Activities and collaborations

As part of the 3rd term workshops in the SPS department, the Swiss Chair Stefano Guzzini invited Felix Berenskötter (SOAS University of London) to teach on “Concept analysis” together with Kimberly Hutchings (Queen Mary University of London). The workshop took place from 20-22 May 2024.

Concepts are phenomena of social reality and the building blocks of all our knowledge. The workshop covered the theorisation of concepts and methodologies of concept analysis. This included the rules of concept formation for the definition of variables, the use of concepts in theoretical analysis and critique, as well as the empirical analysis of concepts as performatives (e.g. speech acts), that is, on the way in which we name phenomena can interact with the phenomena so named. Prof. Berenskötter accompanied the entire workshop while teaching during the last day.

Prof. Berenskötter’s lecture discussed the political nature of Reinhard Koselleck’s notion of ‘basic’ concepts by highlighting their purpose of meaningfully organising socio-political relations in space and time. It presented the political relevance of such concepts as their ability to provide (cognitive, affective, and moral) orientation, and to their operation across academia and the ‘real world’. The lecture then discussed the notion of concepts as performatives. It presented an actor-focused angle that grounds the operation of concepts in their existential and strategic usefulness, and that analyses their contestation in conservative, coercive, critical, and creative uses within and across life-worlds. The final part of the lecture explored the politics of concepts through a concrete example: the concept of international order.

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On June 3rd, under the auspices of the Swiss Chair, Prof. Jonathan Austin (Copenhagen University & IHEID) delivered a lecture titled "Global Patterns of Torture in Russian Occupied Ukraine: A Comparative Microsociological Analysis."

In this lecture, Prof. Austin explored the disturbing phenomenon of torture committed by Russian forces during the invasion of Ukraine, with a particular focus on the shocking brutality exhibited by young soldiers. He began by examining specific patterns of torture in Ukraine, including the methods employed, the locations of these atrocities, and the perpetrators involved.

To provide a broader context, he compared Russian torture practices with similar abuses in other conflicts, such as those in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. This comparative analysis demonstrated that such brutality is not unique to one nation or regime but is part of a global pattern of violence.

Prof. Austin then delved into the unique aspects of the Russian case, highlighting the internal brutalization within Russian society and its military. He explained how this internal culture perpetuates a cycle of violence, resulting in extreme war crimes.

The lecture concluded with a discussion on potential strategies to counteract and prevent such human rights abuses, aiming to disrupt these entrenched patterns of violence in the long term.

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