2011 Catalytic Workshop:
Integrating Theory and Practice;
The prevention of human rights violations
resulting from state violence

Workshop Chair: Victoria Mason, Lancaster University
Location: Kafka, Sheraton
Time: 8:30 - 6:00 PM, Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Workshop Summary

In recent years, a number of important and innovative initiatives have emerged that undertake applied research aiming to identify, address and prevent acts of state violence – including by states in the global North. The objective of this workshop is to bring together key individuals -- scholars, lawyers, practitioners and activists – from these cutting-edge approaches and initiatives. In bringing these individuals together through an inter-disciplinary and applied approach, the workshop will combine important theoreticalconceptual thinking, empirical case-studies, and on-the-ground experience in preventing, and responding to, gross acts of state violence. In doing so, the aim is to explore the intersections between scholars and practitioners, to build capacity, and to create an enduring network that will enable long-term applied research on state violence with relevance for both academia and policy. A particular focus within this will be to explore the subtle but important distinctions between legal and social science methods of inquiry into state violence, and how the two approaches can work together.

Workshop Participants (tentative)

  • George Lopez, Notre Dame
  • Victoria Mason, Lancaster University
  • Michael Stohl, USCB
  • Ruth Blakeley, Kent University
  • Richard Jackson, Aberystwyth University
  • Penny Green, Kings College
  • Tony Ward, University of Hull
  • Julia Fromholz, Human Rights First
  • Clive Baldwin, Human Rights Watch
  • Gerald Staberock, Int. Commission of Jurists
  • Bert Lockwood, Human Rights Quarterly