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

Institutions for Peace

To overcome war and violent conflict, building and strengthening institutions for peace is crucial. This includes ones helping to support power-sharing in government, security sector reform, and other key processes. We investigate all these phenomena in our research, while paying equal attention to institutions and processes that may be an impediment to peace too.

GIGA Focus Asia | 5/2024

Development, Peacebuilding, and Women’s Agency in Northeast India

Peace and development in Northeast India are crucial for India’s grand vision for political, social, and economic ties with the Asian region. Durable peace can be achieved by including local actors in formal peace processes, especially women, who have been active agents for peace at the grassroots.

Dr. Amrita Saikia

Visiting Fellow

The National | Quote | 11/03/2024

Hunger threat for 40 million across Middle East this Ramadan, says UN

Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz

Director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies / Editor GIGA Focus Middle East

Deutsche Welle | Quote | 14/03/2024

Nach gemeinsamer Erklärung: Neue Hoffnung für Libyen?

Die Konfliktparteien in Libyen beteuern, gemeinsam einen Weg aus der Dauerkrise des Landes finden zu wollen. Es soll auch Wahlen geben. Ob aber den Absichtsbekundungen bald Taten folgen werden, ist fraglich.

Hager Ali

Doctoral Researcher

NDR | Interview | 24/03/2024

Historiker über Baerbock in Nahost: Deutscher Einfluss ist beschränkt

GIGA-Experte Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz im Interview über Baerbock in Nahost

Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz

Director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies / Editor GIGA Focus Middle East

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)

Conference | 14/02/2024 - 16/02/2024

Violent Legacies, Social Movements, Uncertain Futures

Violent Legacies, Social Movements, Uncertain Futures, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José Désirée Reder (Organiser), Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach (Organiser), Alina Ripplinger (Panelist)

In Central America, democracy and peacebuilding processes are currently threatened. Researchers and civil society representatives discussed potential pathways out of the crisis in a three-day workshop at the University of Costa Rica in San José, organised by GIGA.

Désirée Reder

Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

Alina Ripplinger

Die Welt | Interview | 09/02/2024

Kampf gegen Russland: Wenn der ukrainische Geheimdienst plötzlich mitten in Afrika auftaucht

Ein Video heizt die Spekulationen über ukrainische Aktivitäten in Afrika an: Es soll die Gefangennahme von Wagner-Söldnern im Sudan zeigen.

Hager Ali

Doctoral Researcher

GIGA Focus Middle East | 2/2024

The War in Sudan: How Weapons and Networks Shattered a Power Struggle

In Sudan’s protracted war, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces outmanoeuvred Abdelfattah Al-Burhan’s Armed Forces through sabotage, new weapons, and broader networks. But as regional actors and local militia hijack the war’s original power-struggle, frontlines and command chains shattered.

Hager Ali

Doctoral Researcher

Prof. Dr. Matthias Basedau

Director of the GIGA Institute for African Affairs / Editor GIGA Focus Africa

T. +49 40 42825-517 matthias.basedau@giga-hamburg.de

Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

President (ad interim)

T. +49 40 42825-570 sabine.kurtenbach@giga-hamburg.de

Dr. André Bank

Senior Research Fellow

T. +49 40 42825-584 andre.bank@giga-hamburg.de

Research Project | 01/01/2021 - 31/12/2024

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

Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

Kristina Birke Daniels

Katharina Wegner

Nina Netzer

Dr. Anna Reuß

GIGA Focus Asia | 5/2024

Development, Peacebuilding, and Women’s Agency in Northeast India

Dr. Amrita Saikia

Visiting Fellow

Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding | 03/2024

Variations of Peace in Colombia

Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

President (ad interim)

GIGA Focus Middle East | 2/2024

The War in Sudan: How Weapons and Networks Shattered a Power Struggle

Hager Ali

Doctoral Researcher

GIGA Focus Middle East | 1/2024

Ten Things to Watch in the Middle East and North Africa in 2024

From the Gaza War to other regional conflicts and the lasting importance of oil, the Middle East and North Africa region remains pivotal for Europe. We present ten issues that will play a central role in the relationship between both regions in the year ahead.

Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz

Director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies / Editor GIGA Focus Middle East

Olena Osypenkova

Doctoral Researcher

GIGA Focus Africa | 1/2024

Ten Things to Watch in Africa in 2024

Democracy will remain strained in Africa, with crucial elections in 2024. Conflict risks may arise alongside the further waning of Western influence. Economic growth will continue, but also structural socio-economic challenges too. Western policymakers should address migration and decarbonisation.

Dr. Martin Acheampong

Prof. Dr. Matthias Basedau

Dr. Julia Grauvogel

Online Cooperation Event | 06/09/2021

After Afghanistan: What Is the Way Forward for German Participation in Peace Missions and State-Building?

In the face of the failed Bundeswehr engagement in Afghanistan, peace missions are in need of re-evaluation. Experts from the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg and from the GIGA discussed the future of German deployments abroad.

GIGA Global Transitions Conference | 07/12/2017 - 08/12/2017

Envisioning Peace | Transforming Conflict

Scholars and practitioners will address questions such as: What is our understanding of peace and conflict transformation? What are the advantages and disadvantages of narrow and broad concepts? Is peace a utopia, a continuum, or an incremental process? Is there an overlap between peace and other concepts such as harmony, justice, equality, development?

India Week 2023 | 21/11/2023

India’s G20 Presidency: Reviving Multilateralism through Responsible Leadership

The expert panel will analyse the contributions that India’s G20 Presidency has made to the revival and reform of multilateralism and explore how these ideas can be developed further under the Indo-German partnership. This event is part of the G20-T20 outreach process, Task Force 3 LiFE, and the GIGA’s T4T project.

Panel Discussion | 04/10/2023

Strategische Partner Deutschland und Mongolei? Anspruch, Realität und Initiativen

Im Jahr 2024 feiern die Bundesrepublik Deutschland und die Mongolei das 50-jährige Jubiläum der Aufnahme diplomatischer Beziehungen. Wir nehmen dies zum Anlass, hochrangige offizielle Vertreter:innen sowie ausgewiesene Expert:innen nach Stand und Perspektiven dieser Partnerschaft zu fragen.

GIGA Forum | 13/09/2023

Can Germany’s Feminist Foreign Policy Work in Afghanistan, Iran, and Ukraine?

This GIGA Forum investigates the newly launched German “Feminist Foreign Policy” guidelines and their implications for Germany’s foreign policy-making, with particular reference to developments in Afghanistan, Iran, and Ukraine. Video now online.

Conference | 06/07/2023 - 07/07/2023

Radical Lefts of the South: Cross-Regional Dialogues and Research Trends in the MENA and Latin America

Focused on Latin American and MENA radical leftist movements post World War II, this conference encourages a cross-regional, interdisciplinary perspective. It explores shared worldviews, unique trajectories, and their interplay with their respective contexts, while addressing the methodological challenges in studying these movements.

GIGA Event | 01/06/2023

Criminal Governance and Questioned Legitimacy: Territorial Orders and Armed Actors in Caracas?

Verónica Zubillaga, PhD, will give a lecture based on the analysis of ethnographic data. She will discuss the concepts of collaborative governance and criminal governance to understand how social control functions locally in an authoritarian context where a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis has restricted the resources and scope of government.

Online Cooperation Event | 06/09/2021

After Afghanistan: What Is the Way Forward for German Participation in Peace Missions and State-Building?

GIGA Global Transitions Conference | 07/12/2017 - 08/12/2017

Envisioning Peace | Transforming Conflict

India Week 2023 | 21/11/2023

India’s G20 Presidency: Reviving Multilateralism through Responsible Leadership

Panel Discussion | 04/10/2023

Strategische Partner Deutschland und Mongolei? Anspruch, Realität und Initiativen

Conference | 06/07/2023 - 07/07/2023

Radical Lefts of the South: Cross-Regional Dialogues and Research Trends in the MENA and Latin America

GIGA Event | 01/06/2023

Criminal Governance and Questioned Legitimacy: Territorial Orders and Armed Actors in Caracas?

Online Cooperation Event | 06/09/2021

After Afghanistan: What Is the Way Forward for German Participation in Peace Missions and State-Building?

GIGA Global Transitions Conference | 07/12/2017 - 08/12/2017

Envisioning Peace | Transforming Conflict

Deutsche Welle | Interview | 19/06/2024

Sudan siege bears hallmarks of brutal Darfur war

DW spoke to Sudanese civilians under siege in El Fasher amid attacks by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces. Is this a repeat of the "scorched earth" tactics used in the Darfur genocide?

Hager Ali

Doctoral Researcher

Der Tagesspiegel | Interview | 17/06/2024

„Eine einzige Katastrophe“: Warum Osman trotz des Krieges im Sudan bleibt

Zivilisten werden getötet, Kinder gekidnappt, Frauen vergewaltigt: Der Krieg im Sudan ist die größte Vertreibungskrise der Welt. Doch nicht alle wollen ihre Heimat verlassen.

Hager Ali

Doctoral Researcher

Deutsche Welle | Interview | 16/06/2024

Russia's military presence in Sudan boosts Africa strategy

Sudan and Russia have reportedly agreed to establish a Russian navy base near Port Sudan, on the Red Sea. The West does not appear to have a response to this move.

Hager Ali

Doctoral Researcher

University of Duisburg-Essen | 04/06/2024

Von der Gewalteskalation zur Friedensregelung? Nachkriegsperspektiven im Israel-Gaza-Krieg

Organiser: University of Duisburg-Essen Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz (Speaker)

Online Podiumsdiskussion

Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz

Director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies / Editor GIGA Focus Middle East

Conference | 27/05/2024 - 29/05/2024

Die Sahelzone. Konfliktherde und ihre regionalen Auswirkungen

Die MENA-Region im Fokus. Aktuelle Entwicklungen, regionale Zusammenhänge und Perspektiven, Akademie für Politische Bildung, Tutzing Organisers: Akademie für Politische Bildung Hager Ali (Consultant)

Im Nahen und Mittleren Osten finden derzeit bedeutende politische Verschiebungen statt, die von einem wachsenden Selbstbewusstsein einzelner staatlicher Akteure geprägt sind. China und Indien verstärken ihre Präsenz in der Region, was die geopolitische Landschaft weiter verändert. Auch die destabilisierenden Konflikte in der Sahelzone wirken sich zunehmend auf den Nahen und Mittleren Osten aus und stellen eine weitere Herausforderung dar. GIGA Wissenschaftlerin Hager Ali spricht über den Krieg im Sudan, und zeichnet nach, wie sich innenpolitische Konflikte in regionale Krisenherde ausweiten können.
Ein Event in Kooperation mit der Jungen Gesellschaft für Sicherheitspolitik (GSP) und Middle East Minds.

Hager Ali

Doctoral Researcher

Conference | 18/04/2024

States as Peace Brokers - Between Geopolitical Tensions and the Claim to Neutrality

Dresden Forum for International Politics 2024, Dresden Organisers: Development and Peace Foundation Hager Ali (Speaker)

This panel explores conflict resolution in a multipolar world. GIGA Researcher Hager Ali gave a talk about how the rise of authoritarian governance and military coups impacts peace negotiations in intra-state conflicts.