We invite early career and established researchers to explore the role of political elites in divided societies operating under power‑sharing institutions. We welcome contributions that reflect on elites’ use of their position, how they deploy resources and engage discourse to manage inter‑group tensions. We invite participants to bring forward empirical case studies, comparative analyses, theoretical insights, and methodological reflections that illuminate the mechanisms through which elites balance and occasionally overcome communal divisions in high-tension crises. Our specific interest is in identifying how segmental elites propagate, control, and react to national and local discourse to achieve these aims, and how can such methods coincide with – or expressly increase – system resilience.

Some of the questions the workshop aims to cover in relation to in ethnically-divided systems include:

• How and when do elites work to increase state and institutional resilience, and despite their mutually exclusive nationalistic differences? 
• How do elites manoeuvre the interplay between cartel-style politics and the pressures from their supporter base? 
• What conditions allow elites to dominate and control narratives in the face of extreme conditions and threatening crises? 
• Do we need to re-examine the basic assumptions about elites’ preference and strategies in divided and fragile societies?

The workshop aims to bring together scholars with expertise in and perspectives on ethnically divided societies in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, to critically reflect on and contributes to ongoing dialogues within the fields of Ethnic Politics, Nationalism and State-building. This workshop inaugurates the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship project “Elite Contribution to State Resilience in Lebanon.” The project starts from the observation that over the past 10-15 years, Lebanon has undergone one crisis after another, yet its ruling elites appear almost unmoved. Do elites in Lebanon prove the power-sharing model ‘right’ for deeply divided places? What explains their continuity? While the project explores whether elites are the key to state stability – far from surviving despite elite competition, Lebanon’s power‑sharing remains viable because elites strategically cooperate when crises arise – this workshop is designed to situate the case in a comparative frame.

We adopt an informal, collaborative format in the form of group discussions designed to maximise dialogue and collective sense‑making. Early-career and established scholars with interest in the following fields, and any adjacent ones, are invited to reflect on the role political elites can and do play in stabilising fragile societal environments, and why/how they might do so with reference to: 

• Consociationalism and Power‐Sharing Institutions
• Inter-Elite and State–Society Relations
• Political Communication and Elite Discursive Strategies
• The Role of Sect/Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Identity Politics
• Conflict Prevention, Management, and Resolution in Divided Societies

There is no workshop fee, coffees and meals will be provided for participants.

Workshop contributors may be invited to submit a paper for a special issue of Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, ensuring that workshop debates translate into high‐impact publications. Prior to publication, these contributions will be adjusted based on discussions during the workshop, and will go through peer review.

Please submit your contribution https://form.jotform.com/tagarin/QUB-resilience-paradox by September 15, 2025; feel free to include a brief bio and any additional information with your submission. We expect to send acceptance notices by October 1. Should you have any questions, please email Tarek Abou Jaoude at t.aboujaoude@qub.ac.uk

We look forward to your contributions.