Newcastle University

Introduction

Alex is a human geographer whose research examines the practices and consequences of international intervention in post-conflict environments, with a particular focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina. His research has explored how civil society groups (NGOs, social movements and community organisations) have been enroled in the process of state-building and democratisation following conflict. Recently, this work has focused on the process of transitional justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina to assess how the new War Crimes Chamber in Sarajevo establishes its legitimacy amongst victims of war. This work is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (RES-061-25-0479). In addition, Alex is completing a book manuscript for the RGS IBG Book Series (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell) entitled The Improvised State: Sovereignty Performance and Agency in Dayton Bosnia.

Alex teaches a range of human geography undergraduate modules, often with Dr. Nick Megoran. His undergraduate teaching focuses on issues of citizenship, sovereignty and the state, international intervention and the history of geopolitical thought. He also contributes to the taught masters programmes in Human Geography and Critical Geopolitics. Details of research supervision topics (at PhD or MA entry) and current students are available on this website. 

Alex is currently Degree Programme Director for single honours geography (L701 and F800).

Roles and Responsibilities

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and Degree Programme Director for Geography

Qualifications

2004 PhD Democratization, Civil society and NGOs: The Case of Brcko District Bosnia, The Department of Geography, Durham University

2001 MA Environment, Culture and Development The Department of Geography, Durham University

1999 MA Geography University of Edinburgh (First Class)

Previous Positions

2004-2005 ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow, The Department of Geography, Durham University

Editorships and Memberships

Editorial board member: Political Geography 

Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers

Member of the Association of American Geographers

Research Interests

Keywords: State practices, Former Yugoslavia, Civil Society, International Intervention, NGOs, Political Geography

My previous research has explored the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the process of democratization following the conflict in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995. This work covered a diverse set of themes: from the geographic imaginations of ethno-national politics to the priorities of international agencies. To illustrate the struggle undertaken by local NGOs in post-conflict Bosnia I drew on the conceptual framework of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, in particular his economic metaphor of the accumulation of different varieties of capital. The behaviour and priorities of the individual NGOs seemed to be influenced by the values of intervening organisations in Bosnia, in particular through mechanisms of funding and regulation. The ethnographic research, conducted in the northern Bosnia town of Brcko, illuminated the complexity of this process, as individual NGOs used their accumulated social, cultural and symbolic capital to shape, resist or acquiesce to the demands set by intervening agencies.

Postgraduate Supervision

Keywords: State practices, Former Yugoslavia, Civil Society, International Intervention, NGOs, Political Geography

In progress

2011-present               Daniel Bos Ph.D. Candidate “Popular Geopolitics and Video Gaming: The production and consumption of geopolitical imaginations” (ESRC Doctoral Training Centre Studentship, co supervised with Dr. Alison Williams and Dr. Marcus Power).

2010-present               Russell Foster Ph.D. Candidate “European Cartoimperialism? Cartographic analysis and identity production in the European Union” (ESRC open competition award, co supervised with Prof. Hartmut Behr).

2009-present               Charlotte Johnson Ph.D. Candidate “An ethnography of housing councils in Belgrade:  new styles of living and old ways of managing in a post-socialist city” (ESRC quota award, co-supervised with Dr. Alison Stenning).

2009-present               Jeff Chase Ph.D. Candidate “Power, Planning and Discourses of Hope: City Planning and Reconciliatory Processes in Post-Conflict Kigali” (Newcastle University Studentship, co-supervised with Dr. Martin Coward).

Completed

2006-2010                   Shelagh Furness Ph.D. Candidate “The Case of the Missing Geography: European Union Territory and Territoriality” (self-funded, co-supervised with Dr. Alison Stenning).

2006-2009                   Sara Fregonese Ph.D. Candidate “Mapping destruction: Towards a critical geography of violence against the built environment in Beirut 1975-76” (Newcastle University Studentship, co-supervised with Dr. Alison Stenning).

Esteem Indicators

2009 Awarded the Vice Chancellor's Teaching Award at Newcastle University (with Nick Megoran)

Funding

Under review

2012-5     European Research Council

“Youth Experiences of Citizenship in Divided Societies:  Between Cosmopolitanism, Nation, and Civil Society” Co-Investigator (Principal Investigator Prof. Lynn Staeheli) Budget: €1.5M

2011-4     ESRC Standard Grant “Producing Citizenship, Reproducing Conflict? Youth Experiences of Citizenship in Bosnia-Herzegovina” Co-Investigator (Principal Investigator Prof. Lynn Staeheli. Budget: £300 000

 Awarded

2011-3     ESRC First Grant RES-061-25-0479 “Localising International Law: Examining the Outreach Strategies of the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina” Principal Investigator. Award value: £267 248. 89

2009         Newcastle University Faculty Research Fund “Political Participation and Transitional Justice in the Former Yugoslavia” Award Value: £1 143. 20

2008         Newcastle University Faculty Research Fund. Distinguished Visitor Award: Dr. Merje Kuus University of British Colombia. Award Value: £888. 60

2005         ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Award PTA-026-27-0576. “Spaces of Democratisation.” Award value: £27 500. 00

Projects

• Localising International Law
  Project Leader(s): Dr Alex Jeffrey
  

  The main question this research will be asking is: How, and to what extent, have the public outreach practices of the CBiH fostered community engagement in the war crimes trials in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Undergraduate Teaching

GEO1010 Interconnected World: Introduction to Human Geography (contributor)
GEO1007 Geographical Imaginations (contributor)
GEO2047 Political Geography (co-convenor with Dr. Nick Megoran)
GEO2044 Advanced Study Skills (contributor)
GEO3102 Geopolitical Thought and Practice (co-convenor with Dr. Nick Megoran)
GEO3099 Dissertation (mentor)

Postgraduate Teaching

GEO8017 Concepts in Action (contributor)
POL8044 Critical Geopolitics (contributor)

• Jeffrey A. Non-Governmental Organisations. In: Dodds, K., Kuus, M., Sharp, J, ed. The Ashgate Companion to Critical Geopolitics. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012. In Press.
• Jeffrey A, McFarlane C, Vasudevan A. Rethinking enclosure: Space, subjectivity and the commons. Antipode 2012. In Press.
• Painter J, Jeffrey A. Geografia politica. Novara: UTET, 2011.
• Jeffrey A. Civil Society and Transitional Justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In: Simko, D., Mader, U, ed. Stabilization and Progress in the Western Balkans. Bern: Peter Lang, 2011, pp.163-180.
• Jeffrey A. The masks of Europe in contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina. In: Bialiasiewicz, L, ed. Europe in the World: EU Geopolitics and the Making of European Space. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011, pp.85-104.
• Jeffrey A. The Political Geographies of Transitional Justice. Transactions of The Institute of British Geographers 2011, 36(3), 344-359.
• Nayak A, Jeffrey A. Geographical Thought: An Introduction to Ideas in Human Geography. Harlow: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011.
• Jeffrey A. Ratko Mladić: Haematological Narratives of Violence. London, UK: Pion Ltd, 2011. Available at: http://societyandspace.com/2011/05/27/haematological-mladic/.
• Jeffrey A. Justice incomplete: Radovan Karađžic, the ICTY and the spaces of international law. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2009, 27(3), 387-402.
• Painter J, Jeffrey A. Political geography : an introduction to space and power. London: Sage, 2009.
• Jeffrey A. Containers of fate: problematic states and paradoxical sovereignty. In: Dodds K; Ingram A, ed. Spaces of Security and Insecurity: Geographies of the War on Terror. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009, pp. 43-64.
• Jeffrey A. Contesting Europe: The politics of Bosnian integration into European structures. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2008, 26(3), 428-443.
• Vasudevan A, McFarlane C, Jeffrey A. Spaces of enclosure. Geoforum 2008, 39(5), 1641-1646.
• Jeffrey A, McFarlane C, Vasudevan A. Guest Editor's Introduction: Debating Capital, Spectacle and Modernity. Public Culture 2008, 20(3), 531-538.
• Bolton M, Jeffrey A. The politics of NGO registration in international protectorates: The cases of Bosnia and Iraq. Disasters 2008,32 4 586-608.
• Jeffrey A. Adjudications of ‘civility’: gentrifying civil society. Geopolitics 2008, 13(4), 740-744.
• Bolton M, Jeffrey A. Brckovica: A Policy Proposal for a Supervised District in Mitrovica, Kosovo. London School of Economics: Centre for the Study of Global Governance Working Paper, 2008.
• Jeffrey A. Zilho's Journeys: Displacement and Return in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In: Jeffrey C; Dyson J, ed. Telling Young Lives. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008, pp. 113-122.
• Jeffrey A, Mcfarlane C, Vasudevan A. Debating Global Shadows: Introduction. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 2008, 29(3), 251-253.
• Degnen C, Jeffrey AS. We have something in common: introduction to four commentaries on A Home from Home. Geographical Journal 2007, 173(4), 391–394.
• Bialasiewicz L, Campbell D, Elden S, Graham S, Jeffrey AS, Williams AJ. Performing security: the imaginative geographies of current US strategy. Political Geography 2007, 26(4), 405-422.
• Jeffrey A. The politics of 'democratization': Lessons from Bosnia and Iraq. Review of International Political Economy 2007, 14(3), 444-466.
• Jeffrey A. The geopolitical framing of localized struggles: NGOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Development and Change 2007, 38(2), 251-274.
• Jeffrey A, McFarlane C, Vasudevan A. Spectacle, State, Modernity. Geopolitics 2007. , 12(1), 206-222.
• Jeffrey A. Writing territorial conflict. Review of International Political Economy 2006. , 13(5), 830-845.
• Jeffrey A. Building state capacity in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina: The case of Brčko District. Political Geography 2006, 25(2), 203-227.