Rebecca Tapscott
Biographic Data
| ID | 143151 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rebecca Tapscott |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rebecca |
| FAMILY NAME | Tapscott |
| SIGNATURE | TAPSCOTT R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Glasgow |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0936-5191 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 81 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Succession in Uganda: What do Ugandans Think of Muhoozi Kainerugaba
IN JANUARY 2026, UGANDA’S 81-YEAR-OLD PRESIDENT YOWERI MUSEVENI WON HIS SEVENTH ELECTION under an internet blackout and allegations of fraud by the political opposition.1 As Museveni ages and refuses to cede power, the question of succession has become increasingly salient.2 The stakes are high: Uganda has never seen a peaceful leadership transition, and Museveni’s ruling coalition has grown frayed from decades of divide-and-rule tactics.3 In a c…
Forum: Rethinking Ethics Review for International Relations Research
In this forum, scholars contribute to a critical reevaluation of ethics review processes arguing that the existing frameworks are inadequate for the dynamic and politically charged environments in which international relations as a discipline operates. We observe the institutionalized nature of ethics reviews and their inadequacy to address the methodological and epistemological approaches typical of IR. Drawing on experiences from diverse contex…
Ethical Considerations for SoTL Research in Political Science Education
In recent years, political science has expanded its focus on pedagogy, developing its own subfield in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Although this research is seemingly low risk, it nevertheless raises distinctive ethical questions. It also is increasingly subject to rigorous ethics review, often justified as necessary to protect students as a vulnerable category. Until recently, the field has made little comment on which ethica…
Beneficence” and Its Discontents: A Call to Revisit the Role of the IRB in Social and Political Science Research
Social and political scientists have long criticized institutional ethics review; however, scholars continue to suggest that the system can be reformed to achieve more ethical outcomes. This article argues that such aspirations are misguided. This is because, unlike in biomedical and clinical studies, the social sciences refuse a shared account of ultimate benefits and harms. Instead, these disciplines are defined in part by critical inquiry into…
Procedural ethics for social science research: Introducing the Research Ethics Governance dataset
Conflict research is rife with ethical issues, and the field is increasingly reflecting on how to best address these. Recent debates in political science have mainly focused on ethics in practice, leaving questions of procedural ethics to the side. But procedural ethics are important: they are increasingly required across all areas of research, they are the bedrock of institutional approaches to regulating ethics, and they shape ideas about what …
Vulnerability in procedural ethics: A study of 44 national research ethics guidelines
How should qualitative social scientists understand and engage with the concept of vulnerability in their research? Scholars have largely approached this question from the perspective of ethics in practice , inductively exploring the real-world challenges that arise when studying marginalised and subaltern communities. This article examines vulnerability from the perspective of procedural ethics - or the formal rules and processes that guide the …
The Origins and Legacies of Unpredictability in Rebel-Incumbent Rule
Many rebel groups 'govern', becoming increasingly institutionalised, accountable, and predictable.This is now well-accepted; however, less attention has been paid to another common observation: some rebel orders-and rebelincumbent regimes-are more aptly characterised as unpredictable.We find that this is because they adopt vague mandates and delegate provisional authority.Our analysis shows that, in some cases, this (1) allows rebels to accommoda…
Years of Civil Wars: Identifying Key Developments Through the Reviews Section
This introductory essay to the Reviews Section of Civil Wars 25th Anniversary Special Issue explores key paradigms in the field of conflict studies, and how they have evolved, ranging from new and critical approaches to knowledge production; to conceptualisations of political violence and civil war as dynamic, relational, and potentially order-making and a new demand to centre research ethics in our work. Among other things, this introduction cal…
Vigilantes and the State: Understanding Violence through a Security Assemblages Approach
The notion that states pursue a monopoly over the use of force rings increasingly hollow. From vigilantes that patrol the United States’ southern border, to thugs for hire in China, states are characterized by non-state violent actors. These trends are more pronounced in comparatively lower-capacity states. Employing the concept of “security assemblages,” I propose that it is crucial to consider historically embedded relations among violent actor…
Explaining youth political mobilization and its absence: The case of Bobi Wine and Uganda's 2021 election
What explains youth political mobilization in Uganda – or lack thereof? This article challenges the simple dichotomy of youth as either a dangerous or disengaged political constituency. Instead, we analyze the conditions that determine whether youth can coalesce as a politically salient category. For many, the outcome of the 2021 Ugandan elections defied expectations. A large and underemployed youth population combined with the emergence of self-…
Arbitrary States: Social Control and Modern Authoritarianism in Museveni's Uganda
Militarized masculinity and the paradox of restraint: Mechanisms of Social Control Under Modern Authoritarianism
The twenty-first century is marked by the rise of new forms of authoritarianism, many of which are characterized by the 'paradox of restraint', in which reforms compliant with the rule of law are used to unshackle the ruler's arbitrary power. Despite a proliferation of scholarly studies on this topic, we still have limited understanding of how national-level authoritarian power reaches ordinary citizens in these contexts. This article identifies …
Naked Bodies and Collective Action: Repertoires of Protest in Uganda’s Militarised, Authoritarian Regime
How can citizens living under increasingly militarized and authoritarian regimes exercise political voice? Using an in-depth case study of naked protest in modern day Uganda, this article finds that naked bodies allow citizens to employ three types of overlapping power to confront a militarized authoritarian state: biopower, symbolic power, and cosmological power. The study illustrates one way in which citizens seek to engage militarized regimes—…
Policing men: Militarised masculinity, youth livelihoods, and security in conflict-affected northern Uganda
Relations between militaries and masculinities-and hegemonic masculinity and the state-are well-established in the literature on gender and development. However, there is less research on how militarised masculinities relate to state governance strategies. This paper, based on qualitative research conducted in northern Uganda between 2014 and 2017, offers a gender analysis of youths participating in informal security arrangements. Civilian male y…
Local security and the (un)making of public authority in Gulu, Northern Uganda
This article explores the way in which the concept of ‘public’ is continually and unpredictably constituted, redefined, and unmade in Gulu District, northern Uganda. It uses case studies of three local security initiatives and their conflicts with state agents to examine how public authorities establish power through a dynamic process of both claiming and denying authority, thereby divesting themselves of responsibility to intervene. It also show…
The Government Has Long Hands: Institutionalized Arbitrariness and Local Security Initiatives in Northern Uganda
This article examines the relationship between the state security apparatus and local security initiatives in Gulu District, northern Uganda. It draws from more than 200 interviews and seven months of qualitative field research from February 2014 to December 2015. Although the central Ugandan state is believed to be weak or absent in the post-conflict north, the article finds that in the area of security, the state is ever-present in citizens' im…
Where the wild things are not: Crime preventers and the 2016 Ugandan elections
In Uganda's 2016 elections, international and national commentators questioned the role that the government's crime preventers – or community police – would play. Many claimed that they would be used "as tools" to rig the elections, intimidate voters, and vote en masse for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) regime. In contrast, this paper shows that the government never intended the crime preventers to play an explicitly coercive role.…
Vigilantes and the State: Understanding Violence through a Security Assemblages Approach
The notion that states pursue a monopoly over the use of force rings increasingly hollow. From vigilantes that patrol the United States’ southern border, to thugs for hire in China, states are characterized by non-state violent actors. These trends are more pronounced in comparatively lower-capacity states. Employing the concept of “security assemblages,” I propose that it is crucial to consider historically embedded relations among violent actor…
Where the wild things are not: Crime preventers and the 2016 Ugandan elections
In Uganda's 2016 elections, international and national commentators questioned the role that the government's crime preventers – or community police – would play. Many claimed that they would be used "as tools" to rig the elections, intimidate voters, and vote en masse for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) regime. In contrast, this paper shows that the government never intended the crime preventers to play an explicitly coercive role.…
Naked Bodies and Collective Action: Repertoires of Protest in Uganda’s Militarised, Authoritarian Regime
How can citizens living under increasingly militarized and authoritarian regimes exercise political voice? Using an in-depth case study of naked protest in modern day Uganda, this article finds that naked bodies allow citizens to employ three types of overlapping power to confront a militarized authoritarian state: biopower, symbolic power, and cosmological power. The study illustrates one way in which citizens seek to engage militarized regimes—…
Explaining youth political mobilization and its absence: The case of Bobi Wine and Uganda's 2021 election
What explains youth political mobilization in Uganda – or lack thereof? This article challenges the simple dichotomy of youth as either a dangerous or disengaged political constituency. Instead, we analyze the conditions that determine whether youth can coalesce as a politically salient category. For many, the outcome of the 2021 Ugandan elections defied expectations. A large and underemployed youth population combined with the emergence of self-…
The Government Has Long Hands: Institutionalized Arbitrariness and Local Security Initiatives in Northern Uganda
This article examines the relationship between the state security apparatus and local security initiatives in Gulu District, northern Uganda. It draws from more than 200 interviews and seven months of qualitative field research from February 2014 to December 2015. Although the central Ugandan state is believed to be weak or absent in the post-conflict north, the article finds that in the area of security, the state is ever-present in citizens' im…
Local security and the (un)making of public authority in Gulu, Northern Uganda
This article explores the way in which the concept of ‘public’ is continually and unpredictably constituted, redefined, and unmade in Gulu District, northern Uganda. It uses case studies of three local security initiatives and their conflicts with state agents to examine how public authorities establish power through a dynamic process of both claiming and denying authority, thereby divesting themselves of responsibility to intervene. It also show…
Policing men: Militarised masculinity, youth livelihoods, and security in conflict-affected northern Uganda
Relations between militaries and masculinities-and hegemonic masculinity and the state-are well-established in the literature on gender and development. However, there is less research on how militarised masculinities relate to state governance strategies. This paper, based on qualitative research conducted in northern Uganda between 2014 and 2017, offers a gender analysis of youths participating in informal security arrangements. Civilian male y…
Beneficence” and Its Discontents: A Call to Revisit the Role of the IRB in Social and Political Science Research
Social and political scientists have long criticized institutional ethics review; however, scholars continue to suggest that the system can be reformed to achieve more ethical outcomes. This article argues that such aspirations are misguided. This is because, unlike in biomedical and clinical studies, the social sciences refuse a shared account of ultimate benefits and harms. Instead, these disciplines are defined in part by critical inquiry into…
Militarized masculinity and the paradox of restraint: Mechanisms of Social Control Under Modern Authoritarianism
The twenty-first century is marked by the rise of new forms of authoritarianism, many of which are characterized by the 'paradox of restraint', in which reforms compliant with the rule of law are used to unshackle the ruler's arbitrary power. Despite a proliferation of scholarly studies on this topic, we still have limited understanding of how national-level authoritarian power reaches ordinary citizens in these contexts. This article identifies …
Ethical Considerations for SoTL Research in Political Science Education
In recent years, political science has expanded its focus on pedagogy, developing its own subfield in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Although this research is seemingly low risk, it nevertheless raises distinctive ethical questions. It also is increasingly subject to rigorous ethics review, often justified as necessary to protect students as a vulnerable category. Until recently, the field has made little comment on which ethica…
Procedural ethics for social science research: Introducing the Research Ethics Governance dataset
Conflict research is rife with ethical issues, and the field is increasingly reflecting on how to best address these. Recent debates in political science have mainly focused on ethics in practice, leaving questions of procedural ethics to the side. But procedural ethics are important: they are increasingly required across all areas of research, they are the bedrock of institutional approaches to regulating ethics, and they shape ideas about what …
The Origins and Legacies of Unpredictability in Rebel-Incumbent Rule
Many rebel groups 'govern', becoming increasingly institutionalised, accountable, and predictable.This is now well-accepted; however, less attention has been paid to another common observation: some rebel orders-and rebelincumbent regimes-are more aptly characterised as unpredictable.We find that this is because they adopt vague mandates and delegate provisional authority.Our analysis shows that, in some cases, this (1) allows rebels to accommoda…
Where the wild things are not: Crime preventers and the 2016 Ugandan elections
In Uganda's 2016 elections, international and national commentators questioned the role that the government's crime preventers – or community police – would play. Many claimed that they would be used "as tools" to rig the elections, intimidate voters, and vote en masse for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) regime. In contrast, this paper shows that the government never intended the crime preventers to play an explicitly coercive role.…
Local security and the (un)making of public authority in Gulu, Northern Uganda
This article explores the way in which the concept of ‘public’ is continually and unpredictably constituted, redefined, and unmade in Gulu District, northern Uganda. It uses case studies of three local security initiatives and their conflicts with state agents to examine how public authorities establish power through a dynamic process of both claiming and denying authority, thereby divesting themselves of responsibility to intervene. It also show…
The Government Has Long Hands: Institutionalized Arbitrariness and Local Security Initiatives in Northern Uganda
This article examines the relationship between the state security apparatus and local security initiatives in Gulu District, northern Uganda. It draws from more than 200 interviews and seven months of qualitative field research from February 2014 to December 2015. Although the central Ugandan state is believed to be weak or absent in the post-conflict north, the article finds that in the area of security, the state is ever-present in citizens' im…
Policing men: Militarised masculinity, youth livelihoods, and security in conflict-affected northern Uganda
Relations between militaries and masculinities-and hegemonic masculinity and the state-are well-established in the literature on gender and development. However, there is less research on how militarised masculinities relate to state governance strategies. This paper, based on qualitative research conducted in northern Uganda between 2014 and 2017, offers a gender analysis of youths participating in informal security arrangements. Civilian male y…
Naked Bodies and Collective Action: Repertoires of Protest in Uganda’s Militarised, Authoritarian Regime
How can citizens living under increasingly militarized and authoritarian regimes exercise political voice? Using an in-depth case study of naked protest in modern day Uganda, this article finds that naked bodies allow citizens to employ three types of overlapping power to confront a militarized authoritarian state: biopower, symbolic power, and cosmological power. The study illustrates one way in which citizens seek to engage militarized regimes—…
Militarized masculinity and the paradox of restraint: Mechanisms of Social Control Under Modern Authoritarianism
The twenty-first century is marked by the rise of new forms of authoritarianism, many of which are characterized by the 'paradox of restraint', in which reforms compliant with the rule of law are used to unshackle the ruler's arbitrary power. Despite a proliferation of scholarly studies on this topic, we still have limited understanding of how national-level authoritarian power reaches ordinary citizens in these contexts. This article identifies …
Arbitrary States: Social Control and Modern Authoritarianism in Museveni's Uganda
Years of Civil Wars: Identifying Key Developments Through the Reviews Section
This introductory essay to the Reviews Section of Civil Wars 25th Anniversary Special Issue explores key paradigms in the field of conflict studies, and how they have evolved, ranging from new and critical approaches to knowledge production; to conceptualisations of political violence and civil war as dynamic, relational, and potentially order-making and a new demand to centre research ethics in our work. Among other things, this introduction cal…
Vigilantes and the State: Understanding Violence through a Security Assemblages Approach
The notion that states pursue a monopoly over the use of force rings increasingly hollow. From vigilantes that patrol the United States’ southern border, to thugs for hire in China, states are characterized by non-state violent actors. These trends are more pronounced in comparatively lower-capacity states. Employing the concept of “security assemblages,” I propose that it is crucial to consider historically embedded relations among violent actor…
Explaining youth political mobilization and its absence: The case of Bobi Wine and Uganda's 2021 election
What explains youth political mobilization in Uganda – or lack thereof? This article challenges the simple dichotomy of youth as either a dangerous or disengaged political constituency. Instead, we analyze the conditions that determine whether youth can coalesce as a politically salient category. For many, the outcome of the 2021 Ugandan elections defied expectations. A large and underemployed youth population combined with the emergence of self-…
The Origins and Legacies of Unpredictability in Rebel-Incumbent Rule
Many rebel groups 'govern', becoming increasingly institutionalised, accountable, and predictable.This is now well-accepted; however, less attention has been paid to another common observation: some rebel orders-and rebelincumbent regimes-are more aptly characterised as unpredictable.We find that this is because they adopt vague mandates and delegate provisional authority.Our analysis shows that, in some cases, this (1) allows rebels to accommoda…
Forum: Rethinking Ethics Review for International Relations Research
In this forum, scholars contribute to a critical reevaluation of ethics review processes arguing that the existing frameworks are inadequate for the dynamic and politically charged environments in which international relations as a discipline operates. We observe the institutionalized nature of ethics reviews and their inadequacy to address the methodological and epistemological approaches typical of IR. Drawing on experiences from diverse contex…
Ethical Considerations for SoTL Research in Political Science Education
In recent years, political science has expanded its focus on pedagogy, developing its own subfield in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Although this research is seemingly low risk, it nevertheless raises distinctive ethical questions. It also is increasingly subject to rigorous ethics review, often justified as necessary to protect students as a vulnerable category. Until recently, the field has made little comment on which ethica…
Beneficence” and Its Discontents: A Call to Revisit the Role of the IRB in Social and Political Science Research
Social and political scientists have long criticized institutional ethics review; however, scholars continue to suggest that the system can be reformed to achieve more ethical outcomes. This article argues that such aspirations are misguided. This is because, unlike in biomedical and clinical studies, the social sciences refuse a shared account of ultimate benefits and harms. Instead, these disciplines are defined in part by critical inquiry into…
Procedural ethics for social science research: Introducing the Research Ethics Governance dataset
Conflict research is rife with ethical issues, and the field is increasingly reflecting on how to best address these. Recent debates in political science have mainly focused on ethics in practice, leaving questions of procedural ethics to the side. But procedural ethics are important: they are increasingly required across all areas of research, they are the bedrock of institutional approaches to regulating ethics, and they shape ideas about what …
Vulnerability in procedural ethics: A study of 44 national research ethics guidelines
How should qualitative social scientists understand and engage with the concept of vulnerability in their research? Scholars have largely approached this question from the perspective of ethics in practice , inductively exploring the real-world challenges that arise when studying marginalised and subaltern communities. This article examines vulnerability from the perspective of procedural ethics - or the formal rules and processes that guide the …
Succession in Uganda: What do Ugandans Think of Muhoozi Kainerugaba
IN JANUARY 2026, UGANDA’S 81-YEAR-OLD PRESIDENT YOWERI MUSEVENI WON HIS SEVENTH ELECTION under an internet blackout and allegations of fraud by the political opposition.1 As Museveni ages and refuses to cede power, the question of succession has become increasingly salient.2 The stakes are high: Uganda has never seen a peaceful leadership transition, and Museveni’s ruling coalition has grown frayed from decades of divide-and-rule tactics.3 In a c…
Political science (15 works) · Law (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Politics (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (8 works) · Political economy (8 works) · African studies and sociopolitical issues (4 works) · Engineering (4 works) · Peacebuilding and International Security (4 works)