Please join us for an insightful panel discussion, featuring three esteemed experts in British politics, who will provide a comprehensive analysis of the upcoming local British elections. Our panellists Stephen Fisher, Jane Green and Katy Balls will address key issues and trends that are shaping the current political landscape, and share their insights and predictions regarding the future of British politics.

What did the 1948 Arab-Israeli war look like to those observing it from outside of the Middle East? Did the war have the same impact in the international community as simultaneous conflicts throughout Asia and Europe? And why did countries with no immediate interests in the Middle East adopt policies for or against the creation of a Jewish state? This talk aims to answer these questions, and in so doing, demonstrates how the geo-political environment of the immediate postwar era globalized the Palestine Question, with consequences that reach up to the present day.

Does civil resistance work? Research emphasizes the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance over violent resistance in achieving campaign goals, with the seminal study Why Civil Resistance Works (WCRW) by Chenoweth and Stephan being the main point of reference to date. I revisit this pivotal finding in three steps. First, I reproduce WCRW’s results on nonviolent effectiveness. Second, I discuss how cases may have been overlooked due to a streetlight effect. Third, I quantify the results’ sensitivity using simulations.

Join us for a conversation with two of the most incisive minds in economics – Nobel laureate Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz and climate economist Lord Nicholas Stern, as they overturn conventional wisdom to demonstrate how taking strong action on climate change can enhance economic growth and lead to a happier and healthier society.

Prof Zhukov will discuss his recent paper, titled Near-Real Time Analysis of War and Economic Activity during Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. In this paper introduces near-real time data on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and uses these data to investigate the short-term impact of occupation and violence on local economic activity. The data project VIINA (Violent Incident Information from News Articles) parses news reports from Ukrainian and Russian media, geo-references them, and classifies them into standard event categories (e.g. artillery shelling) through machine learning.

Prof Zhukov will discuss his recent paper, titled Integrating Data Across Misaligned Spatial Units. Abstract: Theoretical units of interest often do not align with the spatial units at which data are available. This problem is pervasive in political science, particularly in sub-national empirical research that requires integrating data across incompatible geographic units (e.g., administrative areas, electoral constituencies, grid cells).

Please join either in person or online. For in-person attendees, the talk will be preceded by a light lunch at 12.15pm.

Please email comms@sociology.ox.ac.uk with any questions or to receive the Microsoft Teams link.