In the span of just 10 days, Dr. Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, an assistant professor in the UALR Department of Political Science, presented research at three conferences across the United States.

He is interested in how societies address histories of violence and repression.

“In particular, I study how different attempts to achieve justice for human rights violations affect societies emerging from periods of violence and repression, something that has been dubbed ‘transitional justice,’” said Wiebelhaus-Brahm.

On Feb. 18-21, he presented at the 56th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association in New Orleans. His research, “Patterns of Transitional Justice Funding Across Time and Space,” considers the funding of international criminal tribunals and national truth commissions.

The paper, co-authored with Dr. William Muck of North Central College in Naperville, Ill., explores donors’ motivations for increased funding into investigations of past human rights abuses.

“Given growing interest and concern that the international community promotes justice efforts that do not reflect local demands, this funding data is valuable,” he said.

Wiebelhaus-Brahm noted that the project has attracted interest from donor governments and from the United Nations.

On Feb. 26, he flew to Washington, D.C., to give an invited presentation, “The Use and Abuse of Transitional Justice Norms in the Wake of the Arab Spring” at the Policy Studies Organization’s annual Middle East Dialogue meeting.

Following this meeting, he returned to Arkansas and presented at the 2015 Arkansas Political Science Association Annual Meeting at Hendrix College, where he spoke on the National Truth Commission investigations.

The commission was created by Morocco, Bahrain, and Sri Lanka due to mounting domestic and international pressure to address histories of human rights abuses.

“I find that, while in some contexts it is successful, governments that attempt to exploit these norms become entangled by the rhetoric and draw even more attention to their behavior,” he said.

Wiebelhaus-Brahm’s work focuses on international relations, comparative politics, and human rights and transitional justice, and conflict studies. He came to UALR in 2013 after completing his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado at Boulder and teaching at Florida State University and the University of Nevada – Las Vegas.

His most recent book, “Truth Commissions and Transitional Societies,” was published by Routledge in 2010.