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Christine  Cheng

Dr Christine Cheng

Senior Lecturer in International Relations

Research interests

  • Conflict
  • International development
  • Security

Biography

Dr Christine Cheng is Senior Lecturer in War Studies at King’s College London. Dr Cheng is the author of Extralegal Groups in Post-Conflict Liberia- How Trade Makes the State (OUP), winner of the 2019 Conflict Research Society’s Annual Book Prize. She co-edited Corruption and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: Selling the Peace? (Routledge) with Dominik Zaum. She co-authored Securing and Sustaining Elite Bargains that Reduce Violent Conflict (with Jonathan Goodhand and Patrick Meehan), the final report of the UK Stabilisation Unit’s two-year project on Elite Bargains and Political Deals in conflict-affected countries. She is co-author on a DFID and Dutch-MFA-funded Chatham House study of Conflict economies in the Middle East and North Africa.

At King’s, Dr Cheng teaches on the MA in Conflict, Security, and Development. Previously, she was the Boskey Fellow in Politics at Exeter College, Oxford, and the Cadieux-Léger Fellow at Global Affairs Canada. She has worked for the UN and the World Bank. Dr Cheng holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford (Nuffield) and an MPA from Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School). Previously, she was the Boskey Fellow in Politics at Exeter College, University of Oxford. In 2009, she was the Cadieux-Léger Fellow at Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Dr Cheng holds a BASc in systems design engineering from the University of Waterloo.

She comments on international affairs for the BBC, the Wall Street Journal, and Al Jazeera. She is an advocate on gender equality issues (TEDx talk) and she is active in British party politics. Dr Cheng sits on the Conflict Research Society’s  Governing Council and the Advisory Board of Women in Foreign Policy.

She tweets @cheng_christine. 

Christine serves as the faculty advisor for the CSD Annual Conference, and founded the student-run Strife blog. She blogs and offers teaching tips to BA and MA students at wordpress.com

Research

War-to-peace transitions, conflict economies, peacebuilding and peacekeeping, statebuilding, corruption, organised crime, African politics, Colombia, R2P, transitional justice, social psychology and armed conflict, cognitive frames, dangerous fieldwork, gender and politics.

PhD Students applications

Publications

Books

Extralegal Groups in Post-Conflict Liberia: How Trade Makes the State. Oxford, Oxford University Press.)

Reviewed by the St Andrew’s Journal of International Relations and the Canadian Journal of African Studies: “This fascinating book examines post-civil war peacebuilding from a novel perspective…Her nuanced exploration of local groups in Liberia challenges core assumptions of the state-centric approach, while presenting a novel pathway through which they affect the postwar state.”

Christine Cheng and Dominik Zaum (Eds.), Corruption and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding- Selling the Peace?, Routledge.

Peer-Reviewed Articles and Reports

Forthcoming. Alison Brettle and Christine Cheng, “How Cognitive Frames Shape the American Approach to International Relations and Security Studies”, Journal of Global Security Studies.

         Part of a Special Issue on American Bias in International Relations, edited by Jeff Colgan.

  1. Tim Eaton, Christine Cheng, Renad Mansour, Peter Salisbury, Jihad Yazigi, Lina Khatib, “Conflict Economies in the Middle East and North Africa,” Chatham House Report. London: Chatham House.
  2. G. Homes, K. Wright, S. Basu, M. Hurley, M. Martin de Almagro, R. Guerrina, C. Cheng. “Feminist Experiences of ‘Studying Up’: Encounters with International Institutions”, Millennium: Vol. 47, Issue 2.
  3. Christine Cheng, Jonathan Goodhand and Patrick Meehan. Securing and Sustaining Elite Bargains that Reduce Violence. London, UK Stabilisation Unit, Her Majesty’s Government.

Research

twisted gun promo
Conflict, Security & Development Research Group

CSDRG undertakes a wide range of research, policy, advisory, and teaching activities related to conflict, security and development.

africa research promo
Africa Research Group

The Africa Research Group provides a hub for Africa-focused research within the War Studies Department and across the College.

Arts&ConPROMO
Arts & Conflict Hub

The Arts & Conflicts hub uses artistic mediums to communicate, teach and research the complexities of conflict

archivepapers
Conflict Records Unit

The Conflict Records Unit specialises in primary sources of contentious, war-related provenance and enduring historical value

News

King's brings experts together to discuss the geopolitical impact of the War in Ukraine

The School of Security Studies at King's College London hosted the 60th Conflict Research Society Conference, an annual event that brings together experts to...

Unravelling Russia's War

Elite bargains and political deals

A new analysis by Dr Christine Cheng, Lecturer in International Relations in the Department of War Studies, reveals that policy-makers need to re-think their...

Soldiers looking out across a landscape with a plane in the sky.

Events

13MarManaging memory wars

Managing memory wars: learning from the Just War tradition

Join us to discuss how "Ethics of Political Commemoration" can help to order many of the debates on remembrance.

Please note: this event has passed.

31JanJo Swinson event

Where are all the women? A chat with Jo Swinson about women in politics

Join us for a discussion with Jo Swinson, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, on her experience as a women working in politics.

Please note: this event has passed.

30JanUkraine Flag (780 x 440)

A message from Ukraine: Panel discussion with Olena Sotnyk

Join us for a panel discussion on the current situation in Ukraine with Olena Sotnyk, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Please note: this event has passed.

21MarLords resistance army

The Lord's Resistance Army: Violence and Peacemaking in Africa

Join our book talk with Dr Mareike Schomerus on one of Africa's most notorious armed rebel groups.

Please note: this event has passed.

09Febproscribing peace

Proscribing Peace: A book talk with Dr Sophie Haspeslagh

Dr Haspeslagh offers a systematic examination of the impact of proscription on peace negotiations

Please note: this event has passed.

08NovUS Afghan flags

Corruption and Governance in Afghanistan: US and Afghan Perspectives

A conversation between Afghan officials will discuss problems of corruption and governance from differing perspectives

Please note: this event has passed.

29SepAfghanistan Map

The Future of Afghanistan

A roundtable discussion on the future of the country between prominent Afghan voices and scholars following recent events

Please note: this event has passed.

27SepWhenpeacekillspolitics

Book Launch: When peace kills politics

Sharath Srinivasan discusses his new book on the way international peacemaking has reproduced violence and political authoritarianism in Sudan and South Sudan

Please note: this event has passed.

16JunMoney_notes

Reflections on Governance and Taxation by Armed Groups

Zachariah Mampilly discusses whether non-state armed groups can ever engage in taxation.

Please note: this event has passed.

12MayYazidi burial site, Iraq. Photo Credit: Nadia Murad

The Islamic State’s Pattern of Sexual Violence: Ideology and Institutions, Policies and Practices

Speakers explore their theory exploring how IS systematically targeted different social groups with distinct forms of violence.

Please note: this event has passed.

Spotlight

Shifting UK policy to improve peacebuilding in countries following conflict

King's research has influenced UK foreign policy on supporting conflict-affected countries.

shifting UK stabilisation policies

Research

twisted gun promo
Conflict, Security & Development Research Group

CSDRG undertakes a wide range of research, policy, advisory, and teaching activities related to conflict, security and development.

africa research promo
Africa Research Group

The Africa Research Group provides a hub for Africa-focused research within the War Studies Department and across the College.

Arts&ConPROMO
Arts & Conflict Hub

The Arts & Conflicts hub uses artistic mediums to communicate, teach and research the complexities of conflict

archivepapers
Conflict Records Unit

The Conflict Records Unit specialises in primary sources of contentious, war-related provenance and enduring historical value

News

King's brings experts together to discuss the geopolitical impact of the War in Ukraine

The School of Security Studies at King's College London hosted the 60th Conflict Research Society Conference, an annual event that brings together experts to...

Unravelling Russia's War

Elite bargains and political deals

A new analysis by Dr Christine Cheng, Lecturer in International Relations in the Department of War Studies, reveals that policy-makers need to re-think their...

Soldiers looking out across a landscape with a plane in the sky.

Events

13MarManaging memory wars

Managing memory wars: learning from the Just War tradition

Join us to discuss how "Ethics of Political Commemoration" can help to order many of the debates on remembrance.

Please note: this event has passed.

31JanJo Swinson event

Where are all the women? A chat with Jo Swinson about women in politics

Join us for a discussion with Jo Swinson, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, on her experience as a women working in politics.

Please note: this event has passed.

30JanUkraine Flag (780 x 440)

A message from Ukraine: Panel discussion with Olena Sotnyk

Join us for a panel discussion on the current situation in Ukraine with Olena Sotnyk, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Please note: this event has passed.

21MarLords resistance army

The Lord's Resistance Army: Violence and Peacemaking in Africa

Join our book talk with Dr Mareike Schomerus on one of Africa's most notorious armed rebel groups.

Please note: this event has passed.

09Febproscribing peace

Proscribing Peace: A book talk with Dr Sophie Haspeslagh

Dr Haspeslagh offers a systematic examination of the impact of proscription on peace negotiations

Please note: this event has passed.

08NovUS Afghan flags

Corruption and Governance in Afghanistan: US and Afghan Perspectives

A conversation between Afghan officials will discuss problems of corruption and governance from differing perspectives

Please note: this event has passed.

29SepAfghanistan Map

The Future of Afghanistan

A roundtable discussion on the future of the country between prominent Afghan voices and scholars following recent events

Please note: this event has passed.

27SepWhenpeacekillspolitics

Book Launch: When peace kills politics

Sharath Srinivasan discusses his new book on the way international peacemaking has reproduced violence and political authoritarianism in Sudan and South Sudan

Please note: this event has passed.

16JunMoney_notes

Reflections on Governance and Taxation by Armed Groups

Zachariah Mampilly discusses whether non-state armed groups can ever engage in taxation.

Please note: this event has passed.

12MayYazidi burial site, Iraq. Photo Credit: Nadia Murad

The Islamic State’s Pattern of Sexual Violence: Ideology and Institutions, Policies and Practices

Speakers explore their theory exploring how IS systematically targeted different social groups with distinct forms of violence.

Please note: this event has passed.

Spotlight

Shifting UK policy to improve peacebuilding in countries following conflict

King's research has influenced UK foreign policy on supporting conflict-affected countries.

shifting UK stabilisation policies