German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

DEEN

PEACEptions

  • Providing a conceptual framework in which different ideas of peace can be highlighted and their differences analysed in order to be able to formulate concrete proposals for peacebuilding is at the heart of this project. The concept is based on three elements whose meaning crosses historical and cultural boundaries: physical integrity, individual and collective human rights, and constructive conflict transformation.
    FES, 2021-2023

    Team

    Katharina Wegner

    Instituto Latinoamericano de Investigaciones Sociales

    Nina Netzer

    Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Kamerun

    Dr. Anna Reuß

    Friedrich Ebert Foundation South Sudan

    Cooperation Partners

    Head

    Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

    President (ad interim)

    Kristina Birke Daniels

    Friedrich Ebert Foundation Colombia

    project website

    Research Questions

    * What are the main conflicts at the national and subnational level relevant for peacebuilding?
    * How do different societal groups frame peace?
    * What explains variation at the national and subnational level?
    * How can this be translated into context-sensitive peacebuilding strategies?

    Contribution to International Research

    The project contributes to the debates on the varieties of peace (Olivius and Åkebo 2021), context sensitive approaches of peacebuilding (Kurtenbach 2020), and the possibilities to integrate peacebuilding at different levels e.g. vertical integration (McCandless, Abitbol, and Donais 2015).

    Research Design and Methods

    The project is based on a mixed-method and comparative area study design including three elements: conflict analysis, the compilation of qualitative and quantitative data related to the three pillars of peace, and a representative survey on perceptions of peace. After a pilot study in Colombia (Birke Daniels and Kurtenbach 2021) the project conducts similar studies in four contexts: Venezuela, Cameroon, Tunisia and Philippines.

    As a first step, the central conflicts (and their actors) are analysed at different levels. Qualitative and quantitative data on the three pillars of peace enable varieties to be identified but also provide opportunities for peacebuilding. The picture is rounded off with a survey of the prevailing ideas of what peace means to different groups of actors. The results will feed into policy recommendations for peacebuilding in Germany, the EU and the UN.

    Preliminary Findings

    The results of the Colombia study show the added value of the conceptual frame and provide evidence for the entanglements of peacebuilding at different territorial levels and between a variety of actor networks.

    Project Publications

    GIGA Focus Latin America | 2/2024

    Conditions for Democratic Transitions: Venezuela’s 2024 Elections

    The unification of the opposition under María Corina Machado is an unprecedented political challenge for the regime of Nicolás Maduro. To eliminate candidates and splinter the opposition, the regime weaponises the judiciary and persecutes political enemies, making free and fair elections unlikely.

    Jesus Renzullo

    Research Fellow

    Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding | 03/2024

    Variations of Peace in Colombia

    Peace and conflict are not the same across territories and scales. Conceptualizing peace as a process based on three core functions of society and related norms allows us to identify variations in peacebuilding needs and perceptions. The entanglement of different scales shapes the diversity of peace and highlights the opportunities and challenges of peacebuilding and related norms, along with their diffusion and contestation.

    Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

    President (ad interim)

    Edited Volume | 10/2023

    Venezuela: de la Pax Malandra a la Paz Ciudadana

    Venezuela is an unusual context for a study on peace and peacebuilding. The book provides an analysis with a “conflict and peace” lens besides the fact that its high levels of violence are not an open war or armed conflict.

    Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

    President (ad interim)

    Anais López Caldera

    ILDIS FES Venezuela

    Infographic | 09/2023

    How to deal with Non-state Armed Actors

    Dealing with NSAAs is complicated and complex shifting between repression and dialogue. NSAAs are highly flexibkle and able to adapt to changing local and global contexts. Policies must be comprehensive and include local communities as well as structural drivers of violence.

    Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

    President (ad interim)

    Yannick Deepen

    Former GIGA Team member

    GIGA Focus Latin America | 3/2023

    Latin America’s Search for Security: Between Repression and Dialogue

    In Latin America, most violence is considered “criminal.” But a clear-cut distinction between political and criminal violence does not exist. Policies to reduce violence meander between repression and dialogue but lack comprehensiveness, and a focus on prevention, the rule of law, and human rights.

    Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

    President (ad interim)

    Related Content

    Venezuela: Alle Jahre wieder grüßt Wahlsieger Maduro

    Deutsche Welle | Quote | 29/07/2024

    Venezuela: Alle Jahre wieder grüßt Wahlsieger Maduro

    Venezuela's National Election Council declares Nicolas Maduro has won the election without publishing the respective data.

    Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

    President (ad interim)

    Beyond the Liberal Peace: The Importance of Human Rights for Peace

    Workshop | 22/02/2024 - 23/02/2024

    Beyond the Liberal Peace: The Importance of Human Rights for Peace

    IBEI-GIGA Workshop Security, Conflict and Peace, IBEI, Barcelona Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach (Speaker)

    Over the last decade liberal peacebuilding was heavily criticised for its Eurocentric bias privileging civil and political rights. Nevertheless, peacebuilding needs a normative frame based not only on individual rights but also on collective human rights as the basis for violence reduction, participation and conflict transformation.

    Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

    President (ad interim)

    Ecuador nach den Wahlen

    Radio Bremen 2 | Interview | 21/08/2023

    Ecuador nach den Wahlen

    Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

    President (ad interim)

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