Past event
What's wrong with the UN? A discussion by Dr Malaka Shwaikh
Join the United Nations Association of St Andrews for a fascinating discussion on the ‘What is wrong with the UN?'.
The speaker for this event is Dr Malaka Shwaikh, who will be discussing the critical approaches to the UN's role in peacekeeping and humanitarianism.
Dr Shwaikh is an associate lecturer in peace and conflict studies in the School of International Relations. Her research covers decolonial, intersectional and critical understanding of peace and justice, focusing mostly on the Arab region and African contexts. Her PhD research examined hunger strikes in the Palestinian context, arguing that political prisoners continue their resistance from within Israeli prisons, turning those contentious spaces into sites of resistance, with ‘weaponisation of lives' through hunger strikes as their last resort.
This event asks what's wrong with the United Nations as it stands today and whether it is really in a position to manage, resolve and transform conflicts. We will be looking at this question from a more critical, decolonial and intersectional lens and think of the more grassroots approaches to conflict.