Dr Julie Norman

Associate Professor (Teaching) in Politics and International Relations
Room: G.04, 36-38 Gordon Square
Email: julie.norman@ucl.ac.uk
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Biography

Dr. Norman is an Associate Professor (Teaching) in Politics and International Relations, with a focus on conflict, political violence, Middle East politics, and foreign policy. She is also a Senior Associate Fellow (International Security/Middle East) at RUSI, and she coordinates UCL's Israel-Palestine Initiative (IPI).

She holds a PhD in International Relations from American University in Washington, DC, with concentrations in Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, and a BA from Duke University. Prior to joining UCL, she was a Research Fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast, and a Lecturer in Politics at McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. She has also held fellowships at Notre Dame University, MIT, and Dartmouth College.

Research

Dr. Norman has a diverse research portfolio with interests in conflict, political violence, and divided societies. She uses mixed methods to investigate security, rights, and resistance in protracted conflicts, with a focus on the Middle East, and she has used experimental methods to assess public opinion on political violence and polarization in the US and the UK. She is currently publishing a book on the political history of Gaza (Polity 2025).

She is the author of The Palestinian Prisoners Movement: Disobedience and Resistance (Routledge 2021), and four books on unarmed resistance and creative activism, including Sounding Conflict (Bloomsbury 2023), Understanding Nonviolence (Polity 2015), and The Second Palestinian Intifada: Civil Resistance (Routledge 2010). She has also published on political imprisonment, conflict and development, and critical approaches to preventing/combatting violent extremism (P/CVE), with recent publications in Perspectives on Politics, Political Psychology, Security Dialogue, the Journal of Global Security Studies, the Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, PS: Politics & Political Science, and other journals. 

Practice

Dr Norman's academic research and teaching is complemented by work in policy and practice. She has worked as a frequent consultant with the British Council in Iraq, and she was the lead researcher on the multi-year project on ‘Conflict Sensitivity and Community Resilience in Conflict Zones’ with the NGO Christian Aid, with fieldwork in central Africa and Myanmar. In the past she was a researcher for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the US Institute of Peace (USIP), and she has provided expert analysis to the US State Department, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD), and other national and international agencies. 

Media

Dr. Norman is a frequent guest on the BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, other media outlets, and she has published widely in the Washington Post, The Hill, Newsweek, and The Conversation. She also hosted the podcast, The Julie Norman Show.

Selected publications

Books

• Norman, J. M. and Hallward, M. C. Gaza. London: Polity Press. (forthcoming)
• Magowan, F., Rebelo, P., Lehner, S., Norman, J. M. and Phillips-Hutton, A. (2023) Sounding Conflict. London: Bloomsbury.
• Norman, J. M. (2021) The Palestinian Prisoners Movement: Disobedience and Resistance. London: Routledge. 
• Hallward, M. C. and Norman, J. M. (eds.) (2015) Understanding Nonviolence. London: Polity Press.  
• Hallward, M. C. and Norman, J. M. (eds.) (2011) Nonviolent Resistance: Activism and Advocacy in the Second Intifada. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
• Norman, J. M. (2010) The Second Palestinian Intifada: Civil Resistance. London: Routledge.

Journal articles

• Norman, J. M., and Green, B. (2025). 'Why Can't We Bring Friends? Untangling Conjoined Polarization in America.' Political Psychology.
• Gift, T., Norman, J. M., and Davidson, R. (2024) 'Assessing Public Attitudes toward Random versus Symbolic Terrorist Targets: Survey Experimental Evidence.' Journal of Global Security Studies 8.4. 
• Norman, J. M.  and Mikhael, D. (2023) 'Rethinking the Triple-Nexus: Integrating Peacebuilding and Resilience Initiatives in Conflict Contexts.' Journal of Peacebuilding & Development 18.3. 
• Norman, J. M. (2022) ‘Other People’s Terrorism: Ideology and the Perceived Legitimacy of Political Violence’, Perspectives on Politics, FirstView, pp. 1–18. 
• Norman, J. M. and Mikhael, D. (2021) ‘Collaboration in Commissioned Research: Benefits and Challenges of Scholar–Practitioner Partnerships in Conflict Contexts’, PS: Political Science & Politics, 54(3), pp. 554–557. 
• Norman, J. M. (2021) ‘Negotiating Detention: The Radical Pragmatism of Prison-based Resistance in Protracted Conflicts’, Security Dialogue, 53(2).
• Norman, J. M. (2020) ‘Beyond Hunger Strikes: The Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement and Everyday Resistance’, Journal of Resistance Studies, 6(1), pp. 40–68.
• Norman, J. M. (2018) ‘The Mobility Myth: Risk and Resilience of Refugee Youth in the MENA Region’, Forced Migration Review.
• Norman, J. M. (2013) ‘Memory and Mobilization: Identity, Narrative and Nonviolent Resistance in the Palestinian Intifadas’,  Quest: Issues in Contemporary Jewish History, 5. 

Book chapters

• Norman, J. M. and Foerch, C. ‘Former Fighters and Preventing Violent Extremism in Lebanon’, in G. Clubb, R. Scrivens and M. Islam (eds.) Former Extremists: Roles in Preventing and Countering Violence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Norman, J. M. (2023) ‘Resistance: Performing the Frontline’, in F. Magowan, P. Rebelo, S. Lehner, J. M. Norman and A. Phillips-Hutton (eds.) Sounding Conflict. London: Bloomsbury.
• Norman, J. M. (2021) ‘Terrorism in Israel/Palestine’, in R. English (ed.) The Cambridge History of Terrorism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 149–172).
• Mikhael, D. and Norman, J. M. (2020) ‘Getting Local Engagement Right: Key Considerations for Local-level P/CVE Research’, in K. Aryaeinejad (ed.) Researching Violent Extremism: Context, Ethics, and Methodologies. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP).
• Norman, J. M. (2015) ‘“We Do Not Work for Peace”: Reframing Nonviolence in Post-Oslo Palestine’, in K. Schock (ed.) Civil Resistance: Comparative Perspectives on Nonviolent Struggle. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 35–58.

View a full list of publications on my website

Teaching

Dr Norman convenes the undergraduate modules: ‘Political Violence,' ‘Middle East Politics,’ and ‘America in the World (US Foreign Policy),' and she is developing new modules on 'Disagreeing Well' and "Israel-Palestine Conflict.'

She has also taught modules on: ‘International Conflict and Cooperation,’ ‘Globalisation and Populism,’ ‘Human Rights and International Justice,’ ‘Social Movements,’ ‘International Development,’ and ‘International Security.’