Dr. Ihuoma Okorie

Short Bio

Kseniya Oksamytna is a Reader (Associate Professor) in the Department of International Politics at City St George’s, University of London. Her research interests are international organizations, diplomacy, international hierarchies, and international security. Her book Advocacy and Change in International Organizations: Communication, Protection, and Reconstruction in UN Peacekeeping (Oxford University Press, 2023) is the winner of the Chadwick F. Alger Best Book Award by the International Studies Association and recipient of a Special Mention for the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) Best Book Award. Her co-authored book, UN Peacekeeping and the Politics of Authoritarianism (with Oisín Tansey, Sarah von Billerbeck, and Birte Gippert, Oxford University Press, 2025) is the winner of the ACUNS Best Book Award. She sits on the Editorial Boards of International Peacekeeping and Global Governance. Her research and policy engagement have been funded by the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust.

Selected Publications

• Oksamytna, K., Tansey, O., von Billerbeck, S., & Gippert, B. (2025). UN Peacekeeping and the Politics of Authoritarianism. Oxford University Press.
• Oksamytna, K., & Moncrieff, R. (2026). Regional and international mediation in the Great Lakes crisis. In S. Deely (Ed.), Peace Mediation in an Era of Normative and Institutional Collapse: World Mediation Report 2026. Doha Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies.
• Oksamytna, K., Kurylo, B., & Ioffe, Y. (2026). Colonial and anticolonial discourses of peace in Ukraine. International Affairs.
• Oksamytna, K., & von Billerbeck, S. (2024). Race and international organizations. International Studies Quarterly.
• Oksamytna, K., & Wilén, N. (2022). Adoption, adaptation or chance? Inter-organisational diffusion of the protection of civilians norm from the UN to the African Union. Third World Quarterly.

Project Description

The Role of International Actors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda Conflict

The project investigates how international actors have sought to address the post-2021 escalation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The conflict has attracted the attention of multiple international actors, including African mediators (the African Union and Angola), mediators from outside the region (the US and Qatar), and officials from the long-standing UN peacekeeping operation (MONUSCO). However, despite multiple negotiation rounds, several agreements and frameworks that have been signed, and the pressure that the mediators have applied, the conflict remains unresolved. The project investigates the challenges of peacemaking in intractable conflicts by focusing on the DRC-Rwanda case.

Keywords: Africa, DRC, international organizations, mediation, peacekeeping, Rwanda