Dr Julia Buxton - Staff Profile

NameDr Julia Buxton
Contact PositionHead of International Relations and Security Studies (IRSS), Peace Studies
Email Addressj.d.buxton@bradford.ac.uk

Research Areas

Julia’s main research interest lies in illicit economies, specifically the trade in narcotic drugs and related issues such as alternative development strategies, counter-narcotics impacts, the political economy of illegal drugs, trafficking, regulatory regimes and access to medical morphine. She also works on democratisation strategies, the democracy / peace nexus, democracy assistance and sequencing; gender, gender based violence and gender mainstreaming and post conflict reconstruction. Her regional expertise lies in South America, specifically Venezuela.

Julia manages the British Council INSPIRE (International Strategic Partnerships in Research and Education ) three year funded partnership with the Fatima Jinnah Women’s University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, ‘Developing Capacity around Peace and Conflict Analysis Among Female Pakistani Parliamentarians’. She was course director of the FCO Chevening course Using Democracy for Peace (2010) and of an EU Med funded training program delivered to officials from the Ministry of Political Reform, Jordan, on youth politics, decentralisation and community participation. She was co-coordinator of the helpdesk facility provided to Sida (Sweden) in collaboration with Saferworld with sole or jointly authored outputs that included Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Guatemala, GBV in Liberia, GBV in Zimbabwe, Field guide to Implementing UNSCR 1325, Assessment of UNSCR 1325, Assessment of the Conflict Sensitivity of donor funded NGO programs: Sub-Saharan Africa, Analysis of Donor policy and programs in Iraq, Assessment of the Conflict Sensitivity of Democracy and Peace Programs and Lesbians, gay men and transgendered people in situations of violent conflict.

Julia has also conducted consultancies for USAID and DFID in Nepal (on election security and demobilisation strategies) and for a number of private sector organisations with interests in oil, energy, finance, political risk and nuclear capabilities in relation to Venezuela and the Andes.

Julia is a member of the Film Exchange on Alcohol and Drugs (FEAD) http://www.fead.org.uk/contributor.php?contributorid=36 and track chair of the Defence, Violence and (In) security section of the Latin American Studies Association.  Julia has served as an international election observer on 5 occasions in Venezuela. She commentates regularly for Oxford Analytica http://www.oxan.com/ and Inter American Dialogue, was formerly adjunct professor at Georgetown University and Senior Lecturer at Kingston University. Her teaching activities focus on illegal drugs, South American politics, social policy and gender and conflict analysis.   

Students Supervised

  • Current: Nancy Ross, Addicition and Peacebuilding;
  • Pablo Navarette, The Political Economy of Bolivarianism.

Bibliography

  • ‘Forward into History: Understanding Obama’s Latin America Policy’ in Latin American Perspectives, July 2011 38: 29-45;
  • ‘European Progressives and the Bolivarian Social Agenda’ in R. Clem and A. Maingot Venezuela's Petro-Diplomacy: Hugo Chavez's Foreign Policy, University of Florida Press 2011;
  • Foreword, D. Smilde and D. Hellinger (eds) Participation and Politics in Venezuela’s Bolivarian Democracy, Duke University Press (2011);
  • ‘South America, Peace Operations and MINUSTAH: The View from Venezuela’, Special Issue: South American Perspectives on Peace Operations, International Peacekeeping, Vol. 17; Issue 5, 2010;
  • Editor, The Politics of Drugs, Routledge (2010); ‘Opportunity Lost: Alternative Development in Drug Control’ in J. Tokatlian (ed) Drogas Y Prohibición. Una Vieja Guerra, Un Nuevo Debate, Libros de Zorzal (2010);
  • ‘A History of Drug Control’ in P. Keefer and N. Loayza (eds) Innocent Bystanders, Palgrave (2010);
  • ‘The UK drug problem in global perspective’, Soundings, Issue 42, Summer 2009;
  • ‘Bolivarianism as Venezuela’s Post-Crisis Alternative’ in J. Grugel and P. Riggirozzi (eds) Governance after Neoliberalism in Latin America, Palgrave (2009);
  • ‘Venezuela: The Political Evolution of Bolivarianism’ in G. Lievesley and S. Ludlam (eds) Reclaiming Latin America: Experiments in Radical Social Democracy, Zed: London, (2009);
  • with J. McCoy ‘Politica, Protagonismo y rendicion de cuentas en la Venezuela Bolivariana’, Revista Venezolana de Economia y Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 14, No. 1. (2008);
  • ‘Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution’ in Global Dialogue, Vol. 10, (2008), Special Edition Latin America Turns Left; ‘The Historical Foundations of the Narcotic Drug Control Regime', World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4553, (2008);
  • 'A South American Perspective' in K. Omeje (ed) Extractive Economies and Conflicts in the Global South: Multi-Regional Perspectives on Rentier Politics, Ashgate, (2008);
  • 'National Identity and Political Violence: the Case of Venezuela' in W. Fowler and P. Lambert (eds) Political Violence and the Construction of National Identity in Latin America, Palgrave, (2007);
  • The Political Economy of Narcotic Drugs, (2006), Zed Books;  
  • The Failure of Political Reform in Venezuela (2001) Ashgate;
  • Editor The Politics of Drugs, Routledge, (2010);
  • Editor with O. Greene and C. Salonius Pasternak (eds),  Conflict Prevention, Management and Reduction in Africa Foreign Ministry of Finland Publication, (2006);
  • ‘Opportunity Lost: Alternative Development in Drug Control’ in Drugs and Prohibition: Old Wars, New Debates, J. Tokatlian (ed), Libros de Zorzal (2010);
  • ‘A History of Drug Control’ in Innocent Bystanders: The War on Drugs in Developing Countries, P. Keefer and N. Loayza (eds), World Bank / Palgrave McMillan (2010);
  • ‘Bolivarianism as Venezuela’s Post-Crisis Alternative’ in Governance after Neoliberalism in Latin America, J. Grugel and P. Riggirozzi (eds) Palgrave: London, (2009)  ;
  • ‘Venezuela: The Political Evolution of Bolivarianism’ in Reclaiming Latin America: Experiments in Radical Social Democracy, G. Lievesley and S. Ludlam (eds) Zed: London (2009);
  • ‘South America, Peace Operations and MINUSTAH: The View from Venezuela’, Special Issue: South American Perspectives on Peace Operations, International Peacekeeping, Vol. 17; Issue 5, 2010;
  • ‘The UK drug problem in global perspective’, Soundings, Issue 42, Summer 2009;
  • With J. McCoy ‘Politica, Protagonismo y rendicion de cuentas en la Venezuela Bolivariana’, Revista Venezolana de Economia y Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 14, No. 1. (2008);
  • 'Venezuela's Contemporary Political Crisis in Historical Perspective' Bulletin of Latin American Research 24, 3, (2005).

Select Conference Presentations

  • 2011 Glasgow University, ‘Drugs and Insecurity in Latin America’, Manchester University Humanitarian and Conflict response Institute / Bradford Peace Studies conference on non traditional donors ‘Venezuela’, Oxford Analytica International Conference;
  • 2010: Institute of Latin American Studies, Norway 'Development Priorities in Oil Busts'; Clinical Masterclass 'The History of Opiate Regulation' and 'Access to Medical Morphine in the Developing World', International Palliative Care Congress, Montreal, Canada; 'Forward into History: Obama's Latin America Agenda’, Latin American Studies Association, Toronto Canada.   
  • 2009: Institute for the Study of the Americas, ‘Latin America after Neoliberalism’; April: Institute for the Study of the Americas, ‘Latin America and the Caribbean in the Global Financial Crisis’; LSE Latin America Program Seminar, ‘Venezuela's 'Bolivarian' Process: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects after 10 years’
  • 2008: British International Studies Association, ‘The Dynamics of Narcotic Drug Markets: Security Challenges and Long Term Threats’; Healthy Lifestyles Association, Helsinki, Finland ‘Alternative Development in Counter Narcotics Policy; Oficina Nacional Antidrogas (Venezuela) ‘Global Drug Markets: Threats and Responses’; World International Studies Conference, Slovenia ‘Populism and Governance in Venezuela’; The School for the Study of the Americas, (ACLAIIR) Advisory Council on Latin American and Iberian Information Conference ‘Researching Conflict Zones’; Florida International University, ‘Ten years of Venezuela Foreign Policy’; Oxford University Conference: ‘Provincializing Westphalia: The Emergence of Global International Society’; International Studies Association, San Francisco. ‘Narcotic Drugs and Conflict’; Watson Institute, Brown University, Boston. Conference: ‘Changes in the Andes’ - Paper on social policy innovations in Latin America; International Institute for the Study of Cuba, London. The Chavez Connection. Paper on Venezuela: Cuba relations.
  • 2007: St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. Conference: ‘Can A New Social Contract be Crafted from Resource Wealth. Paper on oil led development; Centre for Latin American Studies, Cambridge University ‘The Threat and Promise of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution’; Chatham House. ‘Reshaping Continental Relations; Washington Office on Latin America. Panel ‘Political Developments in Venezuela’.
  • 2006: Chatham House. Panel presentation ‘Latin America: New Challenges, New Responses; Canning House. Panel member. The Politics of Policies.