Hauptinhalt

The Future of Building Peace

Zentrumstage 2026 / 25th Anniversary CCS

Detailed Programme

Day 1 | 22.10.2026

  • Vergangenheit und Gegenwart der Konfliktforschung in Marburg und Deutschland (16:00-17:30, 001 B|05), roundtable A

    Seit der Gründung vieler Institute und Zentren für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung haben sich die weltpolitischen Rahmenbedingungen sowie die institutionellen Voraussetzungen wissenschaftlicher Forschung grundlegend verändert. Anlässlich des 25-jährigen Bestehens des Zentrums für Konfliktforschung reflektiert das Panel die Transformationen der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten und diskutiert ihre zukünftigen Aufgaben. Hierzu werden Perspektiven des Forschungsfeldes sowie ehemaliger geschäftsführender Direktoren des Zentrums eingebracht, um Bilanz zu ziehen, Kontinuitäten und Brüche sichtbar zu machen und über die zukünftige Entwicklung des Feldes ins Gespräch zu kommen.

    - Prof. Dr. Mathias Bös (Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut für Soziologie | ehem. Geschäftsführender Direktor ZFK/CCS)
    - Prof. Dr. Ralf Zoll (Philipps Universität Marburg, Zentrum für Konfliktforschung ZFK/CCS | Gründer ZFK(CCS)
    - Dr. Thomas Held (Deutsche Stiftung Friedensforschung DSF | Geschäftsführer)
    - Prof. Dr. Ulrich Wagner (Philipps Universität Marburg, Sozialpsychologie | ehem. Geschäftsführender Direktor ZFK/CCS)

    Moderiert von Prof. Dr. Thorsten Bonacker (Philipps Universität Marburg, Zentrum für Konfliktforschung ZFK/CSS)

  • Critical Voices and Collective Actions for the Future of Peace and Conflict Studies (18:00-19:30, 001 B|05), roundtable B

    Collectives, initiatives, and networks in and around Peace and Conflict Studies discuss inclusion, representation, and structural change in academia. The roundtable explores how inequalities related to class, gender, race, age, hierarchy, and dominant epistemologies are challenged through collective action and critical engagement. Participants present their work and experiences before engaging in a discussion on fostering more inclusive, solidaristic, and epistemically just academic cultures, and on how these practices can shape the future of the field.

    - Dr. Roy Karadağ (University of Bremen, Institute of Intercultural and International Studies InIIS | KriSol)
    - Laura Kotzur (Free University of Berlin, INTERACT Center for Interdisciplinary Peace and Conflict Research | Editorial team of UNEINS magazine)
    - Dr. Philipp Lottholz (Marburg University, Center for Conflict Studies | AFK AK Herrschaftskritische Friedensforschung)
    - Andréa Noël (University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of Political Science | AFK Frauen*FLINTA Representative)
    - Dr. Patricia Rinck (University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Political Science | AFK AK Feminist Peace Research)
    - Dr.  Siddharth Tripathi (University of Erfurt, Postcolonial Hierarchies in Peace and Conflict | AFK Diversity Representative)

    Moderated by Nilgün Yelpaze (Marburg University, Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies CNMS | Center for Conflict Studies)

Reception (19:30, lobby B|05)

Day 2 | 23.10.2026

  • International Interventions for Peace and Security (09:30-11:00, 001 B|05), panel #1

    International intervention remains central to efforts to manage conflict and build peace. Bringing together perspectives on military interventions, UN peacekeeping, and international administrations, the panel examines how external actors shape post-conflict transitions, governance, and security. Contributions situate contemporary interventions within longer historical trajectories and analyse how securitisation frames conflicts and legitimises international engagement. The panel critically reflects on the promises and limitations of intervention, exploring its implications for sovereignty, authority, and local political orders.

  • Unequal Access to Political Power (09:30-11:00, 201 B|07), panel #2

    Sustainable peace requires addressing inequalities in both resources and political power. The panel examines unequal political influence across regions, political contexts, and levels of governance, asking how and why some groups gain greater voice in decision-making than others. Contributions explore disparities in representation, participation, and responsiveness in national, local, conflict-affected, and post-conflict settings, including the role of politicians’ backgrounds and incentives in shaping unequal political outcomes.

Coffee break (11:00-11:30, lobby B|05)

  • Environmental Conflicts: Varieties or Extraction? (11:30-13:00, 001 B|05), panel #3

    This panel reframes environmental conflicts as interconnected forms of extraction. While studies of these conflicts often operate in silos—divided by resource type (land, minerals, water, carbon)—they share common drivers: global demand, political economies of resource control, and uneven development. Framing these processes as environmental conflicts highlights shared consequences—dispossession, degradation, inequality—and the resistance they generate. Featuring experts on Latin America, Northern Africa, and Europe, the panel asks whether the concept of "environmental conflict" can enable productive dialogue, integrated understandings of extraction, and comparative perspectives on resistance and (social) contestation over (natural) resources.

  • Doing Human Rights in Migrant Societies (11:30-13:00, 201 B|07), panel #4

    Migration and displacement are often consequences of violent conflict and repression, but also forms of seeking safety, dignity, and peaceful futures. The panel examines how migrant and refugee communities claim protection, mobilise human rights frameworks, and rebuild everyday forms of peace across borders. Contributions explore diaspora experiences of violence, activism, legal strategies, and transnational networks of justice and peacebuilding, while reflecting on research methods and ethical challenges in working with displaced communities.

Lunch break (13:00-14:30) 

  • Postcolonial Hierarchies of Peace (14:30-16:00, 001 B|05), panel #5

    Postcolonial hierarchies of peace are examined through questions of whose visions of peace are prioritised, institutionalised, and legitimised in contemporary international politics. The contributions explore how colonial legacies shape peacebuilding norms and practices, and how current crises challenge dominant liberal peace paradigms. Focusing on global power asymmetries, legal regimes, epistemic hierarchies and the ways these are contested, alongside alternative visions of peace, the discussion rethinks whose peace is built, for whom, and under what conditions.

  • International Law, International Relations, and the Hope for Peace (14:30-16:00, 201 B|07), panel #6

    Amid declining confidence in the International Criminal Court and mounting challenges to the liberal international order, the future of international law, human rights and peacebuilding is under threat. This panel discusses the impact of current geopolitical power shifts and interventions in Venezuela and the Middle East. It examines the prospects for a rule-based order and explores ways in which human rights, the rule of law, and multilateral cooperation can be strengthened.

    Roundtable format

    -     Prof. Dr. Stefanie Bock (Marburg University, Marburg Law School | International Centre for War Crimes Trials)
    - Prof. Dr. Thilo Marauhn (University of Giessen, Public Law & International Law | Peace Research Institute Frankfurt PRIF)
    - Dr. Tareq Sydiq (Marburg University, Center for Conflict Studies)
    - Prof. Dr. Stefan Peters (University of Giessen, International Relations and Peace Research | Instituto CAPAZ) 
    - Prof. Dr. Jonas Wolff (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt PRIF | Goethe University Frankfurt)

    moderated by Prof. Dr. Anika Oettler (Marburg University, Institute for Sociology | Center for Conflict Studies)

Coffee break (16:00-16:30, lobby B|05) 

Reception (17:30, lobby B|05)

Day 3 | 24.10.2026

  • (Future of) Transitional Justice and Memory (09:30-11:00, 001 B|05), panel #7

    Transitional justice is examined during a period of shifting political, epistemic and institutional conditions. Moving beyond state-centred and legalistic approaches, contributions explore grassroots mobilisation, victim-centred practices and decolonial perspectives when addressing the legacies of mass violence and repression. Against a backdrop of post-truth politics, geopolitical tensions and pressure on civil society, this panel reflects on novel approaches to justice, memory, accountability and peacebuilding.

  • Navigating Conflict in the Classroom (09:30-11:00, 201 B|07), panel #8

    Education contributes to peacebuilding by shaping the knowledge, values and social relations that foster inclusion and understanding. In a time of increasing societal polarisation and conflict, classrooms have become contested spaces where political and social tensions emerge. Building on the initial findings of the Erasmus+ project NAVINCLASS and other contributions, this panel explores ways in which educators and students can engage constructively with conflict in the classroom.

Coffee break (11:00-11:30, lobby B|05)

  • Gender and Feminist Approaches to Peace (11:30-13:00, 001 B|05), panel #9

    Amid violent crises and growing backlash against gender equality, feminist and queer movements play a crucial role in envisioning peaceful societies. Drawing on perspectives from Africa, Latin America, and Eastern and Western Europe, the contributions explore the conditions for feminist mobilisation in the pursuit of peace, solidarity, care, and gender justice. The panel also examines how research on anti-feminism can inform political education and strengthen peace and democracy in times of nationalism and autocratisation.

    Roundtable format

    - Dr. Juliana González Villamizar (University of Giessen, International Relations and Peace Research)
    - Dr. Mariel Reiss (Marburg University, Center for Conflict Studies)
    - Dr. Inga Nüthen (University of Kassel, Department of Political Science, International Gender Policy and Qualitative Methods)
    - Elisabeth Winterer (Marburg University, Social and Cultural Anthropology)

    Moderated by Prof. Dr. Anika Oettler (Marburg University, Institute for Sociology | Center for Conflict Studies)

  • Engaging with Victims and Perpetrators (11:30-13:00, 201 B|07), panel #10

    Examining the blurred boundaries between victims and perpetrators, the panel explores their implications for peacebuilding and transitional justice. Contributions analyse why individuals participate in mass violence and what motivates victims to seek justice and reparations. Drawing on case studies from Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Guatemala, Morocco, and beyond, the panel investigates how structural conditions, emotions, and individual agency shape violence and its aftermath. It also considers how institutions and civil society engage with victims and perpetrators, offering new perspectives on accountability, reconciliation, and sustainable peacebuilding.

Lunch break (13:00-14:30)