Raucous Insecurities: Understanding the impact of Societal insecurities on Political Violence by Leon Skerritt

Wed 13 Nov 2024, 5-6pm. Join on teams here

This seminar is hosted by the College of Law, Social & Criminal Justice Research Seminar Series. Our series offers exciting insights into ongoing research projects within the law school and conducted by our external research partners. We often feature work from our research centres. Join us for invigorating discussion! 

In this session, we hear from Leon Skerritt. Having worked within youth justice since 2015, which included sitting on referral order panels and teaching in prisons, Leon made the switch to focus on Security Studies in 2018. After completing his MA Security Studies in 2019 he published his first paper, reconceptualising hegemony in a global American century followed by published commentary on war as a tool for combatting extremism and a coauthored paper with Dr Lily Hamourtziadou on restorative practice in international justice.     

In this session, Leon will give the following presentation, followed by an interactive Q&A: 

Title: Raucous Insecurities: Understanding the impact of Societal insecurities on Political Violence 

Abstract: 

An Olympics year is supposedly one of togetherness and inclusion, the summer of 2024 dismantled that idea on both sides of the English channel. In France, the Olympic hosts, we saw an attack on the cultural and social identity of its Muslim Female participants with the banning of the Hijab whilst competing. In England, we saw protest turn into riot after the senseless killing of young children. The perpetrator, incorrectly identifies as Muslim, led to anti-Muslim violence spreading across the country, with attacks on Mosques and Muslim owned businesses in the name of addressing the perceived threat to culture and identity.

 
Societal security is the concept within international relations and security studies discourse, that addresses the dynamics of conflict driven by culture and identity. Using this concept, I will explain the impact of the pursuit of societal security of the state, on the creation of insecurity for minority populations within the state.
 
If you have any questions, contact Mitchell Longan, the Research Seminar Series leader, at mitchell.longan@bcu.ac.uk