Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations

Following the establishment of the Midlands African Studies Hub (MASH) in Birmingham in September 2017, we are holding a one-day conference at Coventry University on the theme of ‘Contesting Injustice: People’s mobilisation from below’ and invite you to submit a paper proposal. 

For this Breakfast Briefing, the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre (CRMC) with the Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) as part of 2018 RISING Global Peace Forum invites you to a discussion on building local, national and transnational solidarity in relation to migration and diversity.

The institutional or factual relationships between home states and their emigrants have always existed, at least in the traditional form of consular protection, or in very specific areas, such as the economy (i.e. remittances). However, the last decades have witnessed a large expansion of institutions, policies, and other state-sponsored mechanisms all around the globe, linking home states and emigrants / diasporas well beyond the traditional areas.

In recent years there has been a marked increase in the number of referendums and public votes.  Here in Britain, we have held some of the most headline-grabbing ones; the Brexit vote and the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence. More recently, there have been votes on immigration in Hungary, gay marriage in Australia and abortion in Ireland. Why have governments turned this form of public involvement? Is it a sign of populism? And what does it mean for representative democracy? Professor Matt Qvortrup will presents his findings based on more than 30 years of research in the field and his new publication Government by Referendum.

The aim of the ‘Life on the Breadline…’ project is to understand how the social context resulting from the 'age of austerity' has affected Christian engagement with poverty in the UK and the theological motivations, which underpin it, in order to facilitate the development of better informed government policy and more effective faith-based activism thereby reducing urban social exclusion and inequality.