Jeffrey Stevenson Murer's Page

What motivated you (or your organization) to become involved in peace and conflict resolution?

I became interested in these questions in the aftermath of the collapse of Realised Socialism in Central and Eastern Europe. I was amazed by the ferocity of violence in some places and the absence of such violence in others, even if there was social, linguistic, ethnic or class tension. My work is as interested in what causes conflict to become violent in the first place, as it is concerned with ameliorating the conditions that feed violence or perpetuate conflict. I am interested in the interplay between psychosocial dynamics and material condition; in particular, how anxiety about potential social dislocation or displacement engenders conflict or violent action. That is, I explore how those who identify within a specific group and bear witness to social dislocation may become agents of conflict on behalf of the group and before they themselves experience such material upheaval.

Please feel free to provide a short bio about yourself or the work of your organization (no more than 3 paragraphs)

I joined the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews in the autumn of 2007 as the new Lecturer on Collective Violence. My appointment is to both IR and the School of Psychology, and I am also a Research Fellow to the Centre for the Study on Terrorism and Political Violence, as well as to the Scottish Institute for Policing Research. Prior to my coming to St. Andrews I was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Swarthmore College in the United States. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where I won the Annual Graduate Dissertation Prize for best thesis in 2000. I have also been a Visiting Researcher to the Central European University in Budapest, and a Guest Lecturer at the Volgograd Academy for State Service in Russia.

My research explores processes of collective identity formation and their relationship to enactments of violence. I examine how shifts in material conditions, or anxiety about potential alterations in material conditions, can be experienced by many within a given polity or social group as trauma, and how the various reactions to the experience of trauma can lead to ethnic conflict, civil strife, or ethnic chauvinism. I have explored these phenomena in the context of the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Central Europe – particularly Hungary – in the aftermath of the collapse of Realized Socialism; extremist nationalism in Post-Communist Romania; ethnic conflict in wars of the Former Yugoslavia; and in the violent clashes in Chechnya and the Northern Caucasus. My latest research examines the challenges of communities coming to terms with multi-generational post-immigrant or diaspora populations in the context of the retreating welfare state and shifting economic infrastructure in Western and Northern Europe.

I have pursued this interest in the collective psychological effects of changing political economies as an Associate Research Fellow to the University of Paris, an Academic Fellow to the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, and a National Fellow to the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Please list the countries and/or regions in which you (or your organization) have direct and significant expertise

Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans: especially, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Croatia, and also Southern Russia and the Northern Caucasus. I am now working in Western Europe: namely, Scotland, the UK generally, the Netherlands, and Denmark.

What is your current country of residence (or location of your organization)?

Scotland, UK

What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?

Lecturer on Collective Violence, the School of International Relations, the University of St. Andrews

How many years professional experience do you have ?

11-15

What is your personal or organizational website?

http://portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/research-expertise/researcher/jsm14/

What is one of your favorite websites in the field? (please provide one answer per box)

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/intrel/projects/esym/

What is one of your favorite websites in the field? (please provide one answer per box)

http://www.cwwpp.org/

Which are your primary sectoral areas of expertise (or the primary sectoral areas of your organization) ?

Conflict Resolution, Culture, Policing, Psychosocial, Terrorism

Which are your primary skills areas(or the primary skill areas of your organization)?

Research, Qualitative Skills

What are some of your current areas of research (if any)?

I am currently involved in three related research projects. The first study, of which I am the Principal Investigator, compares the experiences of young people aged 18-30 involved in extra-parliamentary, often illiberal or "extremist" politics across the political spectrum in Central Europe, Nordic Europe and Scotland. This research explores the motivations and self-understandings of these young people toward social change, and explores their attitudes towards violence. This study, entitled the European Study of Youth Mobilisation is linked above, is funded by the British Council, and is intended to closely examine if not challenge widely held assumptions regarding youth and "radical" or "extremist" political or social action. By the end of the study we hope to have interviewed more than 1000 young people.

The second study compares the experiences of encountering authority of the state, namely the police, between Muslim and non-Muslim young people aged 18-24 in Scotland.

The third research strand explores violence reduction and the lessons that can be learned from social interventions and alternative methods of policing in Glasgow.

If appropriate feel free to list several of your (or your organization's) publications

Institutionalizing Enemies: The Consequences of Reifying Projection in Post-Conflict Environments"; Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society; 15(1), forthcoming January 2010.

"Constructing the Enemy-Other: Anxiety, Trauma and Mourning in the Narratives of Political Conflict"; Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society, Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society; Summer 2009 14(2):109-130.

"Radical Citizenship as a Counter-terrorism Strategy: Why We May Need More Than De-Radicalisation"; Public Service Review: Home Affairs; 2009 (19); 42-43.

"Mental Health & Human Rights: The Caucasus"; The Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures Vol. III; Brill Academic Publishers; Family, Sexuality & Health: Leiden, The Netherlands, 2009; pp. 27-29 & 133-135.

“La terreur des opprimés – Un examen comparatiste des réponses au terrorisme” in Topique: Revue Freudienne, 2003, Number 83, pp. 13-22 (Translated into French by Thamy Ayouch)

“Resolving Political Conflict: The Consequences of Fighting the War on Terrorism” with Derek S, Reveron, in Flashpoints in the War on Terrorism, Reveron, Derek and Jeffrey Murer eds., (Routledge, 2006), pp. 305-330.

“The Clash Within: Intrapsychically Created Enemies and Their Roles in Ethno-Nationalist Conflict” in Violence and Politics: Globalization’s Paradox, Worcester, Kent, Ungar, Mark, and Bermanzohn, Sally eds., (Routledge, 2002), pp.209-225.

“Mainstreaming Extremism: The Romanian PDSR in Comparative Perspective” in Communist Successor Parties: Ten Years of Transformation, Bozóki, András and Ishiyama, John, eds., (M.E. Sharpe, 2002), pp. 367-396.