Conflict Research Society (CRS) 2025 Annual Conference, themed “Legitimacy in Conflict and Peace,” took place, from the 17th to 19th of September, at the University of Kent, Canterbury. The Global Souths Hub team, Third World Quarterly (TWQ) and Conflict, Security and Development journals are making ten articles free to view until the 31st of October 2025 in conjunction with the Annual Conference and the journal’s publisher, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Journals.
Legitimacy is central to today’s major conflicts, including in Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine. It shapes whether conflicts escalate or move toward resolution, influencing peace processes, governance, and post-conflict recovery.
Highlights of the conference include two keynote addresses: Ismene Gizelis (University of Essex) on the 18th of September (Titled Peace from above or peace from below? UN peacekeeping, governance, and security), and Adam Lichtenheld (University of Leiden), the winner of the CRS Book of the Year Prize for his book, Guilt by Location Forced Displacement and Population Sorting in Civil Wars.
The programme also features roundtables and a special public event hosted by the Principles for Peace Foundation, which will present its report Legitimacy in a Fragmenting World during a roundtable on the 17th September at 18.00 (GMT).
The following ten articles from Third World Quarterly (TWQ) and Conflict, Security and Development have been selected and are free to view for delegates to the conference until 31st October 2025.
- The art(s) of conflict disruption in South Sudan, Sayra van den Berg (2025), Third World Quarterly, 46 (9)
- Qatar’s approach across the Triple Nexus in conflict-affected contexts: the case of Darfur, Wadee Alarabeed (2024), Third World Quarterly, 45 (1)
- The Chinese approach to peacebuilding: contesting liberal peace?, Xinyu Yuan (2022), Third World Quarterly, 43 (7)
- Agonistic peace: advancing knowledge on institutional dynamics and relational transformation, Lisa Strömbom and Sabel Bramsen (2022), Third World Quarterly, 43 (6)
- Reading socio-political and spatial issues dynamics through graffiti in conflict-affected societies, Birte Vogela, Catherine Arthur, Eric Lepp, Dylan O’Driscoll & Billy Tusker Haworth (2020), Third World Quarterly, 41 (12)
- Everyday peace and conflict: (un)privileged interactions in Kirkuk, Iraq, Dylan O’Driscoll (2021), Third World Quarterly, 42 (10)
- Nomad savage’ and herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria: the (un)making of an ancient myth, Surulola Eke (2019), Third World Quarterly, 41 (5)
- Negotiating the fog of crimilegal war and peace: insights from rural Colombia, Markus Schultze-Kraft et al (2025). Conflict, Security and Development, 25 (4)
- Business elites, private security companies, and conflict management in Syria, Samer Abboud (2025), Conflict, Security and Development, 25 (4)
- To dissent or to dialogue: how civilian non-violent action in civil war contexts can gain concessions, Sooyeon Kang et al (2025) Conflict, Security and Development, 25 (3)
Thank you to the editor of Conflict, Security and Development, Dylan Hendrickson for making the articles featured here free-to-view.
