Description:

Please join the Political Science Department, Program of African Studies, Weinberg College Center for International and Area Studies, and the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs as they host Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a Professor of Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University, for a presentation on "Understanding the wider impacts of Ethiopia's northern conflict.

The session will be hybrid - RSVP for the Zoom link. Lunch will be served.

Understanding the wider impacts of Ethiopia's northern conflict

The conflict in Northern Ethiopia which began in November 2020 has impacted heavily on the country's northern communities, particularly in the Afar, Amhara and Tigray Regional states.  This presentation will examine the concept of insurgency-based conflict and explain the relationship between the various conflict impacts and the strategic, operational and tactical underpinnings of insurgency warfare.  The presentation will draw on recent fieldwork undertaken across a number of conflict-impacted northern communities and propose considerations for a cessation of hostiliities and prospects for peace.

Biography

Ann Fitz-Gerald is the Director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a Professor in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Political Science Department. She has worked at both at King’s College, London University’s International Policy Institute, and at Cranfield University, where she was the Director, Defence and Security Leadership. During her time at Cranfield, Ann led the UK-Government funded Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform and Cranfield’s Centre for Security Sector Management. She also designed and developed the Masters programme in Security Sector Management, which is delivered in both the UK and East Africa.

Ann is widely published on issues concerning conflict, national security and security sector governance. She holds Visiting Professor at other universities including Nkumba University (Uganda), Jimma University (Ethiopia), Njala University (Sierra Leone) and Queen’s University (Canada). Ann has advised, and has been seconded to work with, a number of countries on issues relating to national security policy/strategy issues including Ukraine, Lebanon, Canada, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Botswana, Jamaica, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Albania, Montenegro and Nigeria. She has also supported internationally sponsored peace talks including support to the AU High Implementation Panel during the post-referendum peace talks between North and South Sudan.

In 2018, Ann was appointed as a Senior Research Associate at the Royal United Services Institute in London. In 2013, she became a Senior Security and Justice Adviser for the UK Government and she was appointed Visiting Professor of Global Security Management at Queen’s University. In 2012, the Government of Canada awarded Ann the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her contribution to post-conflict resolution and national policy dialogue. In 2011, Ann was invited to become the McNaughton-Vanier Visiting Professor at the Royal Military College of Canada.