Call for Applications 2025: CRG Fully Funded PhD Position in Rural Radicalism at Ghent University

The Conflict Research Group (CRG), based mostly at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences,  Ghent University presents a totally funded PhD place on the theme of ‘Rural Radicalism’. This PhD scholarship is part of a bigger CRG analysis challenge on Rural Radicalism in which the candidate can even take a proactive coordinating function.

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Project Outline

A brand new world second of societal disruption right this moment is fueled by an outburst of rural-based political expressions internationally (Mamonova & Franquesa, 2020). This numerous set of political upheaval – from the ‘Gilet Jaunes’ in France to farmers protest in India to new types of armed mobilization in the US – is surprisingly persistent and characterised by a deep-seated discontent in relation to the financial system, democracy, authorities and the state.

Over the previous a long time, financial progress has primarily been concentrated in city areas characterised by aggressive data economies and repair sectors with rural areas and small cities being and feeling left behind (Giulluy 2019). The ‘urban bias’ inside modernist developmental approaches has bolstered this development globally. Additionally, many rural locations have witnessed cuts in state companies and subsidies, rising under- and unemployment, deepening inequality and more and more precarious livelihoods (Burdick et al., 2009; Horton, 2013; Weyland, 2004).

The failure of neoliberal regimes in assuaging poverty, in guaranteeing equal entry to the advantages of modernization, and in offering residents a way of belonging, mixed with the grim prospects of local weather change are profoundly affecting the functioning of our political techniques. These dynamics right this moment produce large-scale and widespread discontent that’s most profoundly articulated inside rural areas (Deppisch et al., 2021; Jodhka, 2021; Baviskar and Levien, 2021), feeding right into a surge of latest and ruralised types of populism and competition.

This name for PhD proposals invites research that critically examine rural populist responses to world disruption. It mobilizes the idea of rural radicalism (Weiss 1967) as a option to seize the a number of expressions of rural discontent. Rural radicalism is each theoretically and conceptually an progressive option to seize the formation, narratives, methods and results of numerous types of rising rural (violent in addition to non-violent) counter-publics. What is new to the modern world upheaval of rural radicalism is that these rising rural counter-publics are sometimes prompted by a elementary refusal of and antagonism in direction of the state.

With this name, we invite analysis proposals which can be centered, amongst others, across the following questions:

• What types of contentious and violent politics are deployed by rural populist counter publics?
• What kind of fabric situations, social constellations and data flows inform the previous in addition to current relationships between rural discontent and rural radicalism?
• How does rural discontent decide participation in agrarian actions and to what diploma are rural topics knowledgeable and pushed by both materials situations and/or ideological subjectivation?
• How do completely different rural radicalisms relate to the state and what’s the function of (social gathering) political dynamics in partaking rural communities in a positive or hostile notion in direction of ‘the political’ in normal?
• What function do transnational populist narratives of counter-politics play in world types of rural radical mobilisation?
• What types of particular person in addition to collective political company are being produced by way of modern manifestations of rural radicalism?

Who is Eligible for this PhD Funding?

• People holding an MA in the broad area of social sciences (political sciences, growth research, anthropology, historical past, human geography, and so on.)
• Candidates are eligible provided that they submit a proposal that matches the traces of the challenge define

 Preference shall be given to candidates fulfilling a number of the following necessities:

• The candidate has expertise in utilizing qualitative analysis strategies and fieldwork
• The candidate has expertise in analysis administration/coordinating analysis initiatives
• The candidate may give proof of enough analysis capability by way of a) revealed analysis outputs, b) glorious grades

What We Expect from the Candidate

• The candidate will conduct analysis throughout the theme of rural radicalism, ensuing in a PhD in Political and Social Sciences
• The candidate will play a proactive function in coordinating the bigger analysis challenge on rural radicalism, consulting with different researchers in the division and collectively growing analysis outputs and dissemination methods
• The candidate is predicted to spend 20% of the time on academic and administrative assist

Candidates are invited to submit their application consisting of

• A 3-page CV giving an summary of academic achievements, related publications and job expertise
• A analysis proposal of max 1200 phrases (excluding references) that’s embedded throughout the bigger rationale of the challenge define on rural radicalism. This proposal ought to include the next parts
  • State of the artwork
  • Research query/drawback assertion
  • Methodology
• A written 1-page assertion explaining why the candidate is well-suited for the place

Practicalities

• PhD candidates are invited to submit their digital application by August 15, 2025 to crg@ugent.be. The application needs to be submitted in one consolidated PDF file.
• Candidates shall be knowledgeable all through September 2025 whether or not they’re invited for a proper job interview
• Selected college students can begin their scholarship by October 1, 2025 at the earliest.

 What We Offer?

• The PhD candidate obtains from Ghent University a scholarship for 1 full 12 months after which an analysis will comply with. Upon constructive analysis, the contract shall be prolonged for one other 3 years.
• The quantity of the scholarship is roughly €2,470 per 30 days for the part of the PhD accomplished at Ghent University.

• Your contract will begin on 01/10/2025 at the earliest.
• The fellowship quantity is 100% of the web wage of an AAP member in equal household circumstances. The particular person fellowship quantity is set by the Department of Personnel and Organization based mostly on household standing and seniority. A grant that meets the situations and standards of the rules for doctoral fellowships is taken into account free of private revenue tax. Click here for more information about our salary scales
• All Ghent University workers members take pleasure in a number of advantages, comparable to a variety of coaching and training alternatives, 36 days of vacation depart (on an annual foundation for a full-time job) supplemented by annual fastened bridge days, bicycle allowance and eco vouchers. Click here for a complete overview of all the staff benefits (in Dutch).

Application Deadline

How to Apply

• Read the small print here
• Candidates are invited to submit their digital application by August 15, 2025 to crg@ugent.be.

Note: The application needs to be submitted in one consolidated PDF file.

References

• Baviskar, A. & M. Levien (2021) Farmers’ protests in India: introduction to the JPS Forum, The Journal of Peasant Studies, 48:7, 1341-1355.
• Burdick, J., Oxhorn, P., & Roberts, Okay. (2009). Beyond Neoliberalism in Latin America?: Societies and Politics at the Crossroads. Palgrave Macmillan US.
• Deppisch, L., Osigus, T., & Klärner, A. (2021). How Rural is Rural Populism? On the Spatial Understanding of Rurality for Analyses of Right-wing Populist Election Success in Germany*. Rural Sociology.
• Guilluy, G. (2019) Twilight of the elites. Prosperity, the Periphery and the Future of France, Yale University Press
• Horton, L. R. (2013). From Collectivism to Capitalism: Neoliberalism and Rural Mobilization in Nicaragua. Latin American Politics and Society, 55(1), 119–140.
• Jodhka, S. S. (2021). Why are the farmers of Punjab protesting? The Journal of Peasant Studies, 48(7), 1356–1370.
• Mamonova, N., & Franquesa, J. (2020). Populism, Neoliberalism and Agrarian Movements in Europe. Understanding Rural Support for Right-Wing Politics and Looking for Progressive Solutions. Sociologia Ruralis, 60(4), 710–731.
• Weiss, H. (1967). Political Protest in the Congo: The Parti Solidaire Africain During the Independence Struggle, Princeton University Press
• Weyland, Okay. (2004). Neoliberalism and Democracy in Latin America: A Mixed Record. 46(1), 135–157.

 

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