Forum: The Killing of Public Figures: Towards an Integrated Research Agenda

Abstract

In recent years, the killing of human rights defenders, land and environmental activists, journalists, and other public figures has received increasing attention. In the global context of shrinking civic spaces and increasing levels of political repression, improving our understanding of the causes, dynamics, and consequences of this type of violence is of high policy relevance. Yet, research on this matter is still in an incipient stage and rather fragmented. The forum addresses this important, new area of research, bringing together key scholars from different (sub-)disciplines, research traditions, and backgrounds as well as scholar-activists in a joint effort to reflect on overarching conceptual, methodological, and theoretical questions and lay the groundwork for a common research agenda on the targeted violence against public figures in the contemporary world. In doing so, the contributions to this forum also identify important policy-relevant implications.