEM researcher Dr Nic Cheeseman and Dr Gabrielle Lynch (Warwick), Prof Justin Willis (Durham), and Prof Stefan Lindberg (Florida / Gothenburg). It is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Truth and Justice: The Search for Peace and Stability in Modern Kenya

This project provides a critical analysis of Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). The TJRC Bill was passed in 2008 following post-election violence in 2007/8 that led to the death of over 1,000 people and displacement of at least 700,000 in two months. The project is funded through a grant by the Economic and Social Research Council. Among the project contributors is MeCoDEM researcher Nic Cheeseman.

MeCoDEM

Media, Conflict and DEMocratisation

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