Danielle joined IDD as a Lecturer in 2007. Previously, she lectured on Africa and Global Politics in the Department of Politics at Lancaster University and contributed to a module on the Politics of Development at Manchester University. She completed her PhD at Manchester, researching the relationship between aid and statehood in post genocide Rwanda and how the country came to be considered a ‘donor darling’.

Conceptually, Danielle’s research is increasingly situated at the interface of security and development, focusing on how fragile and conflict affected states seek to improve their security through their relationships with aid donors. This has led to research on the relationship between international aid and national security policy in Rwanda, and is developing further to explore how the focus on developing an effective African security architecture has impacted international aid policies. Geographically, she has focused primarily on the Great Lakes region but is also interested in how the themes above play out across the central African region and across sub Saharan Africa more broadly

Danielle convenes the two core modules for the MSc in International Development (Conflict, Security and Development)|, Conflict in Developing Countries| and Post Conflict Reconstruction and Development|. Along with Paul Jackson, she also co-convenes a 3rd year Undergraduate module in POLSIS on War Torn States and Post Conflict Reconstruction in the South

Research interests

• Management of political space and debate in a post-genocide society
• Rwanda’s relationship with the UK
• Rwandan foreign and security policy in Africa, including contributions to peacekeeping

I am also currently developing research on the following:

• The role of small African states in African peace and security initiatives
• UK involvement in facilitating these processes and its relationship to wider thinking about the links between security and development.

Current and recent projects

• Invited to deliver the ‘Development and Security’ component of the Postgraduate Diploma in the Field of Security by the Graduate School of Public and Development Management (P&DM) at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa (June 2009).
• Danielle worked with Dr Philip Amis (IDD), Dr Heather Marquette (IDD) and Dr Karuti Kanyinga (University of Nairobi, Kenya) to produce a Strategic Governance and Corruption Analysis of Kenya for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2008)
• PhD research at University of Manchester ‘Aid and statehood in post-genocide Rwanda: The politics of a donor darling’, funded by an Economic and Social Research Council Studentship (Award Number: PTA-030-2004-00069).

Recent research has looked at the following:

• Dynamics of political space in post-genocide Rwanda
• Rwandan foreign and security policy in Africa
• The UK-Rwanda relationship post-genocide
• The roles and understandings of security in narratives of ‘new Africa’ and the ‘African renaissance’

Administrative responsibilities

Since 2008 Danielle has been IDD Welfare Tutor, she is also responsible for co-ordinating the department’s study skills programme and is a member of the IDD Teaching Committee.

Other professional appointments

• Research Associate of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region of Africa
• Associate Director of the Centre for Studies in Security and Diplomacy
• Member of British International Studies Association working group on Africa and International Studies
• Member of Women in International Security
• Member of Royal African Society and African Studies Association of the UK

Danielle Beswick and Heather Marquette will also co-edit a Special Issue of Third World Quarterly in 2011. This is based on 5 linked panels co-convened by the editors at the Political Studies Association Conference, March 31 2010 on the theme of ‘Statebuilding, Security and Development.’

Beswick, D (Forthcoming) ‘Genocide and the politics of exclusion: the case of the Batwa in Rwanda’ Democratisation Special Issue, forthcoming April 2011

Beswick, D (2010) ‘Peacekeeping, regime security and ‘African Solutions to African Problems’: Exploring Rwanda’s involvement in Darfur’ Third World Quarterly 31(5):739-754

Beswick, D (2010) ‘Managing dissent in a post genocide environment: the challenge of political space in Rwanda’ Development and Change 41(2): 225-251.

Jackson, P., Beswick, D (2010) Conflict, Security and Development: An Introduction London: Routledge. Available for pre-order at http://www.routledgestrategicstudies.com/books/Conflict-Security-and-Development-isbn9780415499835

Beswick, D (2009) 'The challenge of warlordism to post-conflict state-building: The case of Laurent Nkunda in Eastern Congo' The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 98(402) pp. 333-346.

Beswick, D (2007) Intervention, ideology and altruism: Rwandan involvement in Darfur, Centre for International Politics Working Paper No 30 (April) Manchester University

Beswick, D (2007) ‘Review: The political economy of the Great Lakes region in Africa: the pitfalls of enforced democracy and globalization’, S Marysse and F Reyntjens (eds) Journal of Modern African Studies 45(4), Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005

Beswick, D (2007) ‘Intervention, ideology and altruism: Rwandan involvement in Darfur’, European Conference on African Studies (AEGIS) African Studies Centre, Leiden, Netherlands

Beswick, D (2007) ‘Development, security, and the relationship between the United Kingdom and post-genocide Rwanda’, CANE Conference, Newcastle University

Wilkin, P., Beswick, D (2006) ‘The revolution will now be televised – strategies of communication and class conflict in Brazil’, in Wilkin P and M Lacy (eds) Global Politics in the Information Age Manchester, Manchester University Press

Beswick, D (2006) ‘Putting all our eggs in one basket? Rwanda at the forefront of ‘African renaissance’, Women in International Security Summer Symposium, Georgetown University, Washington DC