Externally Funded Projects

The Politics of Building Peace. Transitional Justice, Reconciliation Initiatives and Unification Policies in War-torn Societies

(2009 - 2012, DFG-funded)

The aim of The Politics of Building Peace is to analyse under which conditions the peacebuilding tools transitional justice, reconciliation initiatives and unification policies consolidate sustainable peace after violent, civil conflict. Through asking what politics operate behind these tools and if, and how, they change the relationship between the parties to the conflict from antagonism to acceptance, it contributes to the discipline of peace studies where it can be categorised under critical or post-positive approaches.

Project Management

• Teresa Koloma Beck

• Christian Braun

• Prof. Dr. Susanne Buckley-Zistel

• Friederike Mieth

Transitional Justice after Mass Violence

Funding: Marburg University Research Academy (MARA) Structured Doctoral Program (2009-2012)

 

In depth analysis of Transitional Justice, and fundamental research in particular, has been neglected to date. Against this background, the aim of the doctoral programme is to provide an interdisciplinary environment for PhD students working on the matter. The programme attempts to provide a space for ideas and debates on the basis of the various PhD projects.

Professoral  Representives                

• Prof. Dr. Susanne Buckley-Zistel
• Prof. Dr. Matthias Bös
• Prof. Dr. Anika Oettler

Student Representives

• Friederike Mieth
• Christian Braun

The institutionalization of discursive power by international administrations on post-conflict societies. An Analysis of the Transitional Authority in Cambodia and Kosovo

Funding: German Research Foundation (2010-2013), together with Prof. Dr. André Brodocz    

The objective of this research project is to analyse the conditions for successful institutionalisation of an international administration as part of a UN mission. The theory of institutional discursive power will be used to empirically examine how political authority in the international administrations in Kosovo and Cambodia is constituted and perpetuated. For the theory and practice of conflict resolution, the project will—following a longitudinal analysis of the process of institutional transition—make relevant contributions to the study of the conditions for the success of international administrations in post-conflict societies.

Project Management

• Prof. Dr. Thorsten Bonacker

• Prof. Dr. André Brodocz

• Katrin de Boer

• Werner Distler

Research Network: Constructivist Conflict Research

Funding: German Research Foundation (ongoing)

Social science research has, in recent years, seen an observable increase in interest in constructivist approaches. The network is made up principally of young scholars who are working on this subject, primarily in the context of conflict research. The idea for a network of young academics emerged out of their experience and practical research questions. From a systematic treatment of these fundamental problems across many different research projects, the participants hope, as a minimum, to derive comparative empirical and theoretical suggestions for the further clarification of constructivist conflict research and to open new research perspectives.

Representives of the network

• Prof. Dr. Thorsten Bonacker

• Prof. Dr. Stephan Stetter

Graduate School: Group focused Menschenfeindlichkeit

Funding: German Research Foundation (ongoing)

The graduate programme examines dimensions, manifestations, causes and the consequences of Group Focused Enmity (GFE). This phenomenon manifests itself against "foreign" groups, such as immigrants or people identified as "Jewish", as well as against groups which are regarded to deviate from the "normal," such as homosexuals, the disabled or homeless. It is expressed in degradation, exclusion, and potentially in violent behaviour against members of these groups.

Representives of the Graduate School

• Prof. Dr. Ulrich Wagner
• Prof. Dr. Andreas Zink