This review looks at the use of community cohesion projects to prevent or counter violent extremism (P/CVE). It finds that such initiatives can be helpful in conflict-affected societies, but there are limited evaluations in the literature, and these generally do not make a direct causal link between interventions to promote social (community) cohesion and P/CVE. The retreat of ...» more
Peacebuilding
Lessons from environmental peacebuilding programming
This rapid literature review collates lessons from conflict resolution/peacebuilding programmes that include land, resource management, and/or environmental issues. This is a burgeoning area of research which draws on a number of interrelated concepts such as environmental peacebuilding, resilience building, and bottom-up peacebuilding. Ide and Scheffran (in Ide, 2017, p.545) ...» more
National Dialogues: Lessons Learned and Success Factors
National dialogues are: “nationally-owned political processes aimed at generating consensus among a broad range of national stakeholders in times of deep political crisis, in post-war situations or during far-reaching political transitions” (Blunck et al., 2017, 21). They are typically accompanied by broader societal consultations, involving all sectors of society. Their ...» more
Women’s participation in peacebuilding and reconciliation in Iraq
This rapid review synthesises data from academic, policy and NGO sources on women’s participation in peacebuilding in Iraq. Peacebuilding will be defined as a ‘range of measures targeted to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management and to lay the foundation for sustainable peace and ...» more
Myanmar’s stabilisation challenges
The communities currently most at risk of, and affected by, conflict and violence are those living in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone and in other parts of northern Shan State. Other affected communities include those in Kachin, Rakhine, Chin and Kayin States. The community most affected by the threat of forced displacement is the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group, in Rakhine ...» more
Transitional justice
It is increasingly recognised that legacies of mass violence and human rights violations can, if left unaddressed, fuel future conflicts. Transitional justice seeks to tackle the legacies of large-scale past abuses, and includes mechanisms such as truth-telling initiatives, criminal prosecutions, reparations processes, cultural interventions, vetting and institutional ...» more
Stabilisation
What is stabilisation? Stabilisation efforts have become a common policy component of intervention in conflict response throughout the world. In recent years, there have been significant stabilisation interventions in places such as the Western Balkans, Haiti and Mali, among others. The concept of stabilisation, understood as the requirement to meet basic humanitarian and development needs…» more
Lessons from DDR programmes
While the literature on DDR programmes, their evolution and DDR experiences in individual countries (notably in Africa), is considerable and broadly consistent, there is little on the long-term effectiveness of DDR interventions. DDR programming has evolved significantly over the past few decades in response to changing situations and emerging challenges; from traditional ...» more
State-society relations and citizenship
State-society relations, citizenship and socio-political cohesion are areas of great importance to statebuilding and peacebuilding and are crucial to an integrated approach. State-society relations are defined by DFID as ‘interactions between state institutions and societal groups to negotiate how public authority is exercised and how it can be influenced by people. They are ...» more
The Central African Republic crisis
Since March 2013, the Central African Republic (CAR) has been experiencing violent sectarian conflict. The conflict initially began between two well-defined rival groups that became increasingly fragmented, with competing agendas and interests. Further, the current transitional government lacks the capacity and political will to enforce any real political reforms. A number ...» more
Supporting reconciliation in post-conflict situations
The key literature on reconciliation approaches is not very recent. However, there is a reasonable body of more recent evidence, particularly from Africa, of on-ground experience of implementing diverse reconciliation mechanisms. Given that reconciliation must be an indigenous process, one which donors can support but not lead/impose (see below), the literature says little ...» more
Building social cohesion in post-conflict situations
The approaches covered in this report include community-driven development, job creation, social protection and education. Whilst in theory there are strong links between these and social cohesion, there is very little rigorous empirical evidence to verify these links. More specifically, the literature highlights that: Community-driven development (CDD) programmes promote ...» more
Private sector engagement in fragile and conflict-affected settings
The private sector and private sector development (PSD) are considered to have a crucial role to play in contributing to economic recovery and addressing a number of drivers of fragility. Key findings of the review include: Fragile and conflict-affected settings pose challenges for engaging with the private sector. Significant internal and external imbalances are ...» more
Links between education and peace
Education is a significant contributor to peace, and appears in two of the 24 indicators in the Positive Peace Index produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Education can lead to peace and be a part of ‘building back better’ by supporting the transformation of the security situation, political institutions, economic regeneration and social development. However, ...» more
Curriculum development in fragile states to encourage peace and reduction of conflict
Research on education and conflict shows that education systems are not politically neutral but are an important part of the political economy that can exacerbate or mitigate conflict (Novelli et al., 2014; Bush and Saltareilli, 2000). The curriculum can be used as a vehicle to promote dominant ideologies. There are numerous instances where school curricula have been used to ...» more
Responding to mass atrocities and human rights abuses
Mass atrocities are generally understood as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, but many other human rights abuses are committed in conflict-affected contexts. There are a range of responses to these abuses, particularly by national and international actors, constituting international criminal justice and transitional justice. Development actors are increasingly directly involved in managing conflict or…» more
Video of seminar on Mass atrocities
A video of Chandra Sriram‘s GSDRC seminar is now available below. Professor Sriram explored three critical issues in developing responses to mass atrocities introduced in her Professional Development Reading Pack on the same subject. Chandra Sriram is Professor of International Law and International Relations at the University of East London. This seminar was held on 8…» more
Conflict dynamics and potential for peacebuilding in Iraq
This report is an update of the information available in the October 2014 GSDRC Contemporary conflict analysis of Iraq. Since the beginning of 2014, the extreme jihadist group ISIL, who are also active in Syria, has gained control of territory in the mainly Sunni and contested areas of Iraq, although government forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga, and the Shia dominated Hashd ...» more
Indicators for conflict, stability, security, justice and peacebuilding
There are a range of indicators that have been used to measure progress in these themes, and increasing recognition of the merits of measuring achievements and progress toward goals. Global targets and indicators can play an important role in fostering collaboration, aiding prioritisation, and informing and directing flows of resources to particular contexts or problems. The ...» more
Impact of external assistance on local-level peace settlements in the Middle East and North Africa
Armed conflicts have inflicted massive suffering and material losses on the populations of several MENA countries since 2011 (or earlier). At the same time, local peace settlements in delimited geographic areas have been reached in several of these contexts. This rapid review of the literature presents evidence on positive and negative impact in MENA. Available knowledge shows ...» more
