Current PhD-Projects at the Center for Conflict Studies

The impact of peacebuilding mechanisms on the peace process in Bosnia and Hercegovina with particular focus on the civilian population.

Following the Dayton Peace Agreement mass violence in Bosnia and Hercegovina came to an end however the antagonisms between the conflict parties stayed present. In the post war time and in lower intensity till today a wave of international and later local aid and efforts were implemented. The aim of these efforts was on the one hand the rebuilding of the country and its institutions and on the other hand the establishment of a sustainable peace. Which peacebuilding mechanisms were applied, by who were they applied with which intention were they applied and mainly there effect on the peace process will be analyzed. These different mechanisms that can be grouped under one or more of the generic terms transitional justice, peacebuilding and reconciliation, have a different intensity on the outcome of the process of reconciliation. This dissertation project aims at gathering and analyzing these mechanisms as well as measuring their positive or negative impact on the peacebuilding process in Bosnia and Hercegovina. A particular focus will be laid on the civilian population. During six months of field work the question how the antagonisms between the populations of the rival conflict parties have shifted as a result of peacebuilding will be analyzed.   

External Nationbuilding: Analysis of the interaction of actors on the ground in the UNMIK police mission in Kosovo (working title)

Opportunities and constraints of intervention (like external state- and nationbuilding) are inseparably connected with the mode and quality of interaction between interveners and intervened actors. Together, they construct their common society of intervention, thereby changing and modulating their patterns of behavior. Therefore, Political and Social Science shall concentrate even more on the modes of interactions in interventions. The dissertation aims to demonstrate the characteristics of interaction on the ground by the everyday experiences of German International Police Officers (IPO) as part of the UNMIK Police in 2007 and 2008. This micro-sociological analysis shall be compared with mainstream political expectations on interventions to fully understand challenges and contradictions of current interventions.

Im Namen der Weltgesellschaft? Transitional Justice, Globalisierung und Legitimität.

Transitional justice processes take (or took) place in all continents and various regions of the world. Due to a variety of different arragements and concrete characteristics, transitional justice can be thought of as a heterogenous ensemble of institutions which nonetheless is in its whole of global relevance. Transitional justice is therefore a phenomenon of globalization, a world polity. What does this mean for particular cases? What ist he role of power and legitimization in such a globalized world polity? By providing a genealogy and combining theoretical thought of sociological neo-institutionalism and Foucaultian theory, this thesis wants to shed light on the groundings and the socio-political embeddedness of transitional justice. This will provide the basis for developing an anlytical framework for transitional justice processes under the aspects of power, legitimacy and globalization in a second step.

Acessing the impact of external actors on reforms in the field of interethnic relations in the Republic of Macedonia (1991-2008)

Peacebuilding in Rwanda 1994 till 2009 

After the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 the International Community launched many and diverse projects to rebuild the Rwandan state and society. Against the background of its own failure to put an end to the massacres western states have contributed in a large fashion to peacebuilding efforts in post-genocide Rwanda. Most of these measures concentrated on Transitional Jusice, development and democratization processes.

Nevertheless it is doubtful in how far Rwanda has reached (positive) peace. The current situation in this deeply divided society has even been even described as peace of the death. Seemingly the Rwandan peace process has so far just persisted in an interregnum, where neither peace nor war has reached its end. Against this background the project asks how this state of peace can be explained. Which role do endogenous and exogenous factors play and how do these interact? To answer these questions the project takes into account the theoretical approach of Doyle and Sambanis (making war and building peace), the so called “peacebuilding triangle”. The factors evolved in the triangle will be modified in a qualitative manner, which enables to elaborate on dynamics and on the process character of peace and peacebuilding measures. The analysis focuses on the International Community and its development cooperation projects in the realm of peacebuilding as well as on endogenous factors such as the degree of social hostility, politics of memorialisation and the national state as well as societal capacities.