Landon Hancock

Landon Hancock teaches courses for both the School of Peace and Conflict Studies and the Department of Political Science and is a faculty affiliate of the Program for the Prevention of Mass Violence at the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Studies at George Mason University. For academic year 2021-22 he was awarded an International Affairs Fellowship by the Council on Foreign Relations to serve as a Local Peacebuilding Advisor to the UN Secretary General's Peacebuilding Fund. In June 2021, he was a Fulbright Specialist at Pontifica Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia. During 2018-19, he was a Senior Fulbright Fellow at the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea.  His main research areas are on the role of ethnicity and identity in conflict generation, dynamics and resolution, coupled with an interest in local peacebuilding, zones of peace and the role of agency in the success or failure of peacebuilding efforts.

Recent publications include articles in Peacebuilding, Geopolitics, Congress & the Presidency, National Identities, Ethnopolitics, Peace & Change, Irish Political Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Negotiation Journal, and Journal of Peace Education. He is editor of Narratives of Identity in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change (2016) and co-editor of the Zones of Peace series:  Zones of Peace (2007), Local Peacebuilding and National Peace (2012), Local Peacebuilding and Legitimacy (2018) with Christopher Mitchell, and Confronting Peace (2021) with Susan H. Allen, Christopher Mitchell and Cecile Mouly. His research is focused on identity-driven conflict, from the reasons for its inception and outbreak to its resolution and to periods of post-conflict peacebuilding and transitional justice. 

From 2012 to 2016 he served as Chair of ISA’s Peace Studies Section, where he facilitated its growth from the organization’s 5^th to 3^rd largest section. In October 2019 he co-chaired (with Patrick Coy) the section's first standalone conference, Commemorating Violent Conflicts and Building Sustainable Peace, jointly presented with Peace History Society.

Dr. Hancock's awards include an International Affairs Fellowship from the Council on Foreign Relations, a Fulbright Specialist Award,  a Senior Fulbright Fellowship for 2018-19, a Peace Scholar fellowship from the United States Institute of Peace in 2001 for his dissertation, Peace from the People: Identity Salience and the Northern Irish Peace Process, and a summer fellowship at the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania in 2003. He also served as a research fellow at RESOLVE, Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution, Research and Education.

Prior to coming to KSU, Dr. Hancock taught courses at the University of Baltimore's Center for Negotiations and Conflict Management; American University's Washington Semester Program; and George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis & Resolution, New Century College and Department of Sociology and Criminology.

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

PUBLICATIONS

Edited Books

Confronting Peace: Local Peacebuilding in the Wake of a National Agreement. (with C.R. Mitchell, S.H. Allen, and C. Mouly). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.

Local Peacebuilding and Legitimacy, Co-editor (with Christopher R. Mitchell). London: Routledge. 2018.

Narratives of Identity in Social Movements, Conflicts & Change. Vol. 40, Research in Social Movements, Conflicts & Change. Bingley: Emerald. 2016

Local Peacebuilding and National Peace. Co-editor (with Christopher R. Mitchell). London, New York: Continuum Publishing. 2012.  

Zones of Peace: Local Conflict Mitigation and Peacebuilding in the Midst of Civil Violence. Co-editor (with Christopher R. Mitchell). Bloomfield, CT. Kumarian Press. 2007.  

Journal Articles

"Peacebuilding Accountability: The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund and Community-Based Monitoring and Evaluation." Negotiation Journal, Open Access (2023).

“The Power of Voice: Storytelling as Peacebuilding in Post-Troubles Northern Ireland.” (with Elizabeth Schmidt, Jenna Lada, and Amanda Donahoe), Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, 18, no. 1 (2023): 36-52.

“From Islamic to National Identity: Comparative Study of Iran’s Islamic Revolution and Green Movement.” (with Alireza Raisi), Contemporary Islam, 16, no. 1 (2022): 89-105.

“Expressions of American White Ethnonationalism in Support for ‘Blue Lives Matter’.” (with Johanna Solomon and David H. Kaplan), Geopolitics 26, no 3 (2021): 946-966.

“Deliberative Peacebuilding? Agency and Development in Post-Conflict Practice.” Peacebuilding 8, no. 2 (2020): 139-58.

“Selling the Iran Nuclear Agreement: Prospect Theory and the Campaign to Frame the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.” (with Lisa Hager, Oindrila Roy and Michael J. Ensley) Congress & the Presidency, 46 no. 3 (2019): 417-45.

"Narratives of Commemoration: Identity, Memory, and Conflict in Northern Ireland 1916–2016." Peace & Change 44, no. 2 (2019): 244-65.

"Capturing the Flag: The Struggle for National Identity in Nonviolent Revolutions." (with Anuj Gurung) Peace and Conflict Studies 25, no. 2 (2018).

"Agency & Peacebuilding: The Promise of Local Zones of Peace." Peacebuilding 5, no. 3 (2017):255-269.

"Into the IRIS: A Model for Analyzing Identity Dynamics in Conflict." National Identities 18, no. 4 (2016):409-423.

“Narratives of Identity in the Northern Irish Troubles.” Peace & Change. 39, no. 4 (2014): 443-67

“We Shall Not Overcome: Divided Identity and the Failure of NICRA 1968.” Ethnopolitics 13, no. 5 (2014): 501-21.

“Who is to Blame? The Relationship between Ingroup Identification and Relative Deprivation is moderated by Ingroup Attributions.” (with Hanna Zagefka, Jens Binder and Rupert Brown) Social Psychology 44, no. 6 (2013): 398-407.

“Transitional Justice and the Consultative Group: Facing the Past or Forcing the Future?” Ethnopolitics. 10, no. 3. 2011.

“Who’s Truth, Who’s Justice? Religious and Cultural Traditions in Transitional Justice” (with Aysegul Keskin-Zeren) Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace. 4, no. 1. 2011. 

“Prospect Theory and the Failure to Sell the Oslo Accords” (with Joshua N. Weiss) Peace & Change 36, no. 3, 427-452. 2011.

“Culture and Procedural Justice in Transitioning Societies” (with Tamra Pearson d’Estrée) Peace and Conflict Studies 18, no. 1. 2011.

"Prospect Theory and the Framing of the Good Friday Agreement." (with Joshua N. Weiss & Glen M.E. Duerr) Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 28, no. 2, 183-203. 2011.

"There is No Alternative. Prospect Theory, the Yes Campaign and the Selling of the Good Friday Agreement." Irish Political Studies. 26, no. 1, 95-116. 2011.

"Mainstreaming Peace and Conflict Studies: Designing Introductory Courses to Fit Liberal Arts Education Requirement." (with Patrick G. Coy) Journal of Peace Education. 7, no. 2, 205-219. 2010.

"The Northern Irish Peace Process: From Top to Bottom." International Studies Review, 10, 203-238. 2008.

"To Act or to Wait: A Two Stage View of Ripeness." International Studies Perspectives. Vol. 2, No. 2 (May), pp. 195-205. 2001.

"The Indo-Sri Lankan Accord: An Analysis of Conflict Termination." Civil Wars. Vol. 2, No. 4 (Winter), pp. 83-105. 1999.

"The Patterns of Ethnic Conflict." Ethnos-nation. Vol. 6, Nos. 1-2. 1998.

Selected Book Chapters

“Local Peace Roles in Post-agreement Nominal Peace to Continuing Conflict.” (with Susan H. Allen). Confronting Peace: Local Peacebuilding in the Wake of a National Agreement, edited by S.H. Allen, L.E. Hancock, C.R. Mitchell, and C. Mouly. London: Palgrave, 341-372, 2021.

“Zones of Peace.” The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, edited by Oliver Richmond and Gëzim Visoka. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

“Local Peacebuilding.” (with Maxwell Adjei). The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, edited by Oliver Richmond and Gëzim Visoka. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

“Meanings of Peace.” (with Johanna Solomon). The Routledge Handbook of Peace, Security and Development, edited by Fen Hampson and Alpaslan Ozerdem. London: Routledge, 9-20, 2020.

“From Principles into Practice in Peace and Conflict Studies.” (with Patrick G. Coy and Anuj Gurung). The Routledge Companion to Peace and Conflict Studies, edited by Thomas Maytok. London: Routledge, 68-78, 2019.

"Legitimate Agents of Peacebuilding: Deliberative Governance in Zones of Peace." In Local Peacebuilding and Legitimacy: Interactions between National and Local Levels, edited by Landon E. Hancock and Christopher Mitchell. London: Routledge, 2018.

“Peace from the People: Identity Salience and the Northern Irish Peace Process.” In Lessons from the Northern Irish Peace Process, edited by Timothy White. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2013.

“Zones of Peace.” In The Routledge Handbook of Peacebuilding, edited by Roger MacGinty. London: Routledge., 2013.

“Belfast’s Interfaces: Zones of Conflict or Zones of Peace?” In Local Peacebuilding and National Peace: Interaction between Grassroots and Elite Processes, edited by Christopher Mitchell and Landon E. Hancock. London, New York: Continuum Publishing, 2012.

"Ethnic Identities and Boundaries: Anthropological, Psychological and Sociological Approaches" in The International Studies Association Compendium. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Inc. 2010.

"El Salvador's Post-Conflict Peace Zone." In Zones of Peace, edited by L. E. Hancock and C. R. Mitchell. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press. 2007.

"The nature, structure and variety of "peace zones." (with Pushpa Iyer) In Zones of peace, edited by L. E. Hancock and C. R. Mitchell. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press. 2007.

"Significant Events in the Northern Irish Peace Process: Impact and Implementation." In From Power Sharing to Democracy: Post Conflict Institutions in Politically Divided Societies. Ed. S. Noel. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 2005.

"The Pecos River Case: Sharing a Resource Among Old Rivals." In Braving the Currents: Evaluating Environmental Conflict Resolution in the American West. Eds. Tamra Pearson d’Estrée and Bonnie G. Colby. Norwell, MA: Kluwer, 2004 (with Annette Hanada).

Other

"Zones of Peace." In The International Encyclopedia of Peace. Edited by Nigel Young. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

"Pushing for Peace and Stability: Some Comments on Colin Irwin's Polls." Forum: Northern Ireland in The Global Review of Ethnopolitics. Vol. 2, Nos. 3-4, pp. 83-84. 2003.

Soldier, Scientist, Diplomat, Mediator: The Multi-Disciplinary Context of Conflict Resolution. Co-editor (with others). Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Fairfax, VA. 1999.

"Northern Ireland: Troubles Brewing." Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). Londonderry/Derry, Northern Ireland. UK. 1998. Available here.