Research workshop: Politics After War – New Research Avenues and Future Questions

On June 19, 2022, The Politics After War Network organised a research workshop at Millennium UN Plaza supported by the Folke Bernadotte Academy.

The workshop participants reflected on new research avenues, shared insights from ongoing projects and explored future collaborative opportunities related to the PAW-Network’s research profile. The workshop took place in connection with the UN DDR Chiefs’ Symposium and also generated fruitful discussions on the wider significance of the research network’s engagement with practitioners and policy field. More information on next steps will follow.

Participants:

Gyda Sindre, Mimmi Söderberg Kovacs, Carrie Manning, Ozem Tuncik, Matthew Whiting, Jacqui Cho, Devon Curtis, Véronique Dudouet, Lovise Aalen, John Ishiyama, Johanna Malm, Ashi Al-Khawati, Eric Mellado Åhlin, Ntagahoraho Burihabwa, Johanna-Maria Hulzer

Programme:

09.00-09.15: Introductory remarks – Gyda Sindre (PAW) and Johanna Malm (FBA)

Session 1: Book session – Chaired by Mimmi Söderberg Kovacs (Uppsala). Commentators: Matthew Whiting, John Ishiyama

1. Carrie Manning and Ozlem Tuncel: Parties, politics, peace: Electoral inclusion as peacebuilding
2. Gyda Sindre: Peacetime Governance: Former Rebels in Post-war Politics
3. Ntagahoraho Burihabwa: Continuity and Contingency’: The Conseil National Pour la Défense de la Démocratie – Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie (CNDD-FDD)’s rise to power in Burundi

Session 2: Field notes session: Perspectives & impressions on post-war politics from recent in-country research – Chaired by Gyda Sindre. Commentator: Lovise Allen

1. Mimmi Söderberg Kovacs: MILF in the transition from war to politics and the implementation of the 2014 peace accord
2. Jacqui Cho: Reflections from field research in Cameroon
3. Devon Curtis: When access to the (post)- conflict field is denied. How to navigate university risk assessments

Session 3&4: New project ideas and proposals I: Next steps in the agenda on studying post-war politics – Chaired by Johanna Malm.

1. John Ishiyama: Why do rebels renounce violence?
2. Matthew Whiting: Transitional justice and rebel to party transformation in Northern Ireland
3. Mimmi Söderberg Kovacs and Gyda Sindre: Islamist rebel parties and post-war governance
4. Lovise Aalen: Ethiopia: Social media, ethnic identities and violence
5. Véronique Dudouet: Non-violent resistance and political transitions