Dr Chrissie Steenkamp

Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Change

School of Law and Social Sciences

Role

Chrissie (Christina) Steenkamp is a senior lecturer in Social and Political Change. She teaches and conducts research in the areas of Politics and International Relations, with a specific interest in Peace and Conflict Studies. Originally South African, she has taught at universities in South Africa, Northern Ireland and England. She holds degrees from the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa); an MA (Comparative Ethnic Conflict) from Queen's University, Belfast, and a PhD in Politics from the University of York (UK). In her research, she is particularly interested in the impact of violence on peacebuilding and the relationship between organised crime, conflict and peace. She has conducted extensive fieldwork on these topics in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Jordan.

Teaching and supervision

Modules taught

Undergraduate

Conflict and Peacebuilding (module leader)

Postgraduate

Violence and Peacebuilding (module leader)

Dr Steenkamp is also the Postgraduate Research Tutor (Social Sciences).

Supervision

Dr Steenkamp invites applications from prospective research students with interests in issues related to violent intrastate conflict, organised crime and peacebuilding, or in the conflicts of the Middle East.

Research

Chrissie conducts research in the broad area of Peace and Conflict Studies, with an emphasis on intrastate violent conflict and its resolution. She is particularly interested in the study of violence and organised crime in the context of peacebuilding.

She has carried out extensive fieldwork in Northern Ireland, Jordan and South Africa on issues related to post-conflict violence, organised crime and its relationship to violent conflict. She has written two books on violence and crime during war and peace, and has published several journal articles on these and related topics. Dr Steenkamp is currently working on several projects, including investigating the use of tunnels in conflicts in the Middle East, and the impact of the illegal amphetamine Captagon on Jordan. She has started writing a new book about the relationship between peacebuilding and organised crime in the Middle East.

Her research has been funded by the GCRF, the Quaker Foundation and the National Research Foundation (South Africa).

Dr Steenkamp has acted as a reviewer for various peer reviewed journals and academic publishers, and has externally examined PhD theses at universities in South Africa, England and Australia.

She is the co-ordinator of the Critical Security Studies research group within the Department and is a member of the Board of the Centre for Global Politics, Economy and Society.

Research grants and awards

Current funding:

GCRF Global Challenges Collaborative Research Awards 2019-22. Project title: The impact of the amphetamine Captagon on Jordan. (In collaboration with Prof Mayyada Wazaify, University of Jordan).

British Academy Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling Global Challenges 2020 scheme. Project title: Double Trouble: The effect of violent conflict on the abuse of prescription and non-prescription medicine. Duration: January 2021 – December 2022. (In collaboration with Prof Mayyada Wazaify, University of Jordan).

Research projects

Current projects include:

2021-22: The impact of the amphetamine Captagon on Jordan (GCRF-funded research project)
2021-22: Double Trouble: The effect of violent conflict on the abuse of prescription and non-prescription medicine. (British Academy funded research project)
Conflict, organised crime and peacebuidling in the Middle East (book project)

Research impact

Dr Steenkamp has extensive experience in engaging with non-academic user groups to disseminate research findings, with audiences including representatives from NATO; the UN; NGO’s and national level policy makers.

Projects as Principal Investigator, or Lead Academic if project is led by another Institution

Double Trouble: The effect of violent conflict on the abuse of prescription and non-prescription medicine in the MENA region (01/01/2021 - 30/11/2023), funded by: British Academy, funding amount received by Brookes: £7,360

Publications

Journal articles

Steenkamp C, 'The impact of tunnels on conflicts in the Middle East'
International Affairs 98 (2) (2022) pp.689-706

ISSN: 0020-5850 eISSN: 1468-2346
Abstract Published here Open Access on RADAR
Steenkamp C, 'The crime-conflict nexus and the civil war in Syria'
Stability: International Journal of Security and Development 6 (1) (2017)

ISSN: 2165-2627
Abstract Published here Open Access on RADAR
Steenkamp C, 'In the shadows of war and peace: making sense of violence after peace accords'
Conflict, Security and Development 11 (3) (2011) pp.357-383

ISSN: 1467-8802
Published here

Books

Steenkamp C, Violent Societies: Networks of Violence in Civil War and Peace, Palgrave Macmillan UK (2014)

ISBN: 9780230243767 eISBN: 9781137290656
Abstract Published here Open Access on RADAR
Steenkamp C, Violent Societies: Networks of Violence in Civil War and Peace, Palgrave (2014)

ISBN: 9780230272033 eISBN: 9781137290656
Abstract Published here
Steenkamp C, Violence and post-war reconstruction: managing insecurity in the aftermath of peace accords, I B Tauris (2009)

ISBN: 978-1845117696
Abstract

Book chapters

Steenkamp C, 'The Crime-Terror Nexus in Syria and Iraq' in Letizia Paoli, Jan Wouters and Cyrille Fijnaut (ed.), Nexus Between Organized Crime and Terrorism: Types and Responses, Edward Elgar (2022)

ISBN: 9781788979290 eISBN: 9781788979306
Abstract Published here Open Access on RADAR
Steenkamp C, 'Post-accord Crime and Violence' in Roger Mac Ginty, Anthony Wanis-St. John (ed.), Contemporary Peacemaking, Palgrave-Macmillan (2022)

ISBN: 9783030829612 eISBN: 9783030829629
Abstract Published here Open Access on RADAR

Other publications

Other selected publications:

Steenkamp C. (2011) 'In the shadows of war and peace: making sense of violence after peace accords', Conflict, Security and Development, 11 (3): pp. 357-383.
Steenkamp, Christina. (2009) Xenophobia in South Africa: What does it say about trust?’, The Round Table: Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 98(403), pp. 439-448.
Steenkamp, Christina. (2008) ‘Loyalist paramilitary violence after the Belfast Agreement’, Ethnopolitics, 7(1), pp. 59-176.
Steenkamp, Chrissie. (2005) ‘The legacy of war: Conceptualizing a ‘Culture of Violence’ to explain violence after peace accords’, The Round Table. The Commonwealth Journal of International Relations, 94(2), pp. 253-268.

Encyclopedia entries:

Steenkamp, C. (2010) 'Low Intensity Violence', in the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace, Nigel Young (ed). Oxford: Oxford University.
Steenkamp, C. (2010) 'Violence and Social Conflict', in the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace, Nigel Young (ed). Oxford: Oxford University.
Steenkamp, C. (2010) 'South Africa: Anti-Apartheid Struggles', in the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace, Nigel Young (ed). Oxford: Oxford University.

Professional information

Memberships of professional bodies

Co-director of the Centre for Global Politics, Economy and Society (GPES)
Critical Security Studies research group
State and Society research group

Conferences

Selected Conference Papers

Steenkamp, C. (July 2022) 'Captagon and Conflict: The impact of the Syrian war on Jordan as a drug transit country', ECPR 4th General Conference on Organised Crime, to be held in Pisa, Italy, 4 – 6 July 2022.
Steenkamp, C. (2021) ‘Going Underground: The role of tunnels in conflicts in the Middle East’, Conflict Research Society annual conference, online, September 2021.
Steenkamp, C. (2019) ‘ The Peace-Crime nexus: Organised crime and peacebuilding in the Middle East’, ISA annual conference, Toronto, 27-30 March 2019.
Steenkamp, C. (2018) ‘Organised Crime and Peace Mediation’, at Rethinking Peace Mediation workshop, British Mission at the UN, New York, 15-16 November 2018.
Steenkamp, C. (2018) ‘ The Peace-Crime Nexus: How organised crime can support and challenge peacebuilding‘, Conflict Research Society conference, Birmingham University, 17-18 September.
Steenkamp, C. (2018) ‘Post-war reconstruction and the commemoration of war’, Mellon-Sawyer Research Seminar Series, Oxford University, 10 February.
Steenkamp, C. (2017) ‘Narcotics and the war in Syria: What does it mean for peace?’, Conflict Research Society conference, Oxford, 18-19 September.
Steenkamp, Christina. (2017) ‘Roundtable: The conflict in Syria: Dilemmas and Implications.’ ISA-CISS conference, Bologna, 28-30 June.
Steenkamp, Christina. (2016) 'Crime, war and the prospects for peace in Syria', BISA Annual Conference, Edinburgh, 15-17 June.
Steenkamp, Christina. (2014) 'From the crime-war nexus to the crime-peace nexus: crime and the prospects for peace in the Syrian civil war', Peace Studies Conference, University of Bradford, 1-3 May.
Steenkamp, Chrissie. (2011) ‘Coping with Violence: The responses of African foreigners to xenophobia in South Africa’. National and International Perspectives on Crime Reduction and Criminal Justice Conference, organised by the Institute for Security Studies, South Africa. Johannesburg, 1-2 December.
Steenkamp, Christina (2009) ‘Violent crime and democracy after peace accords’, ECPR 5th general conference, Potsdam, 10-12 September.

Consultancy

Peacebuilding
Organised crime and conflicts in the Middle East
Post-war violence
Peace processes and violence