Expert Network Expert of the Month – August 2016 Contributor

Richard Jackson is Professor of Peace Studies at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (NCPACS), the University of Otago, New Zealand. His research is focused on the nature, causes, and resolution of contemporary forms of political violence. He has published widely on critical approaches to terrorism, international conflict resolution, pacifism, and political development in Africa. He is the founding editor and current editor-in-chief of the journal, Critical Studies on Terrorism.

Richard’s books include: The Routledge Handbook of Critical Terrorism Studies (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016); Contemporary Debates on Terrorism (Routledge, 2012; co-edited with Samuel Justin Sinclair); Terrorism: A Critical Introduction (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2011; co-authored with Marie Breen Smyth, Jeroen Gunning and Lee Jarvis); Contemporary State Terrorism: Theory and Cases (Routledge, 2010; co-edited with Eamon Murphy and Scott Poynting); Conflict Resolution in the Twenty-first Century: Principles, Methods and Approaches (Ann Arbor MI: Michigan University Press, 2009; co-authored with Jacob Bercovitch); Critical Terrorism Studies: A New Research Agenda (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009; co-edited with Marie Breen Smyth and Jeroen Gunning); andWriting the War on Terrorism: Language, Politics and Counterterrorism (Manchester University Press, 2005).

Recently, Richard published a research-informed popular novel entitled Confessions of a Terrorist (London: Zed, 2014) which explores the motivations and psychology of a modern day militant. His current research is focused on the ways in pacifism is subjugated within International Relations and politics, its application for peacebuilding and conflict resolution, and ways to de-subjugate it as a political philosophy and practice.

Articles Authored

Peacebuilding: The missing piece of the puzzle? (1 August 2016) - A growing body of research is now telling us that all forms of political violence, apart from being a self-replicating, constitutive social practice, is largely ineffective, no matter what ends it aims for.