Bilateral and multilateral donors are increasingly focusing on strengthening social cohesion in efforts to build and sustain peace in conflict-affected societies. What does promoting social cohesion mean with respect to international engagement? This policy brief provides an overview of the...

How can countries emerging from a conflict be supported on their path towards peace and democracy? Although this question has been the focus of recent attention, it remains unclear exactly what factors are critical to the success of external engagement in fragile states. To this end, this study...

Civil wars and other armed conflicts within states kill tens of thousands of civilians every year, destroy many more livelihoods and have forced millions of people to flee their homes over the last five years alone. For many years since the mid-1990s, armed intrastate conflicts seemed to be...

Preventing crises and conflict recurrence in post-conflict societies remains a major concern for international politics. What exactly characterises post-conflict societies, and what are their chances to avoid renewed conflict? What does this mean for peacebuilding efforts, and what types of...

Jedes Jahr fallen Zehntausende Zivilisten Bürgerkriegen und anderen bewaffneten Konflikten zum Opfer; allein in den letzten fünf Jahren wurden Millionen von Menschen zur Flucht gezwungen. Seit Mitte der 1990er-Jahre schien die Zahl der innerstaatlichen Konflikte stetig zurückzugehen, seit...

Krisen und erneute Bürgerkriege in Post-Konflikt-Gesellschaften zu verhindern ist eine der zentralen Herausforderungen internationaler Politik. Was genau zeichnet Post-Konflikt-Gesellschaften aus, und welche Möglichkeiten gibt es, ein Wiederaufflammen von Gewalt zu verhindern? Was bedeutet...

Social cohesion is key for sustainable development. While social cohesion has suffered in many societies from the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, high levels of social cohesion have helped to overcome critical situations during the pandemic in other societies. As a consequence, protecting...

How can international actors effectively support peace after civil war? So far, empirical research has established that peacekeeping can be an effective instrument in maintaining peace, but little systematic knowledge exists on the roles that other types of peace support can play. International...

Societies that have experienced violent conflict face considerable challenges in building sustainable peace. One crucial question they need to address is how to deal with their violent past and atrocities that were committed – for example, whether perpetrators should be held accountable by...

Wie können internationale Akteure Friedensprozesse nach Bürgerkriegen erfolgreich unterstützen? Bisherige Untersuchungen zeigen, dass Friedenstruppen ein effektives Instrument zur Vermeidung eines Wiederausbruchs sind. Kaum erforscht ist, welche Rolle andere Formen der Friedensförderung...