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- Convenors:
-
Muez Ali
(UCL)
Hamid Khalafallah (University of Manchester)
Raga Makawi (ZED/Africa International African Institute )
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- Format:
- Paper panel
- Stream:
- Political change, advocacy and activism
- Location:
- 8W 2.10, 8West Building
- Sessions:
- Thursday 26 June, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract
This panel explores the role of non-state actors in political crises and how that challenges concepts of statehood. We invite scholars to examine how these actors gain legitimacy, provide public goods and humanitarian aid, and the impacts on traditional frameworks of aid and citizen-state relations.
Description
The recent rise in political crises, marked by conflicts and autocratic governance, has renewed interest in the roles of various actors in state-building and governance. Democratic backsliding is evident globally, especially in Africa, where coups and conflicts are prevalent, but also in North America and Europe, where populism has led to restrictions on citizen rights and the mistreatment of refugees. Amid this turmoil, civil society and grassroots movement activity have surged, challenging centralisation of power, oppression and marginalisation. For example, in Sudan, grassroots groups mobilised against a thirty-year dictatorship, while the Occupy movement in the U.S. initially focused on police violence before addressing other issues like the Palestinian struggle. This panel explores how non-state actors—specifically civil society and grassroots movements—challenge and redefine concepts of statehood, gain legitimacy, provide public goods, and supplement humanitarian efforts in conflict zones.
We invite contributions from scholars examining questions such as: How do non-state actors redefine sovereignty in political crises? What strategies do they use to gain legitimacy? What are the implications for traditional state-citizen relations? How do non-state actors provide governance and public goods in conflict-affected regions? What are the implications for traditional aid frameworks? What are the implications for current legal and policy frameworks, and development theories and practices? By addressing these questions, this panel aims to foster discussions on the role non-state actors play in political crises. We welcome submissions from researchers across various disciplines and geographies, particularly early career researchers and PhD students.
Accepted papers
Session 1 Thursday 26 June, 2025, -Paper long abstract
This paper explores the intersection of environmental law and geography in shaping the urban policy landscape of India’s capital. Delhi has become emblematic of the challenges posed by rapid urbanisation, industrial growth, and increasing pollution, which have triggered widespread public protests and advocacy for more robust environmental governance. This research investigates these spatial and legal dimensions of anti-pollution protests, assessing their impact on legislative reforms to curb environmental degradation. The primary research questions guiding this study are: How do geographical factors influence the organisation and intensity of anti-pollution protests in Delhi? And What role do legal frameworks and policy responses play in addressing public concerns over environmental degradation?
The research methodology involves spatial analysis of protest locations and patterns alongside a critical review of key legislative measures such as the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, the Environment Protection Act, and specific city-level regulations targeting pollution. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study incorporates qualitative analysis of protest narratives, media coverage, and policy documents alongside quantitative data on pollution metrics and legislative actions. In-depth interviews with environmental activists, legal experts, and urban planners provide qualitative insights into the effectiveness of these legal responses.
This paper demonstrates how geography and environmental law interact to produce challenges and opportunities for sustainable urban development. The study comprehensively explains how grassroots movements can shape environmental legislation by critically analysing the relationship between civic activism and policy change. This research contributes to the broader field of legal geography.
Paper short abstract
Critically documenting aspects of the dynamic civic space in Sudan during the military coup period (particularly the first year) that are often forgotten after the war. Significant civil-society and popular democracy activities took place around that period and affected later events.
Paper long abstract
This paper will present a critical documentation of aspects of the dynamic civic space in Sudan during the military coup period (particularly the first year, October 2021 - October 2022) that abruptly ended a historical transitional period in the country (August 2019 - October 2021). After the April 2023 war broke out, the period of the coup was often treated, in writings, as the year when political tensions heightened and led to the war. That made most writings about the period oblivious to documenting and understanding the significant civil-society and popular democracy activities that took place around that period and affected later events. Three important trends marked that year of the coup from the perspective of non-state actors: (a) the socio-political maturing process of the resistance committees (RCs); (b) the continuing momentum (from the transitional period) of local initiatives and labour movements; and (c) the quagmire that donor-funded NGOs found themselves in as a result of abruptly losing the more favourable conditions of the transitional period. All this took place against a backdrop of increasing violence and rapidly deteriorating economic conditions in the country. The paper argues that while that particular period is unique – a military coup period sandwiched between a political transition and a nationwide war – various lessons can be drawn from it about the role of non-state actors in political crises. One important lesson is about the potentially higher level of resilience and responsiveness with locally-resourced actors compared to donor-funded actors.
Paper short abstract
Assam is a far eastern province of India with an ongoing separatist insurgency. My paper examines tea plantations in Assam and their role in public welfare. What are the competing strategies of the centuries-old tea plantations and the state as they struggle for political control over the citizenry?
Paper long abstract
Few academic works have viewed the privately owned tea plantation as a quasi-governmental bureaucratic unit in itself, performing multiple administrative and welfare functions often expected of a sovereign welfare state. This interdisciplinary paper attempts to fill this gap in our scholarly understanding of the tea plantation in Assam, a post-conflict territory in Northeast India.
In a postcolonial republic, where the welfarism of the welfare state applies to every citizen, why exists the anachronism of a “state within an estate”: an estate totally in charge of the lives (as opposed to livelihood) of the population inhabiting it?
Today, the tea industry, being unable to afford all welfare measures, is demanding that the government shares this welfare ‘burden’ or takes charge. The larger political question, then, is: Why is the republic staying away from the welfare of a major section of its citizens?
For the field of Development Studies, this question assumes enormous significance, as it comes at a time when the Indian state is showing increasing tendency to devolve more of its erstwhile commitments to private players through mechanisms such as public-private partnership (PPP). Does this imply that the demand of the tea industry itself is anachronistic?
To answer these questions, this paper explores how the state is making inroads into the governance paradigm of the estate to break the enclaved isolation characterizing life on estate for nearly two centuries. The state’s role in the welfare of this segment of citizenry directly concerns development issues facing communities in the developing world.
Paper short abstract
Innovative local approaches not only strengthen the conflict-sensitivity of social protection but also actively support efforts to tackle the structural drivers of conflict and promote peace, both by enhancing social cohesion as well as boosting the supply and demand for effective governance.
Paper long abstract
When central authorities resist or defy international humanitarian aid efforts, or when perils on the ground hinder its delivery, traditional international organization-led systems face severe challenges in supporting affected communities. In the face of the resulting gaps, local actors have innovated a new approach to aid delivery that emphasizes social protection and community-led efforts to improve livelihoods and support peace. With global fragility on the rise, external partners face an unprecedented opportunity to stay engaged during periods of instability, working to support, strengthen, and enhance locally driven initiatives that can help establish the foundations for lasting peace.
Lessons from mutual aid efforts in Sudan, Myanmar, and Kosovo demonstrate that community-based delivery of essential, visible, and valued services offers more effective support to affected populations in both the short and long term. These mutual aid groups harness their unique local knowledge and proximity to those affected by crisis, while their community-run nature institutionalizes built-in accountability. Additionally, a growing evidence base demonstrates that mutual aid delivered through a process of civic engagement and democratic processes can contribute to fostering future good governance.
Paper short abstract
A comparative analysis of two contrasting approaches to aid in Sudan: the international humanitarian aid system's traditional top-down model and new communal mutual aid structures. The paper applies a people-centered research approach, using insights from contributors and beneficiaries.
Paper long abstract
The ongoing military conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces destroyed Sudan’s population, administrative, and industrial centers. This has resulted in unprecedented displacement, food insecurity, and health crises for the civilian population. The international humanitarian aid system has largely failed to deliver assistance to affected communities, with many organizations unable to access conflict zones or respond effectively to the displacement crisis.
In this context, Sudanese civil society has leveraged its organizational experience, notably through the Resistance Committees, to develop mutual aid initiatives that address urgent public needs. These grassroots efforts, including emergency rooms and similar organizations, have demonstrated remarkable efficiency and resilience despite limited financial and institutional support. This contrast highlights the need for a critical examination of the shortcomings of conventional international humanitarian aid systems.
This paper offers a people-centered critique of current approaches, drawing on insights from practitioners, professionals and beneficiaries of mutual aid initiatives and humanitarian assistance programs. Their contextualized and well-informed perspectives underscore the potential of mutual aid models to provide sustainable and efficient alternatives. This research contributes to broader discussions on reimagining aid and service provision to better address the needs of conflict-affected populations
Paper short abstract
This paper examines digital food assistance and politics in Sudan, in particular the role of non-state actors such of civil society, international organisations, private sector, the neoliberalisation and weaponization of linked practices, and its impact on governance and food security.
Paper long abstract
Non-state actors have long played a role in both politics and aid in Sudan. This includes civil society, international organisations and private sector entities. Aid, mostly food aid, has been provided and used for political purposes, and has been perceived as undermining sovereignty by the Sudan government. Government suppressed and controlled civil society in response, and benefited through its closely linked traders and transporters. Aid digitalisation brings in new actors such as banks, money transfer agents, telecoms and internet providers, each of whom will also have their own interests and motivations. The use of aid practices for political ends continued during the revolution, for example in attempts to undermine/coopt the political role of the resistance committees, promoting neoliberal policies that shrank state social protection role. This continues to be a risk in the current war in many ways. War related militarisation, securitisation, surveillance, check points, accusations, arbitrary detention are leading to the shrinking of civil society and NGO actors. On the other hand, some new crony business actors benefit from digitalization. In addition, warring parties and their regional backers weaponised the infrastructure required for providing aid and finance: comms, internet, banks. This paper will examine these trends, and its impact on food security and political economy, using the findings from two years of research into the politics of digitalising food assistance in Sudan. This will include fieldwork conducted in Darfur, Omdurman, Al-Gezira and Kassala in the first half of 2025.