Videos by Shannon Zimmerman
In this episode of our IHL and entertainment series, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks with Dr Shannon Zi... more In this episode of our IHL and entertainment series, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks with Dr Shannon Zimmerman about Dr Who and his crimes of genocide.
Talking about the examples of genocide by Dr Who throughout the series, this interview discussed Dr Zimmerman's paper, 'Doctor Who and the Responsibility to Protect: Public Perspectives of Atrocity Crimes', which canvasses the depiction of genocide in this science fiction series, and how the language and treatment of this international crime in the TV show changes along with real-life events over the course of the series' history; and the use of science fiction as thought experiments in the study of political science.
Talking about the examples of genocide by Dr Who throughout the series, this interview discussed Dr Zimmerman's paper, 'Doctor Who and the Responsibility to Protect: Public Perspectives of Atrocity Crimes', which canvasses the depiction of genocide in this science fiction series, and how the language and treatment of this international crime in the TV show changes along with real-life events over the course of the series' history; and the use of science fiction as thought experiments in the study of political science.
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Papers by Shannon Zimmerman
Australian Feminist Foreign Policy Coalition, 2024
A key role of foreign policy is to ensure a state's national security. However, the field of nati... more A key role of foreign policy is to ensure a state's national security. However, the field of national security in most countries is a deeply gendered space. The very way national security is defined and approached is often informed by "gendered assumptions, gendered labels, and gendered hierarchies". i State approaches to addressing terrorism and violent extremism are no exception to this, even though there is clear evidence that gender-sensitive approaches to counter-terrorism (CT) and preventing/countering violent extremism (P/CVE) are more effective. This brief explores what a feminist foreign policy approach to counter-terrorism might look like. First, it outlines the highly gendered nature of traditional approaches to counter-terrorism. It then highlights the value added by including feminist approaches to counter-terrorism and explores what such an approach might entail. Lastly, it sketches out how Australia might apply a feminist approach to its current counter-terrorism activities to ensure initiatives are more comprehensive, effective, and sustainable.
Fourth Annual Symposium on Pop Culture and International Law: Doctor Who and Humanitarian Interventions – How a Time Lord foreshadows the Responsibility to Protect
OpinioJuris, 2024
If pop culture is the audio-visual result of politics, then Doctor Who, the long-running science ... more If pop culture is the audio-visual result of politics, then Doctor Who, the long-running science fiction series, provides prescient political commentary on evolution of the moral and legal arguments around humanitarian intervention. Premiering in 1963, Doctor Who follows The Doctor, a seemingly immortal Time Lord who travels through time and space. Inevitably, the kind-hearted Doctor becomes entangled in major historical and international events as they attempt to protect the human race. These well-intentioned interventions violate the Time Lords First Law of Time, which prohibits interference in events and acts as a thinly veiled allegory for the principle of non-intervention. How the Doctor justifies their interference, and the response they receive from those around them, serve as an apt illustration of the ever-changing attitudes towards the legality and justifiability of humanitarian interventions.
The Future Dynamics Between UN Stabilisation and UN Peace Operations: Conflict Management Versus Conflict Resolution
Rethinking peace and conflict studies, Dec 31, 2022
Diplomacy Now, 2024
This year marks the 75th anniversary of United Nations Peacekeeping. With 12 currently active ope... more This year marks the 75th anniversary of United Nations Peacekeeping. With 12 currently active operations and over 70 successfully completed, UN peacekeeping is one of the global body’s most effective tools to manage threats to international peace and security. Despite this, there is growing concern that UN peacekeeping is no longer ‘fit for purpose.’ Several of the largest UN peace operations are closing – with mixed records of success – and it has been almost ten years since a new mission has been deployed. So, what is causing this crisis of peacekeeping, and how did we get here?
Dangerous Misogyny of the Digital World: The Case of the Manosphere
The advent of the World Wide Web created new digital worlds consisting of networked blogs, websit... more The advent of the World Wide Web created new digital worlds consisting of networked blogs, websites, chatrooms and forums for every topic under the sun (or in the shadows). An unintended side effect of such digital communities is that they have enabled individuals with extreme beliefs to find others to validate their grievances and encourage them to action. One of the largest and most notable of these communities is known as the ‘Manosphere’, an anti-women digital world that foments extreme misogyny, dehumanising women and, at its deepest levels, advocating for violence against all things feminist. This chapter will lay out the contours of the Manosphere and illuminate the major threats arising from this online space.
David Mariuz/AAP Australia has invested heavily in a Pacific peacekeeping hub. So, where are the recruits?
The Conversation, 2023
Nearly two years after opening Blackrock’s value as a Pacific peacekeeping hub is not as clear. W... more Nearly two years after opening Blackrock’s value as a Pacific peacekeeping hub is not as clear. What can Australia do to leverage its existing efforts in the Pacific to help support pacific peacekeeping.?
The End of UN Peacekeeping in Mali Offers Little Hope for the Nation's Civilians
Australian Institute of International Affairs, 2023
The end of MINUSMA is bad news of Mali’s civilians, who are increasingly targeted by Malian force... more The end of MINUSMA is bad news of Mali’s civilians, who are increasingly targeted by Malian forces and mercenary groups in counter-terrorism efforts. These forces are likely to further fuel the expansion of jihadist violence.
The importance of peacekeeping to meeting Australia’s strategic objectives
ASPI's The Strategist, 2023
The unclassified version of Australia’s defence strategic review only mentions peacekeeping direc... more The unclassified version of Australia’s defence strategic review only mentions peacekeeping directly twice. It refers to Australia’s ‘enviable international reputation as a capable country in military, peacekeeping, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations’ and acknowledges that climate-change-driven disasters and mass migration could foster conflict and increase our region’s demand for peacekeeping. It seems to imply that peacekeeping has been and will remain a key activity for the Australian Defence Force, but Australia’s current commitments to peacekeeping are minimal, and the review provides no details on Australian plans to participate in future peace operations.
If Australia wants to meet the review’s recommendations that it meaningfully contribute to the collective security of the Indo-Pacific and to the maintenance of the global rules-based order, then it needs to seriously consider its role in UN peace operations.
If Australia wants to meet the review’s recommendations that it meaningfully contribute to the collective security of the Indo-Pacific and to the maintenance of the global rules-based order, then it needs to seriously consider its role in UN peace operations.
Doctor Who and the Responsibility to Protect: Public Perspectives of Atrocity Crimes
The Journal of Popular Culture
This article engages the BBC televisions series Doctor Who to investigate popular conceptions of ... more This article engages the BBC televisions series Doctor Who to investigate popular conceptions of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). R2P provides guidelines for how the international community should treat to war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. However, there are disconnects between the rhetoric used in elite forums which discuss R2P and public understandings of the concept. This article finds that Doctor Who reflects popular understandings of R2P, which remain limited but evolving. Atrocity crimes are increasingly seen as anathema but focus still remains on reacting to atrocity crimes rather than preventing them or rebuilding communities afterwards.
Terrorism and Political Violence, 2022
A new group of socio-political actors has emerged from the depths of the internet. Thriving in th... more A new group of socio-political actors has emerged from the depths of the internet. Thriving in the online Manosphere, the involuntary celibates, or "Incels," are men who feel they have been victimized by feminism. Initially just another misogynist social group online, this article argues that Incels are moving beyond social commentary to become a political movement. This article demonstrates that Incels have begun to craft a particularly violent political ideology drawing on a unique form of misogyny rooted in the construction of a counternarrative to hegemonic masculinity. Using critical narrative analysis, this article assesses the discourse and narratives used by the Incels to create their unique worldview and identifies core components of their emerging political ideology to understand how this group may justify the use of political violence as part of their political movement.
Doctor Who and the Responsibility to Protect: Public Perspectives of Atrocity Crimes
Journal of Popular Culture, 2022
This article engages the BBC televisions series Doctor Who to investigate popular conceptions of ... more This article engages the BBC televisions series Doctor Who to investigate popular conceptions of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). R2P provides guidelines for how the international community should treat to war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. However, there are disconnects between the rhetoric used in elite forums which discuss R2P and public understandings of the concept. This article finds that Doctor Who reflects popular understandings of R2P, which remain limited but evolving. Atrocity crimes are increasingly seen as anathema but focus still remains on reacting to atrocity crimes rather than preventing them or rebuilding communities afterwards.
Terrorism and Political Violence, 2022
A new group of socio-political actors has emerged from the depths of the internet. Thriving in th... more A new group of socio-political actors has emerged from the depths of the internet. Thriving in the online Manosphere, the involuntary celibates, or "Incels," are men who feel they have been victimized by feminism. Initially just another misogynist social group online, this article argues that Incels are moving beyond social commentary to become a political movement. This article demonstrates that Incels have begun to craft a particularly violent political ideology drawing on a unique form of misogyny rooted in the construction of a counternarrative to hegemonic masculinity. Using critical narrative analysis, this article assesses the discourse and narratives used by the Incels to create their unique worldview and identifies core components of their emerging political ideology to understand how this group may justify the use of political violence as part of their political movement.
Counter-Terrorism & Peace Operations: The Impacts of UN Security Council Approaches to Tackling Terror on the Pursuit of Peace
United Nations peace operations are generally considered a poor vehicle for counter-terrorism. Ye... more United Nations peace operations are generally considered a poor vehicle for counter-terrorism. Yet, UN peace operations are regularly deployed by the Security Council to settings affected by terrorism and violent extremism. The confluence of terrorism and conflict make this co-existence inevitable, but some missions have also engaged more directly in countering these elements. For example, the UNSC continues to support the mission in Somalia, which actively faces terrorist threats, and has also deployed a peacekeeping mission to Mali amid a jihadist insurgency. At the same time, in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, peace operations have engaged in offensive military operations that target groups labelled as “terrorists” by their host government partners. Academics and peacekeeping experts have raised concerns and noted the initial impacts of counter-terrorism efforts on UN peace operations. Building on this work, this brief draws on illustrative examples from the field t...
Resolve Networ, 2022
United Nations peace operations are generally considered a poor vehicle for counter-terrorism. Ye... more United Nations peace operations are generally considered a poor vehicle for counter-terrorism. Yet, UN peace operations are regularly deployed by the Security Council to settings affected by terrorism and violent extremism. The confluence of terrorism and conflict make this co-existence inevitable, but some missions have also engaged more directly in countering these elements. For example, the UNSC continues to support the mission in Somalia, which actively faces terrorist threats, and has also deployed a peacekeeping mission to Mali amid a jihadist insurgency. At the same time, in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, peace operations have engaged in offensive military operations that target groups labelled as “terrorists” by their host government partners.
Academics and peacekeeping experts have raised concerns and noted the initial impacts of counter-terrorism efforts on UN peace operations. Building on this work, this brief draws on illustrative examples from the field to examine how the UNSC’s counter-terrorism framework has impacted the mandates and practice of the UN’s peace operations, particularly the large stabilization operations deployed in Africa. It shows that counter-terrorism efforts at the level of the UNSC have blurred the normative distinctions between peace operations and counter-terrorism to the detriment of the former. This brief concludes by providing recommendations to ensure that UNSC responses to terrorism and violent extremism do not unintentionally undermine the effectiveness of UN peace operations.
Academics and peacekeeping experts have raised concerns and noted the initial impacts of counter-terrorism efforts on UN peace operations. Building on this work, this brief draws on illustrative examples from the field to examine how the UNSC’s counter-terrorism framework has impacted the mandates and practice of the UN’s peace operations, particularly the large stabilization operations deployed in Africa. It shows that counter-terrorism efforts at the level of the UNSC have blurred the normative distinctions between peace operations and counter-terrorism to the detriment of the former. This brief concludes by providing recommendations to ensure that UNSC responses to terrorism and violent extremism do not unintentionally undermine the effectiveness of UN peace operations.
Australian Institute of International Affairs, 2022
As Russia has turned its eye towards Africa, its private military companies have become more and ... more As Russia has turned its eye towards Africa, its private military companies have become more and more active in conflicts across the continent. In Mali they have been used to devastating effect.
R2P and Counter-terrorism: Where Sovereignties Collide
Global Responsibility to Protect
States play the lead role in implementing the norms of the international system. They interpret n... more States play the lead role in implementing the norms of the international system. They interpret norms through the lens of their sovereignty, refining and revising them until they are suitable to local interests and context. The complex nature of sovereignty and its diverse manifestations across states means that norms will be interpreted and implemented in different ways. This article argues that R2P and counter-terrorism are complex norm regimes which are susceptible to modification as they are interpreted through diverse conceptions of state sovereignty. Using the cases of China’s response to the Uyghurs and Sri Lanka’s response to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, this article shows that the malleable prescriptive norms of R2P and counter-terrorism can be reinterpreted by states in ways contingent on their sovereignty that deeply impact, and may even violate, the original intent of the norm.
The Responsibility to Protect and Counter-terrorism
Global Responsibility to Protect
The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and counter-terrorism are two concepts that came of age in th... more The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and counter-terrorism are two concepts that came of age in the new millennium. They have routinely been cast as contradictory, a dichotomy where actors must make a choice between prioritizing individual human rights or the security of the state. The evolution of these two concepts over the past 20 years, however, has shown that there are as many congruences between R2P and counter-terrorism as there are areas of conflict. This introduction briefly details the genesis of the R2P and counter-terrorism and highlights their shared basis in state sovereignty and protection of human rights. It then introduces the articles in this special issue, each of which looks at different areas of congruence or conflict between R2P and counter-terrorism.
Parallel Lines in the Sand
Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations
UN peace operations are often accompanied by parallel forces from individual states, regional org... more UN peace operations are often accompanied by parallel forces from individual states, regional organizations, or “coalitions of the willing.” These forces remain distinct from the UN to address security concerns outside the remit of traditional peacekeeping. The deployment of UN stabilization operations, however, has resulted in an overlap between UN and parallel forces. This article investigates the complex relationships between UN stabilization operations and parallel forces using as examples the French and UN deployments in Mali and the Central African Republic. It concludes that when UN and parallel forces have distinct mandates, they often create military synergies but political tensions. In particular, when peacekeepers are reliant on parallel forces for military support, the UN can struggle to achieve its longer-term political tasks. When parallel forces are explicitly mandated to support UN efforts, the UN is better able to leverage its relationship with parallel forces to ac...
Stability: International Journal of Security and Development
In a state-based international order, the state is understood as the best actor to protect its po... more In a state-based international order, the state is understood as the best actor to protect its population. With this in mind, UN peace operations often have mandates to extend state authority. However, by their very nature, peace operations deploy to states whose authority and legitimacy are contested. Without a clear definition of what that authority entails, peace operations and host states must constantly negotiate the content and approaches taken in extending state authority, sometimes resulting in tensions between state and mission. This article examines the process of extending state authority in two cases: the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). It finds that there are evolving and contesting understandings of state authority across and within peace operations, which can limit mission impact and stress key relationships between peace operations and their host state. The article concludes that there is a need for renewed conversations in the UN as to how state authority is understood and supported by UN peace operations.
Twenty Years of the Protection of Civilians in UN Peace Operations
Journal of International Peacekeeping
The Protection of Civilians (PoC) has been part of United Nations (UN) peace operations for twent... more The Protection of Civilians (PoC) has been part of United Nations (UN) peace operations for twenty years. Today, PoC is irrefutably a ‘centre of gravity’ for how UN peace operations see and portray themselves. Despite negative perceptions, a great deal of progress has been made in how missions prepare for and respond to the demands of protection mandates. For the vulnerable populations they serve, mandates to protect raise expectations and provide hope that peacekeepers will safeguard them. Yet efforts to implement PoC mandates have encountered a range of problems, which peace operations have struggled to address. This article critically reflects on the past two decades of promoting, planning for and practicing protection in UN peace operations. It argues that while the achievements are many, significant challenges remain and much more must be done to deliver on this cardinal obligation.