DPIR trio awarded Winchester and Pavry prizes
Three DPIR alumni have been recognised for their outstanding theses in the faculties of Social Studies, Law and Modern History in 2019.
Anette Stimmer and Diana Koester were joint winners of the Bapsybanoo Marchioness of Winchester Prize which is given for an outstanding thesis on international relations, with particular reference to the area of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Giuseppe Spatafora won the Dasturzada Dr Jal Pavry Memorial Prize, awarded for an outstanding thesis on a subject in the area of international peace and understanding.
Bapsybanoo Marchioness of Winchester Prize
Anette’s thesis - ‘Norm Contestation in International Politics’ - develops a typology of the effects contestation can have on norm development and provides explanations for these variations in effects.
In it, she illustrates this framework with case studies on how states have differences on how international law is applied, related to international security and human rights in the post-Cold War era.
The core theoretical findings of her thesis have been published with International Studies Quarterly in 2019 as an article called ‘Beyond Internalization: Alternate Endings of the Norm Life Cycle’.
And, besides winning the Winchester Prize, her thesis also won the Political Studies Association Shirin M. Rai Prize for best dissertation in international relations.
Anette is currently a Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College and writing a book on her thesis.
Diana’s thesis, ‘Gender and Statebuilding: Implications of State Responsiveness to Violence Against Women in Post-Conflict Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya’, examines why statebuilding ‘success’ in providing security for women has varied significantly across post-conflict countries.
It accounts for women’s distinct experiences and calls for a fresh perspective on statebuilding and understanding of women’s security.
Besides winning the Winchester Prize, her thesis also won the Political Studies Association's (PSA) Elizabeth Wiskemann Prize for the best dissertation in (in)equality and social justice.
Diana used the results of her research to advise Somalia’s Minister of Women and Human Rights Development. Currently, she is working with the Minister on a book about her experiences while in office and developing further research with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, designed to inform the organisation's analysis and measurement of state fragility.
Dasturzada Dr Jal Pavry Memorial Prize
Guiseppe’s thesis, ‘Do Defence Pacts Prevent War? Allies, Adversaries, and the Theory of Dual Deterrence’ explores the unintended effects military alliances can have on the outbreak of war.
His research looked at how combined force of allies could dissuade enemies from starting conflicts, but how conversely minor allies might behave provocatively due to the protection of the alliance.
Guiseppe is now a second year DPhil International Relations student, studying alliance dynamics in the context of civil war.
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