Michael Schulz

• PhD
• Professor at University of Gothenburg

Two significant developments – (1) the rapidly changing world order, and (2) significant gaps in current social science scholarship – call for a further exploration of resistance theories. In this paper, we identify some of the gaps and inconsistencies within the current bulk of research, and seek to contribute to the understanding of resistance, i...

This article examines the extent of Palestinian public support for democracy through the time period from 1997 to 2016. The analysis is based on data collected from five public surveys launched in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. Our findings show that evidently the Palestinians support almost all elements of democracy,...

The debate triggered by recent publications and research justifying colonialism demands an intellectual engagement with the histories of colonialism, and their impact on postcolonial trajectories of development, peace and conflict. The argument that colonialism inspired development in societies that embraced its modernity project, enlightened gover...

This article argues that decolonising educational undertakings is a difficult task, even when the ambitions to apply decolonising approaches are clearly articulated. Our case analysis of two contemporary master’s in peace education programmes in Rwanda, that explicitly focus on reconciliation, shows evidence of limited capacity by the educators to...

Despite the fact that many researchers have focused on Hamas’ armed resistance activities, surprisingly few have theorised about the political choices and dilemmas that Hamas has faced in the context of the changing overarching conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. This study aims to show, theoretically, how context-dependent Hamas is when fo...

Based on data collected from interviews with 41 Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations (PNGOs) this article will show how they endured the dramatic structural changes that occurred with the advent of the Oslo process and consequently have changed the work dynamics of the PNGO sector in a fundamental manner, and thereby negatively affecting the...

This special issue addresses the connections and crossroads between knowledge and resistance. In the current political landscape, such a research endeavour is both topical and needed. Social media platforms, like Facebook, and the development of new technologies have made it possible to spread disinformation through political channels, which has la...

This article presents a framework, applied on the case of former Yugoslavia, which should be considered in the design and analysis of negotiated agreements dealing with ‘ethnic conflict’ and civil wars. Such agreements implemented from above must include an analysis of how they affect: i) the local rationality structure (both intra- and inter-ethni...

This article illustrates how official hegemonic narratives of armed conflicts and history are resisted by academics by generating counter-narratives and how this affects the public perception of identity conflicts. Due to the relatively high status of academics, critical and alternative knowledge production serve as a tool for resistance against th...

Routledge Handbook on Middle East Security provides the first comprehensive look at Middle East security issues that includes both traditional and emerging security threats. Taking a broad perspective on security, the volume offers both analysis grounded in the 'hard' military and state security discourse but also delves into the 'soft' aspects of...

This article explores the meaning of “resistance” and suggests a new path for “resistance studies,” which is an emerging and interdisciplinary field of the social sciences that is still relatively fragmented and heterogeneous. Resistance has often been connected with antisocial attitudes, destructiveness, reactionary or revolutionary ideologies, un...

This article explores the meaning of “resistance” and suggests a new path for “resistance studies,” which is an emerging and interdisciplinary field of the social sciences that is still relatively fragmented and heterogeneous. Resistance has often been connected with antisocial attitudes, destructiveness, reactionary or revolutionary ideologies, un...

Lately, the concept of ‘resistance’ has gained considerable traction as a tool for critically exploring subaltern practices in relation to power. Few researchers, however, have elaborated on the inter-linkage of shifting forms of resistance; and above all, how acts of everyday resistance entangle with more organized and sometimes mass-based resista...

This article will show how a ‘new history’, inspired from longue durée approaches, can be methodologically applied, and how it equips us with analytical tools that improve our capacity to understand the long-term changes that fostered the civil society-based resistance in the Arab world. Although we cannot predict the exact timing of such resistanc...

This article investigates the reasons behind the EU reservations and boycotts towards the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. It examines how the EU ‘talked security’, in terms of framing the overall Israeli-Palestinian conflict (IPC). In this context, of particular interest is the reason behind the, EU decision to label Hamas as a terrorist org...

This study has examined Palestinians’ readiness to compromise over the key issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In contrast to existing opinion poll results that claim that Palestinians support a territorial compromise over historical Palestine, this study indicates a radicalization of Palestinian attitudes. Four survey studies, conducted in...

This article seeks to contribute to the underdeveloped discussion about the way we theorise and conceptualise externally induced peace and security operations in regional conflict, with a particular focus on the EU's role. The framework draws on three theoretical components emphasised in this special issue: the construction of conflict, security go...

Much has been said about the driving forces of region-building processes or regionalization worldwide, yet few systematic and comparative studies have been conducted on how regions can contribute to the building of other regions - and more concretely, how the European Union has 'pushed' for regionalization worldwide. This comparative book investiga...

This chapter deals with Palestinian efforts towards democratization, with a special focus on one of the dominant actors: the Islamic Resistance Movement, Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya (Hamas). Palestinian society in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is in the midst of a state- and nationbuilding process, in conflict with Israel, and is also enga...

This study deals with how to establish positive attitudes and behaviours between Israelis and Palestinians that endure during times of negative shifts in the external conflict. In this study it will be shown that educational projects that bring Israelis and Palestinians together over a longer period of time, and that use the premises of the contact...

This volume explores in depth the origins, current state, dynamics, significance and future prospects of regionalism and regionalization in a globalizing world. Placing a loop on nearly all important ‘world’ regions in the global system today — Europe, the Middle East, West Africa, Southern Africa, Caucasia and Central Asia, South Asia, the Caribbe...

Since the beginning of the peace process in the Middle East, a discussion on the potentials for regional integration has come to the fore. In the aftermath of the devastating Gulf War, the Madrid conference was set up, leading to several tracks of peace negotiations. One set of tracks was the bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinia...

The paper will discuss the so far insufficiently theorized link between concepts of resistance and power on the one hand, and conflict and peace theory on the other. This theoretical explorative paper aims to relate the concept of resistance to the classical ABC conflict triangle, and broaden the understanding of how power asymmetries can be linked...