Series
Ngee Ann Kongsi Lecture
Why We Killed: Security, Authority, and Opportunity in the Rwandan Genocide
Event Start Date
Events Location
Open To
SMU Community, Public
Event Image
Synopsis
The figure above demonstrates the Müller-Lyer illusion, where equal-length lines appear different due to cognitive processing, illustrating how perceptions can mislead us – a key concept in Behavioural Economics. This field explores how psychological attributes affect economic decisions. Our lecture will first examine examples of how these attributes lead to seemingly irrational decisions. Then we will discuss leveraging an understanding of behavioural biases to subtly influence decision-making contexts, nudging individuals towards more desirable choices.
Speaker
Speaker Details
Omar Shahabudin McDoom
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Dr Omar Shahabudin McDoom is a comparative political scientist and Associate Professor in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research interests lie in the study of peace, security, development, ethnicity, and kleptocracy. He specializes in the study of conflicts and violence framed along ethnic and religious boundaries, and in strategies that promote co-existence and cooperation between social groups in plural societies. He has field expertise in sub-Saharan Africa — primarily Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda — and in South-East Asia, notably the Philippines. Dr McDoom’s work has been published in International Security, the Journal of Peace Research, and the Journal of Conflict Resolution and he has held research fellowships at Harvard and Oxford universities. Before becoming an academic, he worked as a Policy Officer for the World Bank, a Legal Officer for the Government of Guyana, and on electoral missions for the OSCE and UN. |
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