Jolle Demmers is Professor in Conflict Studies at the History of International Relations section of the Department of History and Art History.

Jolle Demmers played an active role in the development of the educational and research field of Conflict Studies, both within the UU and the broader European context (via various ITN Marie Curie grants). She engaged in research projects on neoliberal reforms and political violence in Mexico; the role of diaspora networks in civil war; and on civilian victims of Western coalition wars in Syria and Iraq. She teaches and writes on theories of violent conflict, military neoliberalism, and remote warfare. She is currently working on a research project on The Intimacies of Remote Warfare and the role of technology in the reconfiguration of contemporary warfare.

Jolle was coordinator of the successful MA Conflict Studies & Human Rights from 2004 to 2019. Her book Theories of Violent Conflict (the 3rd edition of which will be published in 2025) is widely used internationally as an academic textbook. Jolle was, among other things, an Associate Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Jolle has co-produced cross-disciplinary projects with BAK, Jonas Staal, De Balie, TAAK, Hacking Habitat, and the Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg on the intersections between art, politics and war (e.g. Stateless Democracy, Remote Control, New World Summit, The Ultra-periphery).

At the moment, Jolle Demmers is Head of the Department of History and Art History (2022-2025). She was member of the Dutch Advisory Council of International Affairs (Peace and Secuirty Commission) from 2019-2024. Since 2022 she is part of the Academic Advisory Board of the Dutch Defence Academy, she is also member of the steering committee of the NWA route Between Conflict and Coopertion. 

Recent video:

Why do Western states resort to long-distance warfare? Studium Generale, 1 December 2020, Utrecht.

Conflict Studies

The interdisciplinary field of Conflict Studies investigates how and why people mobilize for collective violent action against other (groups of) combatants, civilians or the state. It aims to unravel the complex alliances, discourses and legitimations through which violent conflicts evolve, transform, protract and end.

• The Intimacies of Remote Warfare project