Governance, Leadership and Trust
Our research in this theme explores processes of governance at local, national and transnational levels and how these are shaped by leadership and trust.
About the Theme
The theme focuses on the governance of complex transitions, and related questions of public authority and trust, political legitimacy and leadership. The ambition of the theme is to engender new insights on governance in a post-liberal context. Such new modalities are likely to be more dynamic and process oriented. They challenge current approaches to governance in politics, which are often linked to “architectures” and clear decision-making lines. In doing so, our work combines political ideas of trust with approaches to leadership from business and management studies. This approach builds on work around political legitimacy and is a key strength of the research endeavour in the theme.
In particular, the theme is working on three interrelated questions. First, the research focuses on the modalities of governance in transitions from both violent conflict and authoritarianism and look into new ways such transitions can be approached and governed. Second, the theme investigates the functioning of leadership and public authority in areas characterised by violence and armed conflict. Third, we explore the relation of trust and distrust in the formation of political settlements and, especially, how distrust in and in the aftermath of violent conflict can be transformed institutionally.
Theme Leads
Jan Pospisil
Theme Lead
Dr Jan Pospisil is Associate Professor at CTPSR at Coventry University. He is co-investigator of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform (PeaceRep), a FCDO-funded research programme located at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on transitional governance, peace processes, and regional power configurations. Jan’s most recent monograph on South Sudanese conflictscapes has been published with transcript in 2021. His previous monograph, Peace in Political Unsettlement, was published with Palgrave Macmillan in 2019.
Duru Imrie-Kuzu
Theme Co-Lead
Dr Imrie-Kuzu is an Associate Professor of Politics, holding a PhD in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science where he is also an editor of the Journal of Nations and Nationalism. He is the course director for Master of Public Administration Program in Global Diversity Governance at Coventry, the author of Multiculturalism in Turkey (Cambridge University Press) and a co-editor of Consociationalism and Power-Sharing in Europe (Palgrave Internal Political Theory Series).
Publications
The members of the Governance, Leadership and Trust Theme regularly publish articles, monographs, book chapters, and other media on this multidisciplinary subject. For the most recent publications, please see outputs on the Coventry University Pure page.
PublicationsProjects
The members of the Governance, Leadership and Trust theme lead and collaborate on a number of research projects and additional projects are available on the Coventry University Research Portal.
ProjectsFeatured Projects
Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform (PeaceRep)
The FCDO-funded PeaceRep programme investigates peace and transition processes in conflict-affected regions with the aim to reconfigure international support.
RBOC N+ - Resilience Beyond Observed Capabilities: Build a Network to Enable Resilient Solutions for Future UK Systems
The RBOC (Resilience Beyond Observed Capabilities) Network Plus will create new knowledge, new capabilities and new opportunities for collaboration to help the UK prepare for security threats in the coming decades.
A PROactive approach for COmmunities to enAble Societal Transformation
The project aims to stimulate and empower local communities and civil society in general, to support restoration and maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem services across Europe, and thus to involve them more actively in environmental governance.
Democratic responsibility in a divided society: exploring public trust in post-conflict Northern Ireland
Through in-depth interviews with three fundamental groups in the democratic process, the media, government and community representatives, this project aims to produce new insight into trust in Northern Ireland.
Transport Innovation Gender Observatory (TInnGO)
TInnGO, the Transport Research Observatory, is a pan European observatory for gender smart transport innovation, that provides a nexus for data collection, analysis, dissemination of gender mainstreaming tools and open innovation, encouraging smart mobility.
Trusting GRACE: the development of trust indicators from the Good Relations and Collaborative Education (GRACE) model of schools-based peacebuilding
The research presents indicators of trust in education-based peacebuilding, which have been derived from both academic literature and primary research emerging from CRIS practice.
