Politics and International Relations Festival 2021

The festival celebrates research highlighting how the world of politics and international relations enables us to understand and tackle issues like inequality, poverty and government decisions on education, health, and economic development.     

On 8 June to 17 June 2021 we hosted a wide range of events bringing together UK and international policymakers and activists who debated some of the challenges political leaders face. Including panel discussions with local politicians and expert analysts, workshops with human rights and development practitioners, discussions with journalists and environmental activists, and poetry readings.  

Over two weeks, we delivered a calendar of online events and seminars.

Tuesday 8 June

Countering Human Trafficking in Kenya

Haart Kenya are a leading NGO on preventing human trafficking in Kenya and working with survivors to improve policy responses. Leeds Beckett University has been working with them to collect the stories and narratives of survivors. Join Professor Rachel Julian and Radoslaw Malinowski to learn how survivors have influenced the campaigns to reduce human trafficking. 

Work Placements, Internships and Applied Social Research

Jackie Carter is the author of 'Work placements, internships and applied social research' published in 2021. The book, which is theory and practice based, draws on seven years' experience of setting up and running a paid internship programme for social science undergraduates. The book demystifies what experiential learning is, what applied social research means, and brings both to life by using case studies of former interns to show what is achievable through work placements. The ten case studies reflect students across the social sciences who undertook applied social research projects, in the workplace, before graduating.  

How to use your skills to get graduate jobs

Professor Jackie Carter (University of Manchester) took participants through how they can reflect on their learning, focusing on research and analytical skills and their professional - or soft skills - when applying for graduate jobs. Drawing on up to date reports from the British Academy, LinkedIn and MacKinsey, she presented frameworks and tools to help participants understand how their degree has relevance to the workplace and how this can be evidenced. She also covered how experiential learning can be used in future careers. 

Widening Participation and Breaking Down Educational Barriers

What will our world look like if people seeking refugee protection cannot learn the skills they need to build the future? (STAR, 2017). People with a refugee or asylum seeker background, who have fled their home country to avoid war, torture or persecution, face unique challenges in accessing education.  They may struggle to access workplace opportunities and university-level study. This talk discussed educational inequalities and the importance of widening participation. It is considered Student Action for Refugees' (STAR) Equal Access Campaign, which aims to improve access to university with scholarship programs. They were joined by Kidist Teklemariam, who talked about her social enterprise 'Unleashing Refugee Potential', and a member of STAR's Equal Access Network who talked about their personal experience of accessing a university scholarship. 

Wednesday 9  June

African Union and Sustainable Development

When the term 'Sustainable Development is used, it is often attributed to the United Nations. More recently, the role of Multinational organisations such as the African Union has been questioned in relation to sustainable development and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dr Eghosa Ekhator's talk unpacked the organisation's structure with specific focus on its role in attaining sustainable development on the continent.

Thursday 10 June

Covid-19 and the failure of the Neoliberal State 

The British government's lacklustre response to the Covid-19 pandemic is not due to "evil Tories" or even austerity but is a crisis of an entire way of governing society: the post-political, neoliberal state. Dr. Lee Jones (QMUL) addressed the reasons why Britain's neoliberal state failed to meet the challenge of Covid-19, and the reforms we urgently need in our politics. 

Friday 11 June

Book Launch "Localism: Manifesto for a Twenty-First Century England" 

The event covered key topics such as Direct Democracy, environmentalism and small economics and explored and discussed the ideas of thinkers such as Leopold Kohr, E.F. Schumacher and John Papworth, amongst others.

Monday 14 June

Indian Farmers Project

We took a look into one of the largest ongoing farmers' protests in India. International Relations student Manny Nizzer explored the causes, responses and consequences of this issue. An open discussion on the global impact the protests have caused, and the need for change followed the presentation.

Regional Democracy and Rugby League

The workshop explored rugby league within a wider reflection on regional democracy and the recent West Yorkshire mayoral election, the raising of citizens' voices via an Alternative Manifesto Process (AMP), and Same Skies' role. 

Tuesday 15 June

Promoting enterprise through training opportunities: Jake Morris, Policy Representation Executive, West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce

Jake Morris, Policy and Representation Executive from the West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, gave a short presentation on how his organisation promotes enterprise through a range of training opportunities and expertise. Jake, who holds a degree in Politics and MA in Politics, Governance, and Public Policy, provided insights into different career routes and what skills and competencies students successfully bring to a competitive job market. The session was followed up by Q&A.

Research War, Crime & Violence 

The question of how to address legacies of violence and criminality is one of the most complex challenges facing societies emerging from war or authoritarian rule. In recent years, criminal tribunals, truth commissions, reparations, memorials and other tools, including art and drama, have all been used to 'deal with' violent pasts and plot a more peaceful future. The event brought together researchers from across Leeds Beckett to discuss the challenges of researching violence, crime, and justice in post-war and post-dictatorship contexts.

What a difference a mayor makes – getting gender on the devolution agenda in West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire elected its first metro mayor, and Mayor Tracy Brabin became the tenth mayor of an English city region and the first woman to take up this directly elected role. But what powers do metro mayors have? What difference does having a metro mayor make? And why does it matter that she is the first woman to be elected to this role? Professor Francesca Gains discussed what a difference a mayor makes and argued that having a diversity of decision makers is important as it changes how political issues are prioritised.  She drew on her research examining how police and crime commissioners prioritised tackling violence against women and girls. She also presented an analysis of the impact of the pandemic on occupational sectors where women are over-represented in city regions including West Yorkshire, to argue that getting gender on the devolution agenda is a key element in recovery.

Internet Governance: Why does it matter?

Often assumed to be merely a technical matter, the rules, policies and practices that shape global cyberspace constitute a fiercely contested political arena in which institutional arrangements are still evolving. The Internet, and the arrangements by which it is governed, have implications for global politics that go far beyond this seemingly niche issue area. Dr Paul White demonstrated how and why the institutions of Internet governance and the politics surrounding them should command the attention of the Politics and IR communities. 

Resisting Militarism

Dr Chris Rossdale (Bristol University) discussed the ultimate David and Goliath struggle: small, direct-action groups taking on the full might of militarism – a complex web of technology, arms companies, geopolitics and military power. In his newly published book Resisting Militarism, Chris explores anti-militarism's "imaginative, subversive and often highly mischievous" tactics, from blockading arms fairs to stopping a battleship with a canoe. His work explores the politics and possibilities of the anti-militarism movement, focusing on direct action and the idea of prefiguration. The event was aimed at people who were curious about 21st-century militarism and resistance movements in general.

Wednesday 16 June

Conflict, climate change and food insecurity in South Sudan
Leeds Beckett Alumni Guy Biggs spoke about his work with Trócaire and CAOFD in South Sudan and their work with communities and civil society organisations in responding to the humanitarian emergency of extreme food insecurity and the protection of vulnerable groups, while addressing the root causes of the crises; conflict, climate change and economic shocks.

Migration to Yorkshire and Humber

Vanja and Kate led this session from Migration Yorkshire, which works with organisations across Yorkshire and Humber and beyond to ensure the region can deal with and benefit from migration. Participants took part in an interactive quiz and watched short films made by young people who have travelled to the UK to seek asylum. They also heard from a student mentor, and a volunteer with a migrant background, who are involved in our Connecting Opportunities project which works with new migrants to develop their skills and opportunities to find work and be part of the local community (funded by the European Social Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund).

The 2021 Olof Palme Peace Lecture: "Marcelo Bielsa – How to reinvent a football club, a city, and the world" by Anthony Clavane

Anthony Clavane is a Leeds born journalist, university lecturer and author. His research specialisms are in autobiography, storytelling, belonging and identity and the cultural context of sport.

Thursday 17 June

"Go back to your country": An Anti-racist Anthology of Poetry

Representing the publisher Urutau, of Brazilian origins, Jamila, an IR student, invited participants to lose themselves in the labyrinth of immigration as Manuella Bezerra de Melo, her co-author, would say. Jamila brought an anthology in which she has participated named "Volta Para a Tua Terra" - "Go Back To your Country", an anti-racist/ antifascist anthology of foreign poets residing in Portugal. The book is the result of a public call, from which 49 poems were chosen from 49 natural poets from nine different countries, including Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Colombia, Italy and Guadalupe; whose links are the fixed residence in the land of Camões and the approach of themes related to racism and xenophobia. The poems are all unpublished, some of them will be published in the native language with the necessary translation into Portuguese, including Spanish, Italian and ancient Tupi.