Legitimacy and Citizenship in the Arab World

LSE Policy research project

Marika Theros

Policy fellow

MARIKA THEROS is a policy fellow at the Conflict Research Programme at the London School of Economics, where she coordinates their cross-cutting research stream investigating local peace agreements across six key conflict-affected sites, and where she works on the Syria CRP team to examine the design of inclusive mechanisms in Syrian political talks with a focus on questions of legitimacy and sustainability. She also advises key stakeholders involved in the Afghan peace process on developing structures for public participation. Over the last 20 years, she has designed a number of research and dialogue processes in the Balkans, South Asia and the Middle East, in order to support multi-level, multi-dimensional peace-making and peace-building approaches.

She publishes on security, justice and state-building issues in academic journals, currently serves on boards of the Humanitarian Law Centre and Women for Peace and Participation, and is a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and Institute for State Effectiveness. Marika is completing her doctorate in International Development at LSE, and holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the Columbia University and an MSc in Human Rights from LSE.

Selected Publications and Presentations (2018-2020).

Contact Details:

@meeksas

Reports:

(2019) A process in its own right: the Syrian Civil Society Support Room. Conflict Research Programme, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. (with R. Turkmani). Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/101034/5/A_process_in_its_own_right.pdf
(2019) External Interventions in Local Agreements: Preliminary Findings, November 2019, London School of Economics, Conflict Research Programme Policy Brief (with R. Turkmani and M. Kaldor)
(2018) Global Trends in Fragility: Towards a Future Research Agenda in Fragile Contexts, 2019, Institute for State Effectiveness. (w. Clare Lockhart and Sasa Hezir), available at: https://effectivestates.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Global-Trends-in-Fragility-and-Towards-a-Future-Research-Agenda-in-Fragile-Contexts.pdf

Academic Articles:

(2019) Political functions of impunity in the war on terror: Evidence from Afghanistan, Journal of Human Rights, 18:4, 403-418, 2019 (co-authored with I. Rangelov).
(2019) Reimagining Civil Society in Conflict-Affected Contexts, Journal of Civil Society, 15:2, 143-161.
(2018) The Logics of Public Authority: Understanding Power, Politics and Security in Afghanistan’, 2018, Stability: International Journal of Security and Development. 7(1), p.1. 201 (with M. Kaldor).

Presentations and Expert Input

(2020) Moderator, The Covid-19 Challenge: Achieving a Humanitarian Ceasefire in Afghanistan,
Atlantic Council Virtual Panel Event, May 2020.
(2020) Facilitator, EU Afghanistan Peace Support Mechanism, Folke Bernadotte Academy, Brussels.
(2019) Presenter, Lessons from the Syrian Civil Society Support Room for the Afghanistan Context.
Training organized by the Swedish government agency, Folke Bernadotte Academy, Delhi.
(2019) Panellist, Mobilizing for Sustainable Peace, LSE Public Lecture Programme, London, November.
(2019) Delegate, Istanbul Mediation Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, November 2019.
(2019) Panellist, ‘The evolving conflict map, challenging civil society, fueling populism’ at Democracy and Power: From Hybrid to Nemesis, The Symi Symposium, Crete, Greece, July 2019.
(2019) Speaker, The Syrian Conflict and What Role for Civil Society: Briefing with former UN Special.
Envoy Staffan de Mistura, CAABU, Westminster, London June 2019.
(2019) Expert Input, World Bank Consultation on its new strategy for Fragility, Conflict & Violence, London, April.
(2019) Moderator + Presenter, From Division to Unity: How to Share Power in the Middle East and
Beyond?, Carnegie Middle East, Beirut, Lebanon Mar. 2019.
(2019) Presenter, London School of Economics conference, Political Economy and Governance in Syria.
(2018) Expert Presentation, Civil Society Support Room, United Nations Office of Special Envoy, Geneva, Nov.
(2018) Moderator, Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation Annual Event, Paris, Sept.
(2018) Expert Input, UN Expert Group Meeting on Integrating Sustainable Development and Peace in Post-Conflict: Role of Public Institutions and Public Administration; Fed into UN 2018 World Public Administration Report, 2018, NY.

Meet the team