Benedict Robin-D'Cruz (ESRC +2 Studentship & ESRC 3+1 Studentship)
Thesis title: Iraq's Reform Movement: Protest, Political Activism and the Public Sphere
PhD in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
Year of study: 3
- School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
Contact details
- Email: ben.robinz@gmail.com
PhD supervisor:
Address
- Street
-
16 Farriers Close
Epsom - City
- London
- Post code
- KT17 1LS
Research summary
Academic:
- Benedict Robin-D’Cruz, 'Social Brokers and Leftist–Sadrist Cooperation in Iraq’s Reform Protest Movement: Beyond Instrumental Action,' The International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies , Volume 51, Issue 2 May 2019 , pp. 257-280. Available: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/social-brokers-and-leftistsadrist-cooperation-in-iraqs-reform-protest-movement-beyond-instrumental-action/FB9B4B0F43567E56B3F8116016D28E42/share/4476a85cec914f8e35790c781919b31eab10be71
- Benedict Robin-D’Cruz, 'The Cultural Antecedents of the Leftist-Sadrist Alliance: A case study of Sadrist institution building' POMEPS, forthcoming.
- Benedict Robin-D’Cruz, 'The Sadrists in the Public Sphere: An ethnography of political Shi'ism' Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, forthcoming.
Policy and Think Tank:
- Benedict Robin-D'Cruz , "Basra Protests and Security Actors," report for HMG's Stabilisation Unit and MENA Research Group, May 2019.
- Benedict Robin-D'Cruz, "Iraq: Conflict Survey 2018-2019," chapter in 2019 The Armed Conflict Survey, Institute for International Security Studies (IISS), 4 May 2019
Ongoing projects:
- 2019 - 'The Dynamics of Protest in Basra,' funded by LSE's Conflict Research Programme to conduct research on the political economy of protest dynamics in Basra.
Media:
- 25 January 2019, 'Violence in southern Iraq & Shia politics: interview with Benedict Robin-D’Cruz', EPIC (The Education for Peace in Iraq Centre): https://www.epic-usa.org/brdpt1/
- 9 September 2018, 'How violent protests in Iraq could escalate,' Washington Post (The Monkey Cage): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/09/11/how-violent-protests-in-iraq-could-escalate/?utm_term=.6d80ead5c3d7
- 21 July, 2018, 'Protests are Mounting in Iraq: Why?' Washington Post (The Monkey Cage): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/07/21/protests-are-mounting-in-iraq-why/?utm_term=.68d2b37c499f
- 18 July, 2018, 'As Protests Sweep Iraq, are the Country’s Political Elites Running out of Options?', LSE Middle East Studies Centre: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2018/07/18/as-protests-sweep-iraq-are-the-countrys-political-elites-running-out-of-options/
- 12 June 2018, 'The Sadr-Communist Alliance in Iraq,' interview translated into Arabic and published by the Iraqi Translation Project: http://www.iqtp.org/?p=15408
- 7 June 2018, 'Why many failed to predict the leftist-Islamist alliance that won Iraq’s 2018 elections,' Washington Post (The Monkey Cage),: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/06/07/why-everyone-failed-to-predict-the-leftist-islamist-alliance-that-won-iraqs-2018-elections/?utm_term=.fdced20f7781
- 6 June 2018, “The Sadrist–Communist Alliance: Implications for Iraq’s Secular Politics” LSE Middle East Studies Centre: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2018/06/06/the-sadrist-communist-alliance-implications-for-iraqs-secular-politics/
- 22 May 2018, 'The Sadr Communist Alliance in Iraq,' interview with Joel Wing for Musings on Iraq: http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/2018/05/sadr-communist-alliance-and-iraqs-2018.html
Conferences, workshops, briefings:
- 22 June 2019, 'Dynamics of Protest in Basra: Mobilization, oranisation, and repression,' paper presented at conference for the Iraqi Association of Political Psychology in Baghdad.
- 7 June 2019, 'Popular politics and the challenge to the Iraqi state,' paper presented at LSE Middle East Centre workshop.
- 20 May 2019, "Basra protest dynamics and security actors," briefing for HMG's cross-departmental Stabilisation Unit (FCO/DfID/MoD).
- 3 May 2019, 'Iraq at the intersection of tribe, sect, and class: case studies from popular politics,' paper presented at roundtable event at University of Edinburgh Politics and International Relations of the Middle East series.
- 17-18 April 2019, ‘Sadrist Moderation? Defining and accounting for shifts in Sadrist political behavior since 2003,’ paper to be presented at POMEPS workshop (Religion, Violence, and the State in Iraq), in Boston USA.
- 22 January 2019, ‘The Structural Conditions of Sadrist Ideological Transformation,’ paper presented at Konrad Adenauer Stiftung workshop (Shiite Religious Actors and their Sociopolitical Roles in Iraq) in Beirut.
- 27 October 2018, participated in New America/Omran Centre for Strategic Studies workshop (Future of Proxy Warfare) in Istanbul.
- 2 October 2018, conducted briefing at UK Foreign Office on dynamics of protest in Basra and the Sadrist movement’s role in post-election negotiations. Briefing attended by cross-departmental representatives and UK embassy in Baghdad.
- 27 June 2018, ‘The Leftist-Sadrist Alliance in Iraq,’ paper presented at BRISMES Conference, King’s College London.
- 31 October 2016, ‘Sadrist Engagement in the Reform Protest Movement: The importance of social brokerage,’ paper presented at University of Edinburgh Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Research Seminar.