School of Politics and International Relations

Dr Frederick Laker, BA (KCL), MA (KCL), PhD (LSE)

Frederick

Lecturer in International Relations

Email: f.laker@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: 020 7882 8585
Room Number: Arts One, 2.34
Office Hours: Monday 1-2pm & Thursday 2-3pm

Profile

My research and academic interests are grounded in the field of conflict, peace, and development. Firstly, with the study of the causes, conduct, trajectories, and outcomes of state failure, genocide, forced migration, civil wars, and the politics of humanitarianism.

I have lectured on Strategic Studies, Genocide, International Organisations, International Peace and Security, Complex Emergencies, Development Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence at LSE, SOAS, UCL and the University of Cape Town.

Undergraduate Teaching

POL109 Global Histories

POL242 Global Governance

POL251 International Relations Theory

 

Research

Research Interests:

My PhD elucidated the crisis of Internal displacement which has become one of the most pressing geo-political concerns of the 21st century, with over 33 million internally displaced people worldwide due to conflict, state collapse, and natural disaster in such high-profile cases as Syria, Darfur, Sri Lanka, Somalia, and Sudan. Working alongside UNHCR, UNDP, UNOCHA, UNOHCHR, UNICEF, ICRC, Save the Children, War Child, and Care International, I was able to observe the practical issues arising from the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) through the application of the Camp Co-Ordination and Camp Management (CCCM) with the tough choices aid agencies had to make in the context of a government counter-insurgency operation, and the practice and unintended consequences of aid.

Secondly, I work on the major debates in global politics surrounding the nexus between security and development, the changing roles of international organization on the world stage, and justice, reconciliation and accountability in the aftermath of violence. I have experience working on post conflict environments with vulnerable groups. In Uganda, I worked on a Caritas International project for developing Community Risk Reduction Strategies in war affected districts. These were village led interventions designed to identify threats to post conflict reconstruction from cattle raiders, food shortage, and criminal bands. More recently, I have conducted a study into the United Nations International Commissions of Inquiry (COI) into the election violence and atrocity in Togo (2000 & 2005). This gave me first hand access into the systems and processes in attempts to achieve international justice, in highly charged zones of instability, that result in spill-over of refugees and warrant humanitarian intervention. This study was designed to determine (1) How the international community investigate international crimes?

Publications

Books:

Laker, Frederick, ‘Rethinking Internal Displacement: Geo-Political Games, Fragile States, and The Relief Industry’, Cambridge University Press (under review)

Articles:

Laker, Frederick, Book Review,  ‘The Rise & Decline of a Global Security Actor: UNHCR Refugee Protection & Security’, by Anne Hammerstad. Journal of Refugee Studies, OUP (Vol.28, No.1, March, 2015).

Public Engagement

Caritas International - Post Conflict reconstruction projects in northern Uganda

Rights in Exile - Country of Origin Expert for asylum applicants