Dr Nicole Stremlau is Head of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy and a Research Fellow in the Centre of Socio-Legal Studies.

Nicole Stremlau’s research focuses on media and governance, particularly in areas of conflict and insecurity in Africa. Her most recent projects examine the role of new media in political participation and governance; media law and regulation in the absence of government or in weak states; the role of media in conflict, peacebuilding and the consolidation of political power; and how governments attempt to engage citizens and communicate law-making processes. Stremlau’s doctoral work explored the role of media during the guerrilla insurgencies in Uganda and Ethiopia, and how the successive governments used the media to consolidate political power in the aftermath of violence.

While Stremlau continues to research and write on Ethiopia, her more recent research has been on media and conflict in Somalia and Somaliland, which has received funding from the United Nations, among others. Stremlau is currently writing a monograph on the Politics of Communication in Africa. Her research has contributed to academic journals, including the International Journal of Communication and the Journal of Eastern African Studies, as well as to research by governmental organizations such as the World Bank’s 2011 World Development Report on Conflict, Security and Development.

As Head of PCMLP, Stremlau develops and manages international programmes on media law and policy, including the Price Media Law Moot Court Programme. She has established links between PCMLP with universities, law firms and media companies in India, China, Eastern Africa and the Middle East. Stremlau is co-director of the annual Annenberg-Oxford Media Policy Summer Institute, a researcher and author for the Horn of Africa for the annual Freedom House Press Freedom Rankings and an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Global Communications Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to coming to PCMLP, Stremlau was director of the Africa programme at the Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research where she initiated a led the East African Journalists Fellowship Programme, as well as research projects on media and election violence and public opinion research in Darfur. She has been a regular contributor to Janes Intelligence Review and has consulted for the World Bank in Addis Ababa as well as for Human Rights Watch. Stremlau lived in Ethiopia for several years where she conducted research and was a features writer at the Ethiopian Reporter.

Nicole Stremlau’s blog on the Huffington Post.

Selected Publications:

Gagliardone, I. Pohjonen, M., Taflan, P., Stremlau, N. et. al. 2015. Mechachal: Online Speech and Elections in Ethiopia. Report 1. University of Oxford, PCMLP Report.

Stremlau, N. and R. Osman. 2015. Courts, Clans and Companies: Mobile Money and Dispute Resolution in Somaliland. Stability: Journal of International Development, 4(1).

Stremlau, N., E. Fantini and R. Osman. 2015. The Political Economy of the Media During the Somali Civil War. Review of African Political Economy, 42(145).

Stremlau, N., E. Fantini and I. Gagliardone. 2015. Patronage, politics and performance: radio call-in programmes and the myth of accountability, Third World Quarterly, 36(8):1510-1526.

Gagliardone, I, A. Kalemera, L. Kogen, L. Nalwoga, N. Stremlau, and W. Wairagala, 2015. In Search of Local Knowledge on ICTs in Africa. Stability: Journal of International Development, 4(1).

Stremlau, N. and I. Gagliardone. 2015. Media, Conflict and Political Transitions in Africa. In Zielonka, J. (ed) Media and Politics in New Democracies. Oxford University Press.

Price, M. and N. Stremlau 2014. Strategic Communications and the Avoidance of Violent Conflict. In Hoffman, J. and Hawkins V. (eds) Communications for Peace: Charting an Emerging Field. Routledge.

Stremlau, N. 2014. Media, Participation and Constitution-Making in Ethiopia. Journal of African Law, 58 (2): 231-249.

Stremlau, N. 2014. In Search of Evidence: Media and Governance in Fragile States. Global Media Journal 4(2).

Shoemaker, E. and N. Stremlau. 2014. Media and Conflict: An Assessment of the Evidence. Progress in Development Studies, 14(2): 181-195.

Stremlau, N. and E. Fantini. 2013. Talking Politics: A Comparative Analysis of Somali Radio Call-in Programmes. Report for the United Nations Support Office for AMISOM, 69pp.

Stremlau, N. 2013. Hostages of Peace: The Politics of Radio Liberalization in Somaliland. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 7(2): 239-257.

Stremlau, N. 2013. Conflict and Post-Conflict Media Development in Somalia: Towards a Diagnostic Research Approach. Journal of Media, War and Conflict, 6(3): 279-293.

Stremlau, N., E. Fantini and R. Osman. 2013. Power and Politics: The Structure of Local Radio Broadcasters in Somalia. Report for the United Nations Support Office for AMISOM, 81pp.

Stremlau, N. 2013. Somalia: Media Law in the Absence of a State. Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 8(2): 159-174.

Gagliardone, I., N. Stremlau, and D. Nkrumah. 2012. Partner, Prototype or Persuader? China’s Renewed Engagement with Ghana. Journal of Communications, Politics and Culture, 45(2): 174-196.

Gagliardone, I. and N. Stremlau 2012. Digital Media, Diasporas and Conflict in the Horn of Africa. In M. Dragomir and M. Thompson (eds). Mapping Digital Media. London: Open Society Institute.

Price, M. and N. Stremlau. 2012. Media and Transitional Justice: Towards a Systematic Approach, International Journal of Communication, 2: 1077-1099.

Stremlau, N. 2012. Customary Law and Media Regulation in Conflict and Post-Conflict States. In M. Price and S. Verhulst (eds), Handbook of Media Law and Policy: A Socio-Legal Exploration. Abington: Routledge.

Stremlau, N. and R. Osman. 2012. Media Narratives and Constitution-making in Somalia. Report for the United Nations Political Office in Somalia. 

Stremlau, N. 2011. The Press and the Political Restructuring of Ethiopia, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 5(4): 716-732.

– Also in Abbink, J. and T. Hagmann. 2013. Reconfiguring Ethiopia: The Politics of Authoritarian Reform. Abdington: Routledge.

Stremlau, N. and M. Price. 2011. Communications and Leadership in Crisis States. Background article for the 2011 World Bank’s World Development Report: Conflict, Security and Development.

Shoemaker, E. and Stremlau, N. 2011. Media and Political Choice: An Assessment of the Evidence. Report from the Justice and Security Programme, London School of Economics to the UK Department for International Development (DFID). 

Stremlau, N. 2010. Towards a New Approach to Evaluation. In Price, M. and Abbott, S. (eds) Evaluating the Evaluators, Peter Lang, pp. 191-212.

Gagliardone, I., M. Repnikova and N. Stremlau. 2010. Where East Meets West: The Influence of China on Media Development in Africa. ESRC Report by PCMLP, University of Oxford.

Stremlau, N. 2010. Communication and Governance in Somaliland. Report for the UK Foreign Commonwealth Office, 126 pp.

Stremlau, N. 2010. Somalia Media Mapping. Report for the United Nations and African Union Information Support Team in Somalia, 84 pp.

Price, M, I. al Marashi and N. Stremlau. 2009. Media in the Peacebuilding Process: Ethiopia and Iraq, in Norris, P. (ed.) Public Sentinel. Washington DC: The World Bank. 

Stremlau, N., M. Blanchard, Y. Gabobe, and F. Ahmed. 2009. Media and Elections in Somaliland: Lessons from Kenya. Annenberg Occasional Paper Series, 45pp.

Stremlau, N. and M. Price. 2009. Media and Post-election Violence in Eastern Africa. Annenberg Occasional Paper Series, 45pp.

Gagliardone, I. and N. Stremlau. 2008. Public Opinion Research in a Conflict Zone: Grassroots Diplomacy in Darfur. International Journal of Communication, 2: 1085-113.

Price, M., I. al Marashi and N. Stremlau. 2008. Polarization and the Media: The Problem with the Governance Agenda in Post-Conflict States. Discussion paper for the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Stremlau, N. 2008. Freedom of Information Act in Ethiopia. Report for The World Bank.

Allen, T. and Stremlau, N. (2006) Media Policy, Peace and State Reconstruction. In Hemer, O. and Tufte, T. (eds.). Media and Global Change: Rethinking Communication for Development. Nordicom.

– Spanish Translation: published by Publicaciones Cooperativas, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2008.

Additional publications:

Freedom House– Responsible for the annual ratings and narratives for the sections on Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia for the World Press Freedom Rankings book (2008- present).

Janes Intelligence Review– Twice yearly contributor of the Ethiopia files including assessments of economic, social, political and security issues (2006- 2009).

Stremlau, N. (2009) Review: Press, Politics and Public Policy in Uganda. Equid Novi . 30(2).

Stremlau, N. (2008) Transferred Hostility: Ethiopia and Eritrea’s Unregulated Tensions. Janes Intelligence Review, May 2008.

Stremlau, N. (2004). Review: Information Intervention. Progress in Development Studies, 4(3), pp. 271-273.