Armin Krzalic is currently employed at the Centre for Security Studies (since 2001) as Project Director in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Armin has gained an extensive academic insight and training in the area of regional problems, having completed his MA course in Criminal Science in 2007 at the University of Sarajevo, BiH, and a PhD course on Global Security, University of Sarajevo, BiH, in 2009. His previous education was completed also in Sarajevo, at the Faculty of Criminal Science (1998-2004), where he specialized in Politics and Security of Western Europe. Armin has published several articles related to SALW misuse and control. In 2006, he received excellent reviews on “Good Governing of Small Arms and Light Weapons – Contribution of BiH in Development of Security and Stability of Southeast Europe”, published in the Criminal Science Journal, BiH. Also, in 2006 he assumed the role of co-author on the Handbook for Teacher on Dangers of SALW, with Handicap International.
Research proposal: Private Security and Public Security Sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the public and the private security sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on this basis offer certain indicators for measuring the cooperation and/or rivalry between these two sectors. Furthermore, this paper looks at the lack of harmonization in the legislative and regulative aspects pertaining to the private security sector. What is less tangible to measure, but is nonetheless very significant in a post-conflict society such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, is the need to asses and map the trends of private security companies, and their influence on security in general, based on a scientific and empirical approach.
Catalina Smulovitz has a PhD from Penn State University. She is currently a full-time professor and Chairwoman of the Department of Political Science and Government at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, as well as a researcher at CONICET. She has written extensively on human rights and civil-military relations, on uses and access to legal systems, and on citizenship and accountability in Latin America. Her current scholarship focuses on inequality in the protection of rights in the provinces of Argentina. Her recent publications include “Law and Courts on Development and Democratization” in Kritzer Hebert and Peter Cane (eds), Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Studies, Oxford University Press, forthcoming; and “Judicialization in Argentina: Legal Culture or Opportunities and Support Structures?” in Alexandra Huneeus, Rachel Sieder and Javier A. Couso (eds.), Legal Cultures and Political Activism in Latin America, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Research proposal: Access to Justice, Federalism and Inequality. Who gets what and how in the Argentinean provinces?
Equality under the law is a powerful and inspiring promise of democracies. Although empirical studies show that differences in the distribution of political, social and economic resources hinder the realization of this promise, these studies tend to ignore the impact that federal institutional arrangements have on the protection of rights and access to justice. The goal of this project is to analyze the impact that federalism and provincial politics have on access to justice and protection of rights among the provinces. That is, why and how territorial politics give rise to differences in the protection of rights? What do these differences encompass and how do they come about? In particular, the project will analyze how legal aid services are provided in Argentinean provinces.
Sociologist Gustavo Sánchez is the Academic Vice Chancellor and Postgraduate Director of the Universidad Nacional de la Policía de Honduras. He has a PhD in sociology from the Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires, Argentina - where he is currently working on his PhD in political science - and also has a Master’s Degree in education from the Universidad Pedagógica de Honduras, and a graduate degree in police sciences. He has 18 years of experience as a police officer. He studies the phenomena of crime and violence in Honduras, specifically gang-related issues, and the new manifestation of urban violence and football hooligans, issues discussed in some of the books he has published. He is also an independent consultant.
Research proposal: Analysis of the Formulation of Public Policies for Security in Honduras from 1998 to 2010
In a country where crime and violence are an everyday issue, the homicide rate is 67 for every 100,000 persons. Society on one hand demands state guaranties for their lives and property, and on the other, the government blames its predecessors for the violence, arguing that during the present administration those rates clearly declined. In the middle of these discussions both common and organized crime broaden their range of action. The purpose of this study is the analysis of the measures adopted by the government during the studied period: identifying the achievements and flaws in order to bring in new elements that contribute to reducing this global phenomenon known as crime.
Download research proposal (in Spanish)
Jiang Tingyao works at the China University of Political Science and Law. She obtained her doctoral degree in criminal law and justice. She did some study on Chinese, Russian, Canadian and American organized crime and wrote some articles on the subject. She also studied as a visiting scholar at the University of Montreal for Canadian criminal law and justice.
Liu Xiu is an assistant professor at the Chengdu University of Technology in China, and has a Ph.D of China University of Political Science and Law. As a research scholar, he studied criminology in San Diego State University for about one year from 2009. He has spent several years conducting research on criminal law and criminology. He published about 20 papers, such as Ciminological Analysis of Farmer Employee's Self-saving Crime and On Several Penal Law Problems Related with the WenChuan Earthquake.
Download CV: Jiang Tingyao / Liu Xiu
Research proposal: Study on Chinese Migrant Workers and Their Impact on China's Security
The migrant worker population has risen to more than 147 million in China. Significant social and security issues arise due to their cultural background, the lack of professional experience and of a welfare “safety net,” as well as a lack of stable housing —thus, causing discrimination by the urban dwellers. Recent criminal statistics suggest migrant workers commit a major portion of total crime in urban areas —chiefly, property and violent crimes. This research discusses what migrant workers’ impact on society’s security is and gives a proposal to solve the relevant problems.
Download research proposal (in Spanish)
John Rapley thinks of himself as an activist-scholar who does not profess to know the solution before he sets out to tackle a problem. Agnostic about the "truth," he employs a circular approach whereby he theorizes, applies, and then reflects upon the findings before refining the theory - and going back into the field. Though educated in Canada and England, he calls himself Jesuit-educated, since he refined this technique while working at Georgetown University. He has since applied it in his work running a think tank in the Caribbean.
Research proposal: Modernity versus the new medievalism – A case study from Jamaica
In the spring of 2010, the Jamaican government launched a military attack on a Kingston gang-controlled neighborhood to execute an arrest warrant on its "don." I will use this as a case-study of a struggle between the modern state and what I have called the new medievalism. Drawing upon both historical research, and a recently-completed survey of gang-controlled areas of Kingston, I will explore the idea that the Jamaican state is trying to weaken the hold of the drug lords - a new class of barons who have been able to build their political power upon the transnational criminal economy.
Michael Seifu is a researcher with strong interest in African politics and Economics. Michael holds a PhD in Politics from Dublin City University (Ireland) as well as a M.Sc. in Economic Policy Analysis and a B.A. in Economics from Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia). His professional engagements range from a research assistant and a senior economist to an international consultant. His book entitled Credible Commitment and Economic Growth in Africa was published in late 2009. Additionally, Michael has written journal articles and contributed to online discussion forums such as VOXEU. Michael is an avid advocate of the rights of persons with disabilities both in his home country, Ethiopia, and globally.
Research proposal: The Impact of the Ethiopian Justice Sector Reform Program
This research primarily aims at examining the implications of the Ethiopian Justice Sector Reform Program on the human security status of marginalized groups in the country. Located at the heart of one of the most politically volatile corners of the world, Ethiopia’s long history has been marred by widespread poverty and a lack of good political and economic governance. By subscribing the views of a sample of respondents from these groups and through secondary sources, the study evaluates the degree to which the Program matches the human security needs of people from traditionally marginalized groups.
Pedro P. Grández Castro is a lawyer with a law degree from the National University of San Marcos (UNMSM), and a Master’s degree in Jurisdictional Policy (PUCP, 2006). He has completed doctoral studies on the Interpretation of Fundamental Rights at the University of Castilla-la Mancha (Toledo, Spain, 2003-2005). He received a scholarship from the Spanish government to participate in the II Course on Governance and Institutional Development (University of Alcalá de Henares, 2003). Pedro is a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the Director of the Legal Clinic of the UNMSM. He is also a Professor in the Post-Graduate Department of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. He is currently the Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Studies of the Constitutional Court of Peru.
Charis Kamphuis is a lawyer and a Master’ss student at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, in Toronto, Canada. In September 2010 she will begin the doctoral program at Osgoode Hall. Charis has a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan and a Bachelor of International Development Studies from the University of Toronto. She has published articles on various issues in the area of public human rights law and has been the Coordinator of the “Latin America Human Rights Project” at Osgoode Hall since 2009.
Download CV: Pedro Grández / Charis Kamphuis
Research proposal: Foreign Investment, Social Conflict and the Privatization of Security in Peru
This research is located within the contemporary liberalization of the Peruvian economy and the resulting social conflict between rural communities and resource extracting companies. In this context, the research will examine the ways in which security services are undergoing processes of reconfiguration and privatization that are in turn oriented toward the interests of transnational resource extracting companies. This reconfiguration is characterized by three main features: the construction of the particular legal form of the private security company; the formation of private contracts between the police and resource extracting companies; and the use of private mechanisms of “corporate social responsibility” to resolve social claims. The research will be undertaken using a case study.
Download research proposal (in Spanish)
FACULTAD LATINOAMERICANA DE CIENCIAS SOCIALES (FLACSO- CHILE)
Av. Dag Hammarskjold 3269, Vitacura, Santiago de Chile.
Phones : (56 2) 2900200 - (56 2) 2900212
Email: securitytransformation@flacso.cl