Peace Research Research Articles

The role of women in peacekeeping operations

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute issues annual report detailing women’s meaningful participation in peacebuilding operations. Although there had been an increase in the significance of women-peacekeepers, the desired progress had not yet been achieved. In this article author considers the level of women’s involvement and the impact that they have (or don’t) on the outcome of peacebuilding and decision-making processes.

From Violent Victims to Emancipatory Agency of Peace: Exploring Female Jirga as Local Gendered Peace Formation and Community Peacebuilding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

For years, the insecurity and violence against women in many parts of Pakistan have magnified the danger of the prevalent worldview of strong and protective men. In contrast, women are weak and protected by men. Inevitable victimisation and powerless women are counterproductive since women are central to the community's household institution. This paper explores local community peacebuilding initiatives of women's first Jirga by a local activist Tabassum Adnan in Pakistan's Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Exploring women's Jirga as an agency of regional and gendered peace formation in a salient patriarchal Pakhtun worldview underscores women's security and gendered Peace perspective in recognising the need to consider the missing systemic and unpeaceful change and transformation in contemporary Pakistan and South Asia. Adopting qualitative methods of Feminist Peace research unravels the potential and pitfalls of how women can embark upon alternative dispute resolutions (ADR) when patriarchal conceptualisations of conflict resolution prevent their active participation. Findings show multidimensional links between local community peace and global systemic and peaceful transformation of international relations (IR). Recognising the transformative roles of women in overcoming GBV is a critical transnational shift from the past and minimal human rights protection of women to the present and maximal recognition of women as emancipatory agents of peace.

Informal Disaster Diplomacy

This paper develops a baseline and definition for informal disaster diplomacy in order to fill in an identified gap in the existing research. The process adopted is a review of the concept of informality, the application of informality to diplomacy, and the application of informality to disasters and disaster science. The two applications of informality are then combined to outline an informal disaster diplomacy as a conceptual contribution to studies where processes of conflict, peace, and disasters interact. Adding informality into disaster diplomacy provides originality and significance as it has not hitherto been fully examined in this context. This exploration results in insights into disaster, peace, and conflict research through two main contributions. First, the paper recognises that informal disaster diplomacy has frequently been present in disaster diplomacy analyses, but has rarely been explicitly presented, accepted, described, theorised, or analysed. Second, by explaining the presence of and contributions from informality, the discussion assists in re-balancing much of disaster diplomacy research with depth from conflict research, peace research, international relations, and political science.

Leader Statements and the Effect of Accommodative and Coercive Language in Interstate Conflict

Abstract Do leaders’ statements influence the trajectory of interstate conflicts? More specifically, do coercive or accommodative statements influence immediate deterrence and reconciliation? This study expands upon the contributions of McManus (“Fighting Words: The Effectiveness of Statements of Resolve in International Conflict,” Journal of Peace Research 51, no. 6 [2014]: 726–40) by measuring the presence of coercive and accommodative language in US presidential statements and examines whether these types of statements are associated with conflict events during militarized interstate disputes. Accounting for endogeneity, the findings suggest that higher rates of coercive statements deter adversaries from engaging in the use of military force, while higher rates of accommodative statements induce the adversary into negotiations. Importantly, coercive statements do not appear to incite hostilities through provocation, nor do accommodative statements appear to invite escalation by signaling weakness.

When the Guns Fall Silent: Richard Cobden’s Principles of Liberal Internationalism and Russian Reconciliation

Renowned for his espousal of early liberal internationalist principles, free trade, and the pursuit of peaceful reconciliation, the British industrialist Richard Cobden (1804-1865) first put forward ideas related to freer trade between Britain and France, as well as nonmilitary interventionism in European wars that were promulgated by Russia, leading to the onset of the Crimean War in 1853, and eventually, after Cobden’s death to the onset of World War I in Europe. Cobden’s principles significantly contributed to peaceful interactions among state actors in the late 19th century, despite the Crimean war. His radical notions can be usefully contextualized, and may relate to future peaceful reconciliation, in this century, between Russia and the West, possibly after “the guns go silent” in Ukraine. Similarly to the 1840s, idealistic principles, as opposed to militaristic and jingoistic attitudes among the Europeans and British in the 1840s, may be inculcated, based in part on Cobden’s idealism, including encouraging more peaceful connections among adversaries through freer trade. The political prescriptions of Cobden, before and after the Crimean War in 1853, can guide reflective perspectives among peace researchers, historians, and peace activists today, assisting processes that could move hitherto warring states toward more peaceful interactions and eventual reconciliation.

Choreographed Fan Displays: The Case of Israeli Sports

Choreographed Fan Displays: The Case of Israeli Sports

О роли историко-правовых исследований военных конфликтов как истоков трансформации государства и права

Introduction: social and political conflicts often lead to direct armed clashes both inside and outside the state. At the same time, the state-legal consequences generated by military conflicts often radically transform the mechanism of the state, its legal and political systems. In the conditions of constantly emerging armed conflicts in the world (according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, there are currently more than 20), their historical research is of particular importance. The subject of the work was the legal consequences of intra-state armed conflicts and social contradictions that had triggered their onset and development. The purpose of the work is to determine the role and significance of historical and legal studies of armed conflicts through the example of civil wars and to justify the need for further research of a violent armed conflict within the framework of legal science. Methods: the methodological framework for the research was made up of the formal legal, historical, sociological methods, as well as the synthesis and analysis of historical events and their legal consequences. The topic has a novelty in the context of the need to conduct research in the national historical and legal science of the “blind” zone of violent military conflicts, as a rule, ignored by legal history. The results of such generalizing studies will make it possible to realize one of the functions of history of state and law as a science – the forecasting of state-legal phenomena of the future and the analysis of current political processes. Finally, the author comes to the conclusion about the significant and underestimated role of historical and legal studies of armed conflicts, namely, the fallacy of omission from the research field of its violent course.

Stein Tønnesson (ed.), Lives in Peace Research: The Oslo Stories

Stein Tønnesson (ed.), Lives in Peace Research: The Oslo Stories

A Systematic Literature Review of Quantitative Studies Assessing the Relationship between Water and Conflict on the African Continent

Since the seminal 2012 Special Issue of the Journal of Peace Research about climate change and conflict, at least 35 review papers on the topic have been published. To our knowledge, none of these reviews focused on water and conflict specifically. In order to address this research gap, the present article conducts a systematic review of scholarship examining the linkages between water and conflict, focusing on quantitative studies using secondary data sources. This review focuses on the African continent given projections about the intersection between water issues and conflict in this region, as well as the popularity of this portion of the world in studies of climate change and conflict. We discuss the findings of papers reviewed and propose six avenues for future research. As research about this topic advances, it will require attention to nuances in data processing, integration, and modeling across spatial and temporal scales, if the outcomes of this body of scholarship are to be leveraged to guide the decision making of governing bodies.

Soundscapes of Mostar: Space and Art Beyond the Divided City

ABSTRACT The ‘spatial turn’ in peace research has primarily highlighted the visuality of the spaces in which peace takes place. In this article, however, we argue that ‘sound’ can challenge rigid visual markers, which are particularly prominent in divided cities. Drawing on a sound story from a larger archive, we investigate how a sound artist re-imagines the divided city of Mostar by mobilizing a set of sonic memories. Our sonic reading of the Partisan’s Cemetery traces the spatial transformation of the city, which disrupts visual representations of space as divided and presents alternative spatial imaginations.

When does liberal peace fail? Trade and nationalism

Liberal peace research maintains that trade interdependence promotes interstate peace. In this study, I introduce nationalism as an important domestic factor and examine how it fares against trade as an explanation for war and peace and their interaction effects. I propose that when state leaders promote nationalism to bolster political legitimacy, they may not be incentivized to foster liberal peace through trade and instead may be willing to conflict with trading partners. A cross-national, time-series statistical analysis shows that nationalist leaders are likely to cause the pacifying effect of trade to fall apart and increase the likelihood of (fatal) militarized disputes, but not necessarily open warfare. These findings suggest that when politico-security interests of nationalist leaders collide with global economic interests, the former prevail over the latter in the context of low-level conflict, but not necessarily high-level conflict. Even nationalist leaders appear to be cautious of engaging in all-out bloody war with trading partners—the economic pain is greater than the gain. Nevertheless, the overall analysis indicates that liberal peace theory may be not as sure a safeguard as previously believed since it is ineffective in lowering the risk of dyadic disputes short of war in the era of rising nationalism.

The hidden cost of global economic integration: How foreign investment drives military expenditures

The global economy is increasingly integrated, with more than 60,000 international firms now directing almost one million foreign affiliates worldwide. We examine one significant, and largely unexplored, aspect of this integration – the cost of protecting these global investments. More specifically, we assess the extent to which foreign direct investment (FDI) drives military expenditures. Drawing from recent studies, we adopt a social network framework. Using data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Bilateral FDI Statistics and the International Monetary Fund’s Coordinated Direct Investment Survey, we construct the global FDI network between 2001 and 2017 and derive out-degree centrality scores based on each country’s structural location in this network. Next, using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, we estimate two-way fixed effects models for a global sample of 1,880 observations across 129 countries over this time period to assess the relationship between FDI centrality and military expenditures. We find that degree centrality in the global FDI network has a positive impact on military expenditures, net of other relevant predictors.Military expenditures do not, however, appear to drive FDI. We estimate the aggregate impact of FDI centrality on military expenditures, and suggest that these increased costs amount to a hidden subsidy of global corporate activity.

Sowing seeds for the future: Exploring the power of constructive nonviolent actionAndrewRigby, Sparsäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2022.

Peace & ChangeVolume 47, Issue 4 p. 381-383 BOOK REVIEW Sowing seeds for the future: Exploring the power of constructive nonviolent action Andrew Rigby, Sparsäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2022. Matt Meyer, Corresponding Author Matt Meyer [email protected] International Peace Research AssociationSearch for more papers by this author Matt Meyer, Corresponding Author Matt Meyer [email protected] International Peace Research AssociationSearch for more papers by this author First published: 21 September 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/pech.12555Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume47, Issue4October 2022Pages 381-383 RelatedInformation

Insurgent peace research: affects, friendship and feminism as methods

ABSTRACT Affect and friendship change the way we think about research (epistemology) and conduct research (methodology). This article accounts for affect and friendship as feminist methods in peace research. It argues that affective feminist conversations, practices and actions through friendship can drastically modify how we think about peace. Based on fieldwork conducted in Colombia (2019 and 2022) with female ex-guerrilleras from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (Farc-ep), it (1) draws upon the concepts of camaradería and being insurgent proposed by the women of the Farc-ep to (2) trace how affect and friendship can change the way we do peace research. Ultimately, the article proposes four aspects for the adoption of friendship as a method in peace research by: 1) deconstructing the linearity in peace research methods; 2) multiplying data collection’s methods; 3) including affects throughout the whole research process and 4) advocating for an insurgent peace research that vindicates long-term ‘transversal politics’ and translocal coalition-building.

The art of plurality: participation, voice, and plural memories of community peace

ABSTRACT This article’s central focus is on exploring the interplays between plurality and methodological approaches in peace research, through engaging with insights from arts methods and participatory action research (PAR). Specifically, engaging with these insights suggests that they have significant potential to aid plural dialogue, intergenerational memory, and young people’s active participation in post-conflict communities, and thus can further extend understandings of plurality in peace research. Furthermore, the article proposes that this creative and participatory methodology can contribute to three central parts of plurality in peace research, namely, facilitation, ‘voice’, and intergenerational participation. This article also draws connections between arts methods, PAR, and decolonising knowledge production, specifically in relation to peace research attempting to prioritise local forms of knowledge production. In doing so, the article also critically reflects on some of the challenges and limitations of this methodological approach and attempts at decolonising knowledge production in peace research. The article, engaging with illustrated examples of arts methods, argues that this methodological approach to peace research allows individuals and groups to understand multiple past experiences and events, can allow for a shared acknowledgement of frictional experiences of these events, and aid young people’s participation in conversations about the present and future.

Affects, emotions and interaction: the methodological promise of video data analysis in peace research

ABSTRACT Methodologically, Peace Research has long been dominated by words, numbers, and sometimes images. This article suggests also integrating Video Data Analysis (VDA) into the analytical toolbox of Peace Research so as to explore the potential of the millions of videos of relevance for the study of peace and conflict that can be found online and beyond. The article introduces VDA and shows how the method can be applied to analyse micro-dynamics of phenomena such as violence, conflict, mediation, and peacebuilding. Videos enable researchers to observe events that no or few researchers would otherwise have access to from their armchairs, integrating the attentiveness to interaction and atmosphere that only ethnographers would have. While losing the ethnographer’s benefit of ‘being there’, videos allow researchers to replay events in slow motion and thus capture subtle dynamics of timing, interaction, and affect. The article discusses the epistemological challenges, ethical dilemmas, and future promises of applying VDA in Peace Research and provides concrete examples of how the observation of affects reflected in body postures and facial expressions, as well as the social bonds reflected in the rhythm and content of interaction, can be of value in peace research.

‘What is the benefit of this project?’ Representation and participation in research on conflict-affected youth

ABSTRACT This article deploys the language, narratives and proposed solutions of research participants to conceptualise peace research as a representational and relational process of recognition. To do so, it draws from a multi-year research project on the economic livelihood and social integration strategies of conflict-affected youth in Liberia’s commercial motorcycling sector. Its starting point is reflexive engagement with participants’ own frequent question: ‘What is the benefit of this project?’ It advocates for participatory approaches to the time-spaces that ex-combatant and conflict-affected youth actually inhabit (rather than those scripted or desired for them by more traditional forms of peace research). It applies critical peace-building insights about time to contribute to conceptualisations of post-conflict ‘reintegration trajectories’ that question ideas about who builds peace, and how. It argues that participatory research brings issues of social stigma, objectification and marginalisation to the fore. And, it explores the methodological implications of participatory research, identifying the ways in which sited ethnography, relational interviewing and narrative approaches can centre research-as-recognition. Participatory approaches make peace researchable not just to collect lived experiences (treating research as transactional data collection) but to implement participants’ own ideas about peace-building strategies and solutions (treating peace research as relational recognition and something that is mutually beneficial).

Creating space for agonism: making room for subalternised voices in peace research

ABSTRACT How can researchers do more than ‘do no harm’ and have a positive impact in the contexts in which they intervene? These are classic questions of PAR, which also apply to peace research. How can research practice contribute to peace? There is an intimate relationship between power, violence and silence. Hence, working with subalternised voices, subject to epistemic violence, poses a methodological challenge for social sciences in which words are data. This paper presents a research method that allows for constructive confrontation in contexts of terrorist violence in European cities, generally considered to be at peace. This method consists of organising public debate in collaboration with community organisations in a neighbourhood directly affected by the aftermath of a wave of terrorist attacks in France. In the case of the Université Populaire, the organisation of public debates allowed for the public expression of agonism, and was a source of hope and prefigurative politics. Exploring this case, this article contributes to discussions about how to deal with the challenges of pluralism within current peace research.

민주시민교육과 인권교육의 개념 비교와 호혜적 방법론 논의

The Korean Framework Act on Education cherishes the quality necessary as a democratic citizen. Meanwhile, as the National Human Rights Commission Act was enacted in 2001, and many local governments, including Gwangju Metropolitan City, enacted ordinances to guarantee and promote human rights in the mid to late 2000s, human rights education was emphasized but not studied theoretically and practically. This paper presents a methodology that can be used to realize the common public interest goals of both by comparing the concept and actual status of democratic citizenship education and human rights education. To this end, first of all, the concept of democratic citizenship education and related discourses are considered in light of the preceding studies of Democratic Peace Research and related laws and ordinances. Subsequently, it analyzes the status of the people's human rights consciousness, systems related to human rights education, human rights education seen in democratic citizenship education programs, and ordinances related to human rights education in Gwangju Metropolitan City. As a result, it emphasizes the fact that human rights education has the purpose of confirming the basic rights of mankind and the people and holding both the state and civilians responsible for guaranteeing it, while democratic citizenship education can provide a practical methodology to maximize its effectiveness. This study is of significance in that it proposed an alternative that could harmonize the two in a state where democratic citizenship education and human rights education were indiscriminately mixed.

ERRATUM to ‘Crafting Stories, Making Peace? Creative Methods in Peace Research’

ERRATUM to ‘Crafting Stories, Making Peace? Creative Methods in Peace Research’