PRIO's Peace in a Pod

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PRIO's Peace in a Pod episodes

April 16, 2021 36- Protection of Civilians and the Future of Urban Warfare
What do current trends in armed conflict and military technology mean for the future of urban warfare?
What are the future prospects for International Humanitarian Law in settings of urban warfare?
What does this imply for the regulation of uses of explosive weapons in populated areas?
These were the questions addressed in a recent virtual roundtable on the Protection of Civilians and the Future of Urban Warfare that was hosted by PRIO in collaboration with the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies and the Norwegian Red Cross. In this bonus episode of the podcast you can hear the conversation led by Kristoffer Lidén, Senior Researcher at PRIO, and featuring Hugo Slim, Wanda Muñoz, Radhya Al-Mutawakel, Abigail Watson, and Nicholas Marsh.
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1 hr 14 min
April 15, 202135- Can Research Tell Us How to Talk About Racism?
In the last few weeks a familiar subject matter has dominated headlines again: is structural racism an issue in the UK, Norway, France, and many other countries? Is this term, which is often situated in an American context, relevant to Europe and other parts of the world? PRIO Research Director Marta Bivand Erdal goes beyond the debate on whether or not structural racism is a useful term to the heart of the matter: no matter what terms we use, she argues, people are experiencing discrimination big and small in their everyday lives. And often linked quite simply to other people’s assumptions, which they base on what a person looks like. How can these incidents be resolved and reckoned with?
Related material
‘It should change’: Young people on skin colour and national belonging in Norway (PRIO Blog post, co-authored by Marta and Mette Strømsø)
Antiracism: the willingness to understand others (PRIO Blog post, co-authored by Marta and Peder Nustad)
The Debate on Structural Racism Is Far More Polarized Than It Needs to Be (PRIO Blog post by Marta, originally published in Norwegian in Utrop)
Project webpage for Negotiating the Nation: Implications of Ethnic and Religious Diversity for National Identity (NATION), led by Marta
Project webpage for Governing and Experiencing Citizenship in Multicultural Scandinavia (GOVCIT), also led by Marta
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42 min
April 08, 2021 34- Hajer Sharief: PRIO Annual Peace Address
Every year, PRIO holds its Annual Peace Address, inviting distinguished guests to reflect on how to contribute to the creation of a world in which violence is the exception and peace is the norm. To bring these interesting, inspiring addresses to a wider audience we’ll be sharing some of them on the podcast as well. This week: activist Hajer Sharief, who works for peacebuilding in Libya, as well as advancing the youth, peace and security agenda.

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17 min
April 01, 2021 33- Steven Pinker: PRIO Annual Peace Address
Every year, PRIO holds its Annual Peace Address, inviting distinguished guests to reflect on how to contribute to the creation of a world in which violence is the exception and peace is the norm. To bring these interesting, inspiring addresses to a wider audience we’ll be sharing some of them on the podcast as well. On the occasion of PRIO's 60th anniversary, Steven Pinker held the PRIO Annual Peace Address in June, 2019, which we present here.
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55 min
March 25, 2021 32- Migrant Smuggling's Human and Political Effects
The term "migrant smuggling" might call to mind boats of refugees in the Mediterranean or trucks driving over the US-Mexican border. But migrant smuggling is complicated, and can take many forms. PRIO Research Professor Jørgen Carling has recently looked at how migrant smuggling is experienced by the migrants themselves, and how politicians and nation states use migrant smuggling as an example when making points about their immigration policy.
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27 min
March 18, 2021 31- Why Are Senegalese Youth Protesting?
Sexual assault allegations and the arrest of Senegal's most prominent opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, have led to weeks of protests in the country. At least eight people have died. Mobilization is especially strong among young people, who are captivated by Sonko's critique of the political system and call for transparency in the management of resources. PRIO's Bintu Zahara Sakor and Aji Ceesay from Peace Direct break down why these protests are significant, and how they have developed.
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27 min
March 11, 2021 30- The Human Choices of Artificial Intelligence at War
When we imagine artificial intelligence (AI) in warfare, we might think of films like Blade Runner and its replicants, or Terminator’s Skynet. But in reality, some artificial intelligence usage is already occurring, and contrary to the films, we should be more concerned about the humans involved. The "Warring with Machines” project at PRIO focuses on the people who serve in combat settings with AI-enabled machines. The project aims to yield moral guidelines for AI technology use in three settings: kinetic (physical) combat operations, cyber operations, and strategic planning.
Project leader Gregory Reichberg and project member Shannon French talk about the past, present, and future of AI in this episode.
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26 min
March 08, 2021 29- Malian Women's Fight for Peace
In honor of International Women's Day, we're highlighting the research of Jenny Lorentzen. Jenny is a Senior Researcher at PRIO and a Post-Doc at Lund University. Her PhD work focused partly on women’s participation in Malian peace processes, so today she's talking about what women in Mali had to do to get a seat at the table, and what can be learned from their efforts, and the work of female negotiators around the world.
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32 min
March 04, 2021 28- Predictable Surprises: Finding the Next Conflict
Conflict prediction has traditionally involved statistical models and large amounts of data to yield information about where violence will take place. There are challenges with that approach though, and PRIO researchers want to improve conflict forecasting. They're trying a new approach with Conflict Cartographer.
Find out more about Conflict Cartographer here: https://www.prio.org/Projects/Project/?x=1900
Do you have better-than-average knowledge about a country in Africa? You can help out with the project by going to https://conflictcartographer.prio.org and adding your predictions.
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22 min
February 25, 202127- Have Universities Diversified Their Reading Lists Since #RhodesMustFall?
In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests around the world, many institutions looked inward at what they could do or change, PRIO included. Last year PRIO allocated internal funding to develop projects on ethnic, racial, cultural and religious discrimination. One of those projects is "Teaching African peace and conflict through European eyes (EuropAcademy)", led by Ilaria Carozza and Marie Sandnes. They set out to assess university syllabi from around Europe, before and after 2015 (when the #RhodesMustFall movement started), to see how diverse they were and are. In this episode they share their initial findings from courses on Africa, peace and conflict offered at several European universities, and talk about where they'd like to take the project.
Related material
PRIO's Collection on Racism, Inequality and Discrimination posted to the PRIO Blog in October 2020
A PRIO Policy Brief by Ilaria and Marie on the topic: Studying Diversity in European Academia: Transparency and Access to Syllabi on African Politics, Peace and Conflict
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28 min

About PRIO's Peace in a Pod

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How can we explain peace and conflict in the world? What do security and insecurity do to a region and its people? How do different kinds of violence affect people, and how do societies tackle crises…