• Chair: Dr Christine Cheng, Lecturer, Department of War Studies
• Speaker: Dr Sophie Haspeslagh, American University in Cairo
• Discussant: Mr Fola Aina, African Leadership Centre at King's College London

Dr Sophie Haspeslagh, American University in Cairo, will discuss her book Proscribing Peace. The work offers a systematic examination of the impact of proscription on peace negotiations. With rare access to actors during the Colombian negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People's Army (FARC), Sophie Haspeslagh shows how proscription makes negotiations harder and more prolonged.

Haspeslagh adds to our understanding of the timing and sequencing of peace processes in the context of proscription with her use of the term 'linguistic ceasefire'. With relevance for more than half of the conflicts around the world in which an armed group is listed as a terrorist organisation, 'linguistic ceasefire' helps to explain why certain conflicts remain stuck in the 'terrorist' framing, while others emerge from it. International proscription regimes criminalise both the actor and the act of terrorism.

Proscribing peace calls for an end to the amalgamation between acts and actors. By focussing on the acts instead, Haspeslagh argues, international policy would be better able to consider the violent actions both of armed groups and those of the state. By separating the act and the actor, change - and thus peace - become possible.

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Speaker bio

Sophie Haspeslagh is an assistant professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC). Her research lies at the nexus of critical terrorism and security studies and conflict and peace studies. She focuses on the impact of counterterrorism on conflict resolution and the transition of armed actors away from violence.

Haspeslagh was the head of policy at conciliation resources until August 2012. She has also worked for various organizations including the International Crisis Group and the United Nations in Algiers, Bogotá, Brussel, London, and Rome. She holds a PhD in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Master's in international relations from SAIS Johns Hopkins University. Haspeslagh has received a number of awards for her research including the Runner-up for the Boulding Award (2019 International Studies Association) and the Global South Doctoral Fieldwork Research Award, LSE (2015). She was the recipient of an LSE School scholarship (2013-2017) and a Fulbright scholarship from the Belgian-American Fulbright Commission (2002-2003).