Related Papers
Civil Society in Conflict Transformation: Strengths and Limitations, in Beatrix Austin, Martina Fischer and Hans J. Giessmann (eds.), Advancing Conflict Transformation. The Berghof Handbook II, 2011, Opladen, Farmington Hills: Barbara Budrich Pub., pp. 287-314. (Online at www.berghof-foundation.org)
Martina Fischer
The book chapter investigates the role of civil society organisations and their relevance for peacebuilding and conflict transformation on a local, regional and local level, with a particular focus on post-war societies. It also discusses the scope and relevance of theoretical concepts and argues that scholars and practitioners should clarify whether they follow normative or analytical approaches.
Europe-Asia Studies
Conflict Transformation and Civil Society: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh
2016 •
Tomáš Hoch, Vincenc Kopecek
If Armenian and Azerbaijani negotiators ever agree on the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh, it will not necessarily resolve the long-running conflict, because any peace treaty would require the consent of the Karabakh Armenians, whose political representatives are currently excluded from peace negotiations. It is difficult to imagine the Karabakh Armenians consenting to such a treaty without a change in their perception of the Azerbaijanis. According to the theory of conflict transformation/peacebuilding, Nagorno-Karabakh’s civil society should be able to make a contribution to this change. Using the example of four Nagorno-Karabakh civil society organisations, this study shows how they positively or negatively influence conflict transformation.
Problems of Post-Communism
Civil Society and Conflict Transformation in De Facto States: The Case of Abkhazia
2017 •
Tomáš Hoch, Vincenc Kopecek
De facto states are considered to be highly specific entities, thus meriting a detailed analysis of how conflict transformation functions within such states and what role is played in them by civil society organizations (CSOs), which are traditionally considered one of the key actors in conflict transformation. The authors discuss the factors that limit the activities of these CSOs as a result of the restricted sovereignty of de facto states. The study is based on three field research projects focusing on CSOs in Abkhazia, carried out in 2009, 2014, and 2015.
Creating Change from Within: the study of civil society as a solution to violent social conflict
Janetta Deppa
Agents of Change: Roles of Civil Society in Preventing War and Building Peace. Issue Paper 2: Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. European Centre for Conflict Prevention, October 2006
Catherine Barnes
“Civil society and peacebuilding: mapping functions in working for peace” International Spectator Volume 44 No. 1 March 2009
Catherine Barnes
With civilian deaths estimated to account for approximately 75 percent of war-related casualties, ordinary people are increasingly mobilising to respond to the challenge of conflict. While some of these responses originate in “global civil society”, many of the most creative and effective attempts to address the causes of conflict and to help resolve it peacefully are undertaken by people from the conflict affected communities themselves. As largely home grown initiatives – albeit sometimes receiving various forms of external support – they are not a product of the security-development nexus of Western directed international peace operations. Yet their roles are poorly understood by international policymakers and these operations too often undermine them. Civil society can play roles at every point in the development of conflict and its resolution: from bringing situations of injustice to the surface to preventing violence, from creating conditions conducive to peace talks to mediating a settlement and working to ensure it is consolidated, from setting a policy agenda to healing war-scarred psyches. After briefly situating civil society peacebuilding roles in the policy context and highlighting several critiques, this article concentrates on exploring why they can be key to these tasks and charts the specific functions they can play, focusing on initiatives by civil society from a conflict zone and their external supporters. It concludes identifying several recommendations and areas in need of further research.
CSOs in Conflict Transformation, Berghof Handbook Dialogue, Russian Version
Martina Fischer
The chapter analyses the roles and scope of action of Civil Society Organsiations (CSOs) in war-to-peace-transition. It reflects theoretical approaches and practical experience. It concludes that it is important to outline whether the concept of civil society is applied in a normative or analytical sense. Donors and International Organisations should support local CSOs as they are crucial for post-war peacebuilding and reconciliation and can provide space for encounters and discourses beyond ethnopolitical confrontation. But they should not overload these actors with unrealistic expectations.
Civil Society in Peace Processes At A Glance
Thania Paffenholz
This Briefing Note is based on results from the “Civil Society and Peacebuilding” research project, led by Dr. Thania Paffenholz at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, between 2006 and 2011, with a team of 19 researchers from 16 institutions. The project investigated whether, how, when and under what circ*mstances civil society can fulfil a peace supporting role. It analysed in thirteen in-depth qualitative country case studies, the performance of civil society with regards to seven peacebuilding functions in four phases of conflict and peace processes.
Global Change, Peace & Security
Conflict Society: Understanding the Role of Civil Society In Conflict
2009 •
Raffaele Marchetti
Summary of Results for a Comparative Research Project: Civil Society and Peacebuilding
Thania Paffenholz
As an effort to systematically examine the role of civil society in peacebuilding processes, the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) conducted a three-year comparative research project under the direction of Thania Paffenholz entitled “Civil Society and Peacebuilding.” This report provides an overview of the findings thus far (in 2009), and focuses explicitly on their policy implications. The project found that civil society can play an important supportive role, though the impetus for peacebuilding comes in most cases from political actors and the conflict parties themselves. The findings of the research project demonstrate that the relevance of the seven civil society functions varied tremendously during different phases of conflict. However, activities of high relevance, such as protection during wars, were not necessarily equally implemented by civil society organizations. The effectiveness of activities also varied substantially. Overall, protection, monitoring, advocacy and facilitation related activities were of higher effectiveness, whereas socialization and social cohesion related activities were of low effectiveness across all cases. This finding stands in stark contrast to the actual implementation and funding level of these activities.
