Aly Verjee
Biographic Data
| ID | 4097137 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Aly Verjee |
| GIVEN NAMES | Aly |
| FAMILY NAME | Verjee |
| SIGNATURE | VERJEE A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Gothenburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1410-4623 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Pleading for peace: Sri Lanka, Kosovo, and the press releases of ceasefire monitors
Ceasefire monitoring is expected to help sustain ceasefires but ceasefire monitors usually lack the means to compel conflict party compliance. Instead, efforts to try and shape conflict party behaviour often rely on persuasive discourse. Drawing on functionalist critical discourse analysis, this article identifies the varied approaches in monitors’ public speech, such as raising alarm, urging restraint, and establishing expectations, beyond the m…
The European Union and Everyday Statebuilding: The Case of Kosovo
Living in Peace is Better Than Living as a Prince”: The Lexicon of Peace and Security in Hausaphone Nigeria
How Surveillance Motivates New Violence: Ceasefire Monitoring, Remote Sensing Technology, and Noncompliance
Monitored ceasefires are thought to be more robust ceasefires, with less noncompliance by conflict parties. Ceasefires monitored with remote sensing technology (RST) such as imaging satellites, uncrewed aerial vehicles, and other camera-equipped assets are widely seen as more effective in deterring conflict party noncompliance. Drawing on insights from surveillance studies, especially from the logics of resistance to surveillance, I argue that th…
Theorizing conflict opponent noncompliance from ceasefire monitoring
This article presents theory for how third-party ceasefire monitoring may contribute to, and even motivate, ceasefire noncompliance. That credible ceasefire monitoring may help produce new violence, even if inadvertently, challenges prevailing positive understandings of third-party observation and monitoring, in which ceasefire monitoring is often seen as a form of intervention that helps conflict parties comply with ceasefire commitments. Four m…
Routine but Consequential: How Ceasefire Monitors’ Reporting Constructs Opportunities for (Non)Compliance by Conflict Opponents
Third party ceasefire monitors routinely gather and report information on conflict events.Although ceasefire monitoring is a common conflict response intervention generally correlated with ceasefire durability, how its routine practices contribute to ceasefire compliance and noncompliance is little understood.This article asks how reporting, monitors' most common practice, affects conflict opponents.Based on the experiences of more than 100 monit…
Ambassador, you're on Mute: Methods for Co-interviewing Elites Online
This article draws on the experiences of two previously unacquainted researchers working at distance who collaboratively used online platforms to co-interview respondents across a dozen countries in 2021-22. Rather than our research plans being disrupted by the constraints of COVID-19, we planned from the outset to conduct our research entirely online. Given our geographic separation, personal circumstances, and globally dispersed respondents, on…
Forum: Making Peace with Un-Certainty: Reflections on the Role of Digital Technology in Peace Processes beyond the Data Hype
Recent years have seen the acceleration of data- and evidence-based approaches in support of peace processes, creating a renewed confidence that conflicts can be predicted, known, and resolved, based on objective information about the world. However, new technologies employed by conflict parties, stakeholders, and those who aim to make or build peace have also made peace processes less ascertainable, intelligible, and predictable. Technology can …
Do Eyes in the Sky Ensure Peace on the Ground? The Uncertain Contributions of Remote Sensing to Ceasefire Compliance
In many conflicts, international ceasefire monitors are deployed to mitigate future violence. Increasingly, such monitors use satellite imagery, uncrewed aerial vehicles, and other camera-equipped assets to supplement, and sometimes substitute, human monitoring efforts to document ceasefire violations. To date, we know little about when and how such technology contributes to ceasefire compliance, with scholars offering diverging assessments of th…
Ceasefire monitoring under fire: The OSCE , technology, and the 2022 war in Ukraine
This Policy Insight discusses what was the world's largest dedicated third‐party ceasefire monitoring operation, the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), which, until the Russian invasion in early 2022, oversaw a ceasefire in Ukraine. Although it may now seem obvious to conclude that the SMM failed to deter conflict escalation, this once‐heralded, ‘model’ mission provides insights for the design and implementation of other ceasefire monitoring effor…
A Faulty Prescription? Critiquing Joint Security Units after Peace Agreements in Sudan, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic
This article critiques the prescription of joint security units called for by civil war peace agreements as a means to integrate armed forces previously in conflict. Drawing on cases from Sudan, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, this article offers a comparative assessment of the joint security units attempted in each country. As negotiators and mediators often employ templates from other contexts, the deficits exemplified by these c…
Asymmetric electoral authoritarianism? The case of the 2021 elections in Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s 2021 elections have been overshadowed by the brutal civil war that has raged since November 2020. The elections may not have been competitive but they reveal important dynamics about institutions and the competition for power in Africa’s second most populous state. These were the first elections under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018 insisting that legitimacy comes through elections. By 2021, however, repression and…
Political transitions in Sudan and Ethiopia: An early comparative analysis
This article presents a comparative analysis of the political transitions occurring in neighbours Ethiopia and Sudan since 2018. To date, these political transitions have largely been analysed independently. While the transition in Sudan is often characterised as a revolution, events in Ethiopia are not usually so described. However, despite the narrative and substantive differences, this article argues that there are important similarities in bo…
Boko Haram, School Abductions, and Security Discourse in Nigeria
Much has been written about the Boko Haram terrorist organization. The group has conducted numerous violent attacks since 2009, and the Nigerian state's failure to contain the insurgency is a promi
Collapse in the Capital: The Evolution of Security Arrangements in Juba, South Sudan, 2014-16
Nigeria: A new history of a turbulent century
The opening line of Richard Bourne's Nigeria warns readers that ‘anyone who claims to understand Nigeria is either deluded, or a liar’ (p. ix). Or possibly both. Bourne's ambition, instead, is to chronicle a century in the history of perhaps the most complicated country in Africa. This is a lofty aim, and while this book is an accessible read and has some useful insights, it falls short of that goal. The rapid pace at which readers are introduced…
Do Eyes in the Sky Ensure Peace on the Ground? The Uncertain Contributions of Remote Sensing to Ceasefire Compliance
In many conflicts, international ceasefire monitors are deployed to mitigate future violence. Increasingly, such monitors use satellite imagery, uncrewed aerial vehicles, and other camera-equipped assets to supplement, and sometimes substitute, human monitoring efforts to document ceasefire violations. To date, we know little about when and how such technology contributes to ceasefire compliance, with scholars offering diverging assessments of th…
Asymmetric electoral authoritarianism? The case of the 2021 elections in Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s 2021 elections have been overshadowed by the brutal civil war that has raged since November 2020. The elections may not have been competitive but they reveal important dynamics about institutions and the competition for power in Africa’s second most populous state. These were the first elections under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018 insisting that legitimacy comes through elections. By 2021, however, repression and…
Political transitions in Sudan and Ethiopia: An early comparative analysis
This article presents a comparative analysis of the political transitions occurring in neighbours Ethiopia and Sudan since 2018. To date, these political transitions have largely been analysed independently. While the transition in Sudan is often characterised as a revolution, events in Ethiopia are not usually so described. However, despite the narrative and substantive differences, this article argues that there are important similarities in bo…
Ambassador, you're on Mute: Methods for Co-interviewing Elites Online
This article draws on the experiences of two previously unacquainted researchers working at distance who collaboratively used online platforms to co-interview respondents across a dozen countries in 2021-22. Rather than our research plans being disrupted by the constraints of COVID-19, we planned from the outset to conduct our research entirely online. Given our geographic separation, personal circumstances, and globally dispersed respondents, on…
Forum: Making Peace with Un-Certainty: Reflections on the Role of Digital Technology in Peace Processes beyond the Data Hype
Recent years have seen the acceleration of data- and evidence-based approaches in support of peace processes, creating a renewed confidence that conflicts can be predicted, known, and resolved, based on objective information about the world. However, new technologies employed by conflict parties, stakeholders, and those who aim to make or build peace have also made peace processes less ascertainable, intelligible, and predictable. Technology can …
Nigeria: A new history of a turbulent century
The opening line of Richard Bourne's Nigeria warns readers that ‘anyone who claims to understand Nigeria is either deluded, or a liar’ (p. ix). Or possibly both. Bourne's ambition, instead, is to chronicle a century in the history of perhaps the most complicated country in Africa. This is a lofty aim, and while this book is an accessible read and has some useful insights, it falls short of that goal. The rapid pace at which readers are introduced…
Political transitions in Sudan and Ethiopia: An early comparative analysis
This article presents a comparative analysis of the political transitions occurring in neighbours Ethiopia and Sudan since 2018. To date, these political transitions have largely been analysed independently. While the transition in Sudan is often characterised as a revolution, events in Ethiopia are not usually so described. However, despite the narrative and substantive differences, this article argues that there are important similarities in bo…
Boko Haram, School Abductions, and Security Discourse in Nigeria
Much has been written about the Boko Haram terrorist organization. The group has conducted numerous violent attacks since 2009, and the Nigerian state's failure to contain the insurgency is a promi
Collapse in the Capital: The Evolution of Security Arrangements in Juba, South Sudan, 2014-16
Ceasefire monitoring under fire: The OSCE , technology, and the 2022 war in Ukraine
This Policy Insight discusses what was the world's largest dedicated third‐party ceasefire monitoring operation, the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), which, until the Russian invasion in early 2022, oversaw a ceasefire in Ukraine. Although it may now seem obvious to conclude that the SMM failed to deter conflict escalation, this once‐heralded, ‘model’ mission provides insights for the design and implementation of other ceasefire monitoring effor…
A Faulty Prescription? Critiquing Joint Security Units after Peace Agreements in Sudan, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic
This article critiques the prescription of joint security units called for by civil war peace agreements as a means to integrate armed forces previously in conflict. Drawing on cases from Sudan, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, this article offers a comparative assessment of the joint security units attempted in each country. As negotiators and mediators often employ templates from other contexts, the deficits exemplified by these c…
Asymmetric electoral authoritarianism? The case of the 2021 elections in Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s 2021 elections have been overshadowed by the brutal civil war that has raged since November 2020. The elections may not have been competitive but they reveal important dynamics about institutions and the competition for power in Africa’s second most populous state. These were the first elections under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018 insisting that legitimacy comes through elections. By 2021, however, repression and…
Forum: Making Peace with Un-Certainty: Reflections on the Role of Digital Technology in Peace Processes beyond the Data Hype
Recent years have seen the acceleration of data- and evidence-based approaches in support of peace processes, creating a renewed confidence that conflicts can be predicted, known, and resolved, based on objective information about the world. However, new technologies employed by conflict parties, stakeholders, and those who aim to make or build peace have also made peace processes less ascertainable, intelligible, and predictable. Technology can …
Do Eyes in the Sky Ensure Peace on the Ground? The Uncertain Contributions of Remote Sensing to Ceasefire Compliance
In many conflicts, international ceasefire monitors are deployed to mitigate future violence. Increasingly, such monitors use satellite imagery, uncrewed aerial vehicles, and other camera-equipped assets to supplement, and sometimes substitute, human monitoring efforts to document ceasefire violations. To date, we know little about when and how such technology contributes to ceasefire compliance, with scholars offering diverging assessments of th…
Routine but Consequential: How Ceasefire Monitors’ Reporting Constructs Opportunities for (Non)Compliance by Conflict Opponents
Third party ceasefire monitors routinely gather and report information on conflict events.Although ceasefire monitoring is a common conflict response intervention generally correlated with ceasefire durability, how its routine practices contribute to ceasefire compliance and noncompliance is little understood.This article asks how reporting, monitors' most common practice, affects conflict opponents.Based on the experiences of more than 100 monit…
Ambassador, you're on Mute: Methods for Co-interviewing Elites Online
This article draws on the experiences of two previously unacquainted researchers working at distance who collaboratively used online platforms to co-interview respondents across a dozen countries in 2021-22. Rather than our research plans being disrupted by the constraints of COVID-19, we planned from the outset to conduct our research entirely online. Given our geographic separation, personal circumstances, and globally dispersed respondents, on…
Living in Peace is Better Than Living as a Prince”: The Lexicon of Peace and Security in Hausaphone Nigeria
How Surveillance Motivates New Violence: Ceasefire Monitoring, Remote Sensing Technology, and Noncompliance
Monitored ceasefires are thought to be more robust ceasefires, with less noncompliance by conflict parties. Ceasefires monitored with remote sensing technology (RST) such as imaging satellites, uncrewed aerial vehicles, and other camera-equipped assets are widely seen as more effective in deterring conflict party noncompliance. Drawing on insights from surveillance studies, especially from the logics of resistance to surveillance, I argue that th…
Theorizing conflict opponent noncompliance from ceasefire monitoring
This article presents theory for how third-party ceasefire monitoring may contribute to, and even motivate, ceasefire noncompliance. That credible ceasefire monitoring may help produce new violence, even if inadvertently, challenges prevailing positive understandings of third-party observation and monitoring, in which ceasefire monitoring is often seen as a form of intervention that helps conflict parties comply with ceasefire commitments. Four m…
Pleading for peace: Sri Lanka, Kosovo, and the press releases of ceasefire monitors
Ceasefire monitoring is expected to help sustain ceasefires but ceasefire monitors usually lack the means to compel conflict party compliance. Instead, efforts to try and shape conflict party behaviour often rely on persuasive discourse. Drawing on functionalist critical discourse analysis, this article identifies the varied approaches in monitors’ public speech, such as raising alarm, urging restraint, and establishing expectations, beyond the m…
The European Union and Everyday Statebuilding: The Case of Kosovo
Political science (14 works) · Peacebuilding and International Security (11 works) · Law (9 works) · Global Peace and Security Dynamics (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (5 works) · Political economy (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Politics (4 works)