03/2013 – Dialogue Series
We are happy to announce that a complete version of our Berghof Handbook Dialogue Series No. 10 Peace Infrastructures – Assessing Concept and Practice is now online. In addition to Ulrike Hopp-Nishanka’s lead article and responses by Oliver P. Richmond, Hannes Siebert and Borja Paladini Adell, you can now read our editors’ introduction and the final reflection by Ulrike Hopp-Nishanka.
This dialogue aims to leading the debate forward on the emerging practice and theory of “peace infrastructures”. The lead author and the respondents each give examples of peace infrastructures that they have been involved in as practitioners and/or academics, inviting for joint reflection on past experiences and possible practices for the future.
Drawing from examples from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa, Colombia, Lebanon and Cyprus, to name a few, the authors of this volume discusses whether and how peace should be given “an address”—and if so, how we best can support peace infrastructures while avoiding pitfalls.
The contributors enriches the debate on how we as practitioners and academics can proceed with thinking, conceptualizing and what to be aware of when engaging with the development of peace infrastructures
A first comment to this dialogue issue from our reader Silvia Danielak on the peace infrastructure in Kyrgyzstan will be uploaded soon. The print version of Dialogue No. 10 will be available shortly.
> Berghof Handbook Dialogue No.10 (complete version)
> Introduction (Barbara Unger and Stina Lundström)
> Reflection on response articles (Ulrike Hopp-Nishanka)
12/2012 –
The Berghof Foundation is happy to announce the release of The Art of Seeing: Investigating and Transforming Conflicts with Interactive Theatre by Hannah Reich. In her article, Hannah discusses the issues of uncertainty that remains central in post-war situations even though direct physical threats from through warring factions have been successfully brought to an end. Furthermore, the legacy of the war has to be dealt with. This legacy usually includes a society that is divided into different factions that have hardly any constructive relationships with each other and that lacks a ‘conflict culture’, which allows expressing, altering and transforming the different narrations of the past, the dissimilar perceptions of the present and the unalike visions of the future. This article, on the one hand, seeks to contribute to the debate on how culture can contribute to peacebuilding, by presenting an interactive theatrical group work and performance method called Forum Theatre as a possible format for intervention designed for post-war peacebuilding. This is due to its capacities to function as a tool for relationship-building between the formerly conflicting parties by 1) investigating the relationship, the differences, the attitudes, stereotypes and the forms of interaction, and by 2) building relationships through the process of participation in a joint project together. This twofold functionality explains why the traditional method of Forum Theatre has to be slightly altered and specified in order to accomplish the demands of constructive post-war peacebuilding. On the other hand, this article aims at taking the question about the particularities of the spaces we insert into conflict systems further by displaying the characteristics of the so called aesthetic space of interactive theatre, which might be useful for practitioners who unfold non-theatrical spaces for conflict transformation.
12/2012 – Dialogue Series
We are very pleased to announce the release of the three response articles to Ulrike Hopp-Nishanka’s contribution Giving Peace an Address? Reflections on the Potential and Challenges of Creating Peace Infrastructures in “Peace Infrastructures – Assessing Concept and Practice”, Berghof Handbook Dialogue Series No.10.
In this Dialogue Oliver P. Richmond, Hannes Siebert and Borja Paladini Adell add on to the debate from different perspectives, aiming to lead the debate forward on the emerging practice and theory of “peace infrastructures”. The authors each give examples of peace infrastructures that they have been involved in as practitioners and/or academics, inviting for joint reflection on past experiences and possible practices for the future.
Drawing from examples from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa, Colombia, Lebanon and Cyprus, to name a few, the authors discuss whether and how peace should be given “an address”—and if so, how we best can support peace infrastructures while avoiding pitfalls.
The contributors enrich the debate on how we as practitioners and academics can proceed with thinking, conceptualizing and what to be aware of when engaging with the development of peace infrastructures.
06/2012 – Dialogue Series
We are very pleased to announce the release of “Giving Peace an Address? Reflections on the Potential and Challenges of Creating Peace Infrastructures” by Ulrike Hopp-Nishanka. It is the lead article of our next Handbook Dialogue “Peace Infrastructures – Assessing Concept and Practice” to be published this fall.
The article defines and narrows the emergent concept of “Peace Infrastructures” as networks of organisations established by conflict parties with the aim of building peace. Thus, it argues, infrastructures for peace have a great potential to contribute to peacebuilding, by strengthening the ownership and commitment of the stakeholders to the conflict.
Building on earlier ideas of John Paul Lederach, the emerging concept sets out criteria to distinguish infrastructures from other important actors such as peace constituencies or civil society networks. This article argues that peace infrastructures serve different objectives and function at various stages of a peace process. By linking them vertically and horizontally, they can cover all levels of peacebuilding and constitute relevant entry points for peacebuilding support.
Given their particular characteristics, peace infrastructures, however, face diverse challenges with a view to legitimacy and inclusiveness, and depend on their owners’ political will and leadership. The article invites the reader to examine existing structures thoroughly in order to understand and enhance their contribution to peacebuilding in the future.
03/2012 – Miscellaneous
As of 2012 the former Berghof Conflict Research, Berghof Peace Support and Institute for Peace Education Tübingen (ift) have come together as part of a revamped Berghof Foundation. The Berghof Foundation has been given a new structure and organisational setting – merging the manifold operational competences in conflict research, peace support and peace education, being complemented with targeted grant-making that draws upon the traditional philanthropic funding provided by the Zundel family to further nurture peacebuilding and conflict transformation.
Currently everyone at Berghof Foundation is working hard to develop a new joint website. Within the coming weeks and months the content from our old websites (Berghof Foundation.de, Conflict Research, Peace Support, Friedenspaedagogik.de and Berghof Handbook) will be linked up and transferred to the new overarching Berghof Foundation.org. The existing websites will remain available during this transition period, until all the information has been made accessible on the new site. We apologize for any inconvenience.
02/2012 – Noteworthy Partner Publications
Berghof colleagues Véronique Dudouet, Hans J. Giessmann and Katrin Planta have just published the policy report “From Combatants to Peacebuilders: A case for inclusive, participatory and holistic security transitions”. It presents key lessons learnt and policy recommendations based on findings from the participatory research project “Non-state armed groups and security transition processes” (2009-2012), and takes futher issues of security sector reform and DDR in the context of post-war security transitions and transformations. The empirical findings of the report are based on thematic case studies written by local teams made up of researchers and former combatants in the contexts of South Africa, Colombia, El Salvador, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Burundi, Southern Sudan, Nepal and Aceh.
This report is complemented by a more comprehensive volume edited by the same authors and published by Routledge, freshly released. Make sure to check out “Post-War Security Transitions. Participatory Peacebuilding after Asymmetric Conflicts”!
Related contents in our Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation include Handbook Dialogue No. 2 on Security Sector Reform (published in 2004) as well as Herbert Wulf’s updated contribution in Advancing Conflict Transformation, The Berghof Handbook II (published in 2011).
01/2012 – Translations
Véronique Dudouet’s article on Nonviolent Resistance in Power Asymmetries, published in 2011 as part of the second print edition of the Berghof Handbook, is now also available in Spanish. We are very grateful to the initiative of Cambio Democrático (Argentina; member of Partners for Democratic Change International), who have prepared this translation in order to share it with their wider community of practice in Latin America. They have been kind enough to also share it with all of our readers, and we are looking forward to a fruitful exchange about the meeting points between nonviolent resistance and conflict transformation. Happy reading!
11/2011 – Noteworthy Partner Publications
Michelle Parlevliet, lead author for Dialogue No 9 on Human Rights and Conflict Transformation, has gone on to further explore this relationship. Collaborating with colleagues from GTZ, DED and the German Institute for Human Rights, she has written this brand new report: Connecting Human Rights and Conflict Transformation. Guidance for Development Practitioners. The overall thinking you’ll recognise if you are familiar with her Dialogue piece, but what’s interesting are the short examples drawn from programmes around the world. There are also some additional new points, notably about developments within the HR and the CR field. We wish you good reading!
10/2011 – Miscellaneous
It is now already three months since our esteemed colleague Dekha Ibrahim Abdi has passed on following a severe car accident. We continue to miss her presence. Alice Nderitu, like Dekha a contributor to our Berghof Handbook Dialogue Series, has written a moving testimony of Dekha’s life and work in Kenya which we would like to share with you. You can find a biography of the Right Livelihood Award winner here.
10/2011 – Articles
A new piece by Diana Francis completes our new online additions for the time being. In New Thoughts on Power: Closing the Gap between Theory and Action, she contrasts two familiar models of power: domination and cooperation. Arguing that the dominant concept of “power over” has given rise to a damaging global culture of militarism which blurs the line between pacification and peace, the author sketches a thought-provoking vision of how choosing instead to pursue “power with” could bring about a major paradigm shift. Drawing on real-life examples, she champions nonviolent assertiveness and asks: how much could “people power” achieve if it were taken as seriously as war now is?
10/2011 – Articles
The first new addition of this week is a contribution by Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church entitled Evaluating Peacebuilding: Not Yet All It Could Be. It assesses the quality of peacebuilding evaluation work being undertaken in a rapidly professionalizing field. The author gives several examples of good and bad practice and suggests that current evaluation practice is failing to foster accountability and learning quite as well as it could. She explores reasons why evaluation may fall short of established quality standards or stray from its explicitly stated purpose, offering recommendations for improvement to researchers, practitioners and donors alike. And with that, we have one more new addition to look forward to. Stay tuned!
10/2011 – Articles
The second “new entry” for this week is Susan Woodward’s critical and thought-provoking discussion of appraoches to state-building in the Western Balkans. Located in Section IV of the Handbook, Varieties of State-Building in the Balkans: A Case for Shifting Focus takes a critical look at the debate on state failure, examining the various ways that state-building programmes have impacted on the successor states of the former Yugoslavia. The author shows how unchallenged assumptions, unrealistic expectations and ignorance of local contexts can lead to political orders being imposed with little regard for domestic legitimacy or locally-driven solutions. Instead of explaining away the predictably poor outcomes, she suggests the need for critical appraisal of those driving the state-building agenda. (The article builds on ideas first contributed to Dialogue Series No 8.) Happy reading – and till next week, when the final two new articles from Berghof Handbook II will go online!
10/2011 – Articles
In Section V of our handbook you now find a new article on Transitional Justice and Reconciliation: Theory and Practice. In it, Martina Fischer outlines two major strands of activity aimed at helping societies come to terms with the legacy of a violent past. The emerging paradigm of transitional justice is broadened out to incorporate gender justice and the many different aspects of truth recovery. The concept of reconciliation is discussed in light of its relevance to conflict transformation, also addressing the problems posed by selective remembrance, denial and victimhood. Systematically, open questions are explored and the need for more practice-orientated research is stressed. Enjoy the read – and look forward to more to come (on state-building in the Western Balkans, on evaluation, and on power).
09/2011 – Articles
A fresh perspective on mediation is delivered by Hans J. Giessmann and Oliver Wils in their contribution to Advancing Conflict Transformation, the second print volume of the Berghof Handbook. In Seeking Compromise? Mediation through the Eyes of Conflict Parties, they adopt an empathetic view on mediation from the perspective of conflict parties who may or may not choose to engage in it. Addressing five crucial questions – why, when, where and from whom third-party mediation might be sought, and what results are expected of it – the authors draw up recommendations for those trying to offer or support mediation processes. They put special emphasis on the role of insider mediators and the need for multi-partiality. This article is nicely complemented by Ron Fisher’s contribution Methods of Third-Party Intervention, also part of the 2011 print volume of the Berghof Handbook. Enjoy!
09/2011 – Articles
This week’s first new online addition from Berghof Handbook II is Gender Relations, Violence and Conflict Transformation by Cilja Harders. The article in Section I makes the case for taking gendered views of conflict, violence, war and peace as a basic prerequisite of conflict transformation. In examining the relation between masculinities, femininities and violence, as well as the links between structure and agency, the author highlights the dangers of assuming ‘natural’ gender behaviour. She stresses the need for women and men to be able to live a plurality of roles and identities. She also outlines ways in which conflict transformation could be improved by fully integrating gender issues into its analysis.
Happy reading, and, as always, let us know your thoughts and reactions.
09/2011 – Articles
This week, we’re featuring two brand new articles on the state of the art of conflict transformation and new trends in organised violence. Both have been written for the latest print volume of the Berghof Handbook, Advancing Conflict Transformation. They are taking stock of what has been achieved in worldwide reduction of violence, and at the same time point to open questions for research, policy and practice:
Louis Krieberg’s The State of the Art in Conflict Transformation in Section I points to several key concepts from the emergent field of conflict transformation, showing how its ideas and approaches are increasingly being brought into the mainstream. While acknowledging these achievements, the author also cautions that they are sometimes applied inappropriately and highlights the need for further improving the research, coordination and general awareness of conflict transformation options.
In A More Violent World? Global Trends in Organised Violence, a team from the Human Security Report Project – Tara Cooper, Sebastian Merz and Mila Shah - presents robust quantitative data challenging the widespread notion that worldwide trends in violent conflict are increasing. This reflects changes in the nature of warfare, but also points to some possible successful outcomes of recent peacebuilding work. The analysis extends beyond state-based conflicts to also cover non-state actors involved in conflict and assaults that target civilians. You’ll find the article in Articles, Section II.
Happy reading! You may look forward to new articles on gender relations and mediation to go online next week…
09/2011 – Noteworthy Partner Publications
We are pleased to inform you that Daniela Körppen and Norbert Ropers – co-editor and lead author of our Handbook Dialogue No 6 – have just published a new book on systemic conflict transformation, together with Hans J. Giessmann. The Non-Linearity of Peace Processes – Theory and Practice of Systemic Conflict Transformation is the first comprehensive volume analysing the value added by integrating systemic thinking into peacebuilding theory and practice. It aims to link the most recent debates in the peacebuilding field, e.g. on liberal peace, on the non-linearity of conflict dynamics and on bridging the attribution gap, with various systemic discourses, discussing the extent to which systemic thinking and methods are helpful to further develop existing approaches to conflict transformation. Against the background of different case studies, practitioners and scholars frame their various understandings of systemic thinking and present a great variety of systemic concepts, such as systems theory, systemic action research and constellation work. More details can be found here.
08/2011 – Articles
12 revised and upated articles – which are published in hard copy as part of Advancing Conflict Transformation. Berghof Handbook II – are now also available online. They are distributed across the 5 thematic sections of the online Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation as follows:
Section I on Concepts and Cross-Cutting Challenges now contains new versions of – Conflict, Change and Conflict Resolution by Christopher R. Mitchell
– Civil Society in Conflict Transformation: Strengths and Limitations by Martina Fischer
– Potential and Limits of Traditional Approaches in Peacebuilding by Volker Boege
– A Systemic Approach: Reflections on Sri Lanka by Norbert Ropers
Section II on Analysing Conflict and Assessing Conflict Transformation now contains a new version of
– “Frameworkers” and “Circlers” – Exploring Assumptions in Impact Assessment by Reina C. Neufeldt
Section III on Third-Party Tools and Capacity Building now contains new versions of
– Nonviolent Resistance in Power Asymmetries by Véronique Dudouet
– Preparing for Nonviolence: Experiences in the Western Balkans by Nenad Vukosavljevic
– Methods of Third-Party Intervention by Ronald J. Fisher
– Training for Conflict Transformation – An Overview of Approaches by Beatrix Austin
Section IV on Structural Reforms, Institution-Buiding and Violence Control now contains new versions of
– Security Sector Reform in Developing and Transitional Countries Revisited by Herbert Wulf
– Conflict Transformation and the Corporate Agenda – Opportunities for Synergy by Luc Zandvliet
Section V, finally, on Post-Conflict Regeneration and Reconciliation now contains a new version of
– Human Rights and Conflict Transformation: Towards a More Integrated Approach by Michelle Parlevliet
The final installment of the new additions to the print edition Advancing Conflict Transformation. The Berghof Handbook II will follow in due course. For now, we wish you happy reading and exploring!
07/2011 – Articles
As the first in the series of all articles from the newly published Berghof Handbook II (Advancing Conflict Transformation), the foreword and introduction are now available online. We hope they whet your appetite for the pieces to come over the next couple of months! Enjoy.
07/2011 – Articles
It is with great pleasure that we announce that the second print volume of our Berghof Handbook has now been published and is on its way to the bookstores. It collects new insights into nonviolent ways of managing inter-group conflict and what is needed for consolidating positive peace. It brings you 20 new or revised articles not previously available in print and continues our tradition of gathering scholars and practitioners in one conversation. Topics include, among others: global trends in organised violence, the role of gender relations and asymmetries in conflict, third-party intervention and insider approaches, human rights, transitional justice and reconciliation in post-war societies.
The book details are as follows:
Advancing Conflict Transformation. The Berghof Handbook II
edited by B. Austin; M. Fischer; H.J. Giessmann
Opladen/Farmington Hills: Barbara Budrich Publ., 2011
560 pp.
ISBN 978-3-86649-327-8
49,90 Euro, US$75.95, GBP 46.95
Over the course of the summer, we will also successively make available on this website the single chapters of this edition as pdf downloads, starting with the Introduction.
For more information, please check out the flyer flyer and the table of contents. You can order via publisher’s homepage or your online booksellers.
05/2011 – Miscellaneous
We are currently installing new features that will make it easier for you to share your favourite Handbook articles and dialogues, and to stay up-to-date with Handbook news and new additions! Please bear with us during this “live operation”…
04/2011 – Miscellaneous
We’re counting the weeks now until the new print edition of the Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation will be published. Forthcoming in May 2011 with Barbara Budrich Publishers, “Advancing Conflict Transformation. The Berghof Handbook II” collects new insights into nonviolent ways of managing inter-group conflict and what is needed for consolidating positive peace. A sneak preview and teaser can be found here – we will keep you posted!
03/2011 – Noteworthy Partner Publications
Michelle Parlevliet writes at the end of her lead article in Berghof Handbook Dialogue 9 that “this article has concentrated on intra-state conflict and has highlighted the role of the state in relation to citizens. It has, however, not engaged with other facets of reality that also characterize many contemporary conflicts, such as cross-border linkages and the role of non-state actors including customary institutions (traditional leaders, informal justice systems) and other social entities (e.g. war lords, religious movements, gang leaders).” A new edition of Conciliation Resources’ Accord series takes up this issue of cross-border dynamics. In Accord 22 – Paix sans frontières / building peace across borders – the editors and contributors explore “how peacebuilding strategies and capacity need to ‘think outside the state’: beyond it, through regional engagement; and below it, through cross-border community or trade networks. And it looks at how beyond and below can be connected”. Case studies focus on East and Central Africa, the South Caucasus, West Africa, Kashmir, the Middle East and Central America.
We find: a volume dedicated to bringing conflict transformation closer to today’s changing challenges! Ultimately, combining work on the state, beyond and below it will be the mix that it takes.
12/2010 – Miscellaneous
We would like to wish our colleagues and friends all around the world a happy holiday season and all the best for the New Year. At Berghof Conflict Research, we are looking forward to continue our work for creating spaces for conflict transformation with you. The Berghof Handbook team, furthermore, is excited to begin the New Year with a major new publication: forthcoming in early 2011 is the new print volume of our Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation, entitled “Advancing Conflict Transformation. The Berghof Handbook II”. It addresses new challenges and gathers insightful contributions by many experienced scholars and practitioners. Among the contributors are John Paul Lederach, a team from the Human Security Report Project (Tara Cooper, Sebastian Merz and Mila Shah), Louis Kriesberg, Christopher Mitchell, Norbert Ropers, Cilja Harders, Ronald Fisher, Oliver Wils, Véronique Dudouet, Nenad Vukosavljevic, Susan Woodward, Volker Boege, Herbert Wulf, Luc Zandvliet, Michelle Parlevliet, Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church, Reina Neufeldt, Diana Francis, and the editors Beatrix Austin, Martina Fischer and Hans J. Giessmann. Happy Holidays!
11/2010 – Noteworthy Partner Publications
George Wachira of the Nairobi Peace Initiative recounts the peacebuilding activities of Concerned Citizens for Peace in Kenya, in “Citizens in Action. Making Peace in the Post-Election Crisis in Kenya – 2008”, co-published by the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC).
His account complements the reflections of another member of Concerned Citizens for Peace, Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, who contributed to Berghof Handbook Dialogue No 6 on A Systemic Approach to Conflict Transformation.
We think: an insight into the many small steps (forward and sideways) that are necessary to transform violence into peacebuilding potential, and a reminder that it takes people who take responsibility and mindful action!
Note: Dialogue 6 has just been reprinted; hard copies therefore remain available for ordering at the Berghof Center.
10/2010 – Noteworthy Partner Publications
Recently, PRIO’s Peaceethics Forum has hosted a discussion which resonates strongly with our latest Dialogue issue on Human Rights and Conflict Transformation: The Challenges of Just Peace. The debate centres on “Peace vs. Justice? The Dilemma of Peace and Justice in Post-conflict Societies in Africa: Lessons from Sudan and Kenya”, with a lead contribution by Kwesi Aning and Ernest Ansah Lartey, and comments by Chandra Sriram Lekha, Abdelbagi Jibril and the Berghof Handbook editor Beatrix Austin. Issues covered are how to properly include justice demands in peace agreements, what the role of political elites is in shaping decisions on justice and peacebuilding and how retributive and restorative justice can become complementary approaches – among many others.
We find: for those interested in continuing the discussion and learning more about concrete ways of addressing the delicate balance of peace and justice in different regions, the Peaceethics Discussion Forum is well worth visiting.
10/2010 – Noteworthy Partner Publications
Conciliation Resources has published, in the latest issue of its Accord Series, an in-depth analysis of the Somali peace processes: Whose Peace Is It Anyway? This issue discusses, for the case of Somalia, many of the points raised in our own Berghof Handbook Dialogue No 8 – Building Peace in the Absence of States.
The issue editors of Accord 21, Mark Bradbury and Sally Healy, have brought together over 30 articles including interviews with Somali elders and senior diplomats with the African Union, the UN and IGAD, and contributions from Somali and international peacemaking practitioners, academics, involved parties, civil society and women’s organisations. The contributions illustrate that while for many people Somalia is synonymous with violence, warlordism, famine, terrorism, jihadism, and piracy, Somalia is not an entirely lawless and ungoverned land. On the one hand, nearly 20 years of foreign diplomatic, military and state-building interventions have failed to build peace. No government emerging from any internationally-sponsored peace process has established its authority or legitimacy among Somalis. On the other, Somalis have used their own resources and traditions of conflict resolution to re-establish security and governance in many communities.
We find: highly recommended reading.
06/2010 – Dialogue Series
Handbook Dialogue No 9 – Human Rights and Conflict Transformation. The Challenges of Just Peace – can now be ordered in hard copy for 7,50 € (+postage) via email at the Berghof Center.
06/2010 – Dialogue Series
We are very pleased to announce the release of Berghof Handbook Dialogue No 9: “Human Rights and Conflict Transformation: The Challenges of Just Peace”. While the relationship between human rights protection and conflict transformation may seem straightforward, it is not an easy one. Over and over again, the question has been asked whether the two share a common agenda or actually pursue competing goals. Contributors to this Dialogue aim to go beyond the divide and polarising language of “peace versus justice” in order to gain a clearer understanding of the potential – and limits – of bringing together human rights and conflict transformation in specific contexts. Drawing evidence from contexts such as Nepal, South Africa, Israel/Palestine, Uganda and Colombia, they argue that a more thorough emphasis on human rights – as causes and manifestation of conflicts, but also as normative and practical intervention tools – contributes to bringing conflict transformation closer to its aim of tackling conflicts at their deepest roots. The lead author and her respondents engage in a rich dialogue on areas of tensions as well as complementarity between the two sets of practices: they encourage mutual learning and joint work, and stress the importance of locally-designed, timely and context-specific initiatives, as well as of hard-nosed analysis of the political context and use of human rights and conflict transformation discourses.
01/2010 – Miscellaneous
We’re pleased to present you a new look for the Handbook website, which has been re-launched together with its “parent” organisation, Berghof Conflict Research (formerly known as the Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management). Don’t hestitate to let us hear your feedback, but we hope you will enjoy the sleek new design, improved cross-referencing along with continued easy access to all the resources you’ve grown used to in the past. And don’t forget to also check out http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org. Happy new year!
09/2009 – Articles
We proudly present a new article in Section V: Rethinking Conflict Transformation from a Human Rights Perspective by Michelle Parlevliet. This article moves beyond the stereotype of “justice vs. peace” and proposes that applying a perspective of human rights brings conflict transformation closer to its aims – by forcing greater emphasis on structural conditions, especially the role of the state, systems of governance and issues of power. It discusses practical demands and dilemmas of an integrated approach, focusing on asymmetric conflicts, resistance to change and role clarity. It offers a wealth of examples from the author’s own work in South Africa, Nepal and Northern Ireland. It also includes an annex with an extensive review of past literature on human rights and conflict resolution.
04/2009 – Dialogue Series
Handbook Dialogue No 8 – Building Peace in the Absence of States: Challenging the Discourse on State Failure – can now be ordered in hard copy for 7,50 € (+postage) via email at the Berghof Center.
04/2009 – Dialogue Series
We proudly present Berghof Handbook Dialogue No 8, titled Building Peace in the Absence of States: Challenging the Discourse on State Failure. The exchange between the lead authors and the discussants in this dialogue vividly illustrates the need to shift from a state-centric view, yet without entirely rejecting the notion of state. At the same time it shows the difficulties of integrating concepts of political order that do not correspond with the western-style Weberian/Westphalian state. Instead of advocating ideal-type, off-the-shelf models and blue-prints, the contributors to this dialogue argue that historically well-informed analysis, which leads to a deeper contextualized understanding of the local and regional situation on the ground, has to be the bedrock of any attempts for external assistance aimed at peace and development. They discuss evidence and counter-examples from Somaliland, Afghanistan, Liberia through to the Balkans and East Timor.
03/2009 – Miscellaneous
We are pleased to announce that the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies, whose financial support helps us to keep developing this Handbook, has a new website. For more information, please visit http://www.berghof-foundation.de. The Foundation is also currently planning to prepare a funder’s response to our latest Berghof Handbook Dialogue, Peacebuilding at a Crossroads…
02/2009 – Dialogue Series
Handbook Dialogue No 7 Peacebuilding at a Crossroads? Dilemmas and Paths for Another Generation can now be ordered in hard copy for 7,50 € (+postage) via email at the Berghof Center.
02/2009 – Translations
We are very pleased to present a new addition in Arabic! The translation of Martina Fischer’s Article on Civil Society and Conflict Transformation is hopefully the first of more to come.
01/2009 – Dialogue Series
The Berghof Handbook presents Dialogue No. 7: Peacebuilding at a Crossroads? Dilemmas and Paths for Another Generation. In it, practitioners and researchers reflect on the conditions of success or failure in peacebuilding and conflict transformation. The lead article expresses a lingering worry that complex economic and environmental crises, international factors of violence and war, and an underlying ‘murkiness’ of values may overwhelm the best efforts for social change and create a feeling that we are “just wasting our time”. The comments emphasize that values and approaches – as well as the international context, power politics and injustice – should be the objects of critical analysis. Investment in learning, honest self-reflection and critical peace research appear to be a must for effective practice. Others stress a need for more effective public mobilization for the effective prevention of violence. Many additional questions are raised and present food for thought for an ongoing debate.
09/2008 – Articles
Berghof’s own Veronique Dudouet offers an exciting new contribution to the Handbook’s Section III: Her article Nonviolent Resistance and Conflict Transformation in Power Asymmetries explores the contexts and conditions in which nonviolent resistance can contribute to successful and sustainable conflict transformation processes. She introduces the concept, aims and methods of nonviolent action and explores conceptual and empirical developments across the 20th and 21st centuries. Furthermore, she illustrates the potential and limits of nonviolent resistance in transforming asymmetric power structures and in encouraging democratic practices, using the example of the Palestinian first intifada in the Israeli/Palestinian struggle.
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