Category Archives: highlight list

Our latest policy paper outlines pathways to ending the violence and creating an inclusive Sudanese society. Read a summary of the paper and four key takeaways here and dive deeper into the paper linked below.

Since the escalation of the conflict in Sudan in April 2023, the state has been on the brink of collapse. Fighting has killed an estimated over 600 people, wounded 11,796, and evicted more than 2.8 million from their homes as of June estimates by the UN.

Ending the fighting and giving the Sudanese people’s access to humanitarian support should be the highest priority for all national and international stakeholders. At the same time, the current collapse of Sudan’s governing system creates opportunities to rebuild the political system towards a civilian led inclusive governance system. As the Jeddah talks convened by Saudi Arabia and the United States continues to stumble without any meaningful progress, our policy paper reflects on alternate pathways to ending the violence and creating an inclusive post-conflict settlement.

Sudanese civilian actors might want to start preparing such a civilian led inclusive political transition process. Preparing to push for a civilian-led political transition will be key for creating an inclusive, sustainable peace in Sudan. This preparation includes among other aligning visions for Sudan’s political future and establishing strong civilian leadership.

African governments should now start collaborating towards ending the violence and supporting the installation of a civilian led inclusive government. The international community should stand ready to support such an African led initiative as well as enable civil society to contribute.

To guide this preparatory phase, this policy paper analyses the drivers of the current conflict and identifies entry points for Sudanese civilian actors, particularly women and the international community.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The conflict in Sudan is not only caused by the power struggle between two armed factions, but as well the result of a dysfunctional state and a long history of divide and rule. Understanding the underlying constraints to a peaceful political transition in Sudan process is key in order for civilian actors to strategize
  • There is a need to be more complementary across the various diplomatic efforts at regional and international level to date, and to be more creative in how inclusivity is pursued (both in process and outcome). The international community needs to put aside traditional approaches to ending the violence and peacemaking in Sudan – many of which have largely been tried in Sudan before over the past three decades, and many of which have contributed to the point the country finds itself at. Different outcomes require fundamentally different processes, including support to civilian-led pathways.
  • Evidence suggests that local ceasefires with limited scope can be effective in halting violence and enhance the population’s access to humanitarian support. Civil society actors and women could push for such local ceasefires wherever possible, ensuring that the ceasefires are both substantively and procedurally inclusive.
  • Next to pushing for civilian inclusion into ceasefires and formal negotiation processes, Sudan’s civil society and other civilian actors could establish their own civilian led peace process to end the violence and lead the country back on a pathway to an inclusive democratic civilian led transition

 

Photo: UNAMID – Olivier Chassot

Policy Paper,

Entry Points Towards Ending Violence, Inclusive Peacemaking, and Democratic Transition in Sudan

The escalation of armed hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on 15 April 2023 have pushed Sudan to the brink of collapse. This policy paper considers potential scenarios for the country's political development in the short- and medium-term and identifies seven entry points for furthering inclusive peacemaking in Sudan.

July 2023|Philip Poppelreuter, Thania Paffenholz, Alexander Bramble,

Download Pdfview document

Transitional justice processes play a pivotal role in addressing past wrongs, holding perpetrators accountable, and providing reparations to victims. The processes are complex and challenging, which require the cooperation and commitment of various stakeholders.

In this Inclusive Peace learning we have outlined the seven most common constraints and how civil society organisations and faith-based actors can work on the mitigation of these challenges with country examples. These learnings are based on our comparative knowledge from peace processes worldwide.

The seven constraints to inclusive transitional justice processes include (but are not limited to)

→ conflict party resistance
→ disagreement on adequate forms of punishment and reparation
→ recording and documentation
→ internal divisions among victims
→ instrumentalisation and victimisation
→ victims’ exclusion
→lack of resources

Seven constraints to inclusive transitional justice processes

Conflict Party Resistance
Resistance from parties involved in the conflict is one of the major constraints of transitional justice processes. The resistance can manifest in various forms, from attempts to obstruct accountability mechanisms, the unwillingness to cooperate with investigations to actively undermining the truth-seeking efforts. The lack of cooperation from key actors can make it difficult to achieve justice and reconciliation.

Disagreement on Adequate Forms of Punishment and Reparation
Transitional justice processes often encounter challenges in determining the appropriate forms of punishment and reparation for perpetrators and victims, respectively. Stakeholders may have different opinions on what constitutes justice, leading to tensions and disagreements. For example, societies may be divided on issues like capital punishment, amnesty, or alternative forms of justice such as truth commissions or community-based reconciliation. Likewise, disagreements may arise regarding the extent and scope of reparations, creating tensions among stakeholders seeking to achieve justice while promoting societal healing.

Recording and Documentation
After a period of conflict, evidence may be lost or destroyed, making it difficult to identify perpetrators and bring them to justice. Insufficient documentation can undermine the credibility of a transitional justice process. Accurate and comprehensive documentation is vital to any successful transitional justice process.

Internal Divisions among Victims
It is common for conflict situations to fracture societies and result in victims belonging to different ethnic, religious, and social groups being siloed. As a result of these divisions, the solidarity necessary to pursue justice collectively can encounter barriers. Furthermore, some victims would prefer retributive justice, which seeks harsh punishment for perpetrators, while others would be interested in restorative justice, which emphasises healing and reconciliation.

Instrumentalisation and Victimisation
Transitional justice processes can be manipulated for political gain by elites and others with vested interests. These actors may use the justice system to target political opponents or avoid accountability themselves, while victims may face further victimisation such as through re-traumatisation or stigmatisation if they participate in justice-seeking initiatives.

Victims’ Exclusion
In many cases, marginalised groups, such as women, minorities, or indigenous people, are excluded from transitional justice processes, which poses a significant challenge to its legitimacy and effectiveness. This can lead to the continued marginalisation of these groups leaving them feeling helpless and unsatisfied, which would hinder efforts to achieve a comprehensive and inclusive reconciliation.

Lack of Resources
Transitional justice processes are time-consuming, requiring adequate funding and infrastructure. Many countries emerging from conflict may lack the necessary financial and human resources to establish and sustain effective justice mechanisms. This limitation can result in delayed or compromised justice outcomes, furthering the frustration of victims and impeding the path to lasting peace.

Want to learn more about transitional justice?

In our blog series, PEACEBUILDING LESSON, Transitional justice and reconciliation expert Tecla Namachanja shares her experience of the use of various mechanisms found in Kenya to provide support to those who suffered violent conflict and human rights violations.

 

Top featured photo: “Enhancing Relationships in The Gambia” by Diplomatic Security Service is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

In the framework of our “Enhancing Women’s Leadership for Sustainable Peace in Fragile Contexts in the MENA region” project in collaboration with UN Women, over the past two years Inclusive Peace has been working on an overarching body of research exploring how to make peace and political transition processes more meaningfully inclusive and gender-responsive, and how this in turn can increase the likelihood that these processes give rise to sustainable inclusive outcomes. This work has resulted in a series of publications ‒ a research report, a policy brief and four research papers ‒ that are summarised below:

The report Transfer from Track Two Peacebuilding to Track One Peace-making: A Focus on Yemen and Syria and its companion policy brief present insights about transfer from track two peacebuilding to track one peace-making activity in Yemen and Syria. They discuss five main obstacles and barriers to transfer between track two and track one and encourage researchers and practitioners to rethink, refine, and clarify the concept of transfer to promote participatory, homegrown peacebuilding and peacemaking.

The paper Reaching an Inclusive Truce: Gendering Ceasefires reviews and edits gender provisions drawn from ceasefire texts around the world to provide both language and an approach to render ceasefire texts and their constituent provisions more gender inclusive, and examines existing literature on gender and ceasefires. The overall analysis results in 15 concrete strategies, which promote inclusive ceasefire negotiation processes and inclusive, gender-responsive outcomes.

The paper A Practical Guide to a Gender-Inclusive National Dialogue fosters understanding of how to make a National Dialogue truly inclusive of women and gender responsive. It describes process design and context factors that can affect women’s opportunities in a dialogue as well as strategies to counteract resistance to the meaningful inclusion and influence of women and gender. A spectrum is introduced to differentiate between levels of gender-inclusiveness.

The paper Protection of Women Peacebuilders in Conflict and Fragile Settings in the MENA Region identifies the offline and online risks and threats that women peacebuilders and activists from the MENA region encounter in their daily work. A thorough review of the gaps and best practices in existing protection regimes points to twelve entry points for enhancing women peacebuilders’ protection.

The paper Using Temporary Special Measures for Inclusive Processes and Outcomes examines the capacity of temporary special measures (TSMs) to render peace negotiation processes more gender inclusive and to promote political, economic, and social gender equality in the post-agreement phase, including ways to counteract patriarchal backlash and transform patriarchal norms. The analysis gives rise to thirteen lessons on how to design effective TSMs, which can help to foster sustainable inclusive outcomes.

 

“_D3S9439” by U.S. Embassy Jerusalem is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Our team is sharing various books and a podcast, which kept them turning the pages and listening to most episodes.

Read

Cho Nam-Joo, Kim Ji-young, Born 1982

Kim Ji-young, whose name is the Korean equivalent of “Jane Doe”, experiences a life that is both crushingly banal and nightmarish. An initial dissociative episode is the start of a descent into multi-personality madness, clinically chronicled by her psychiatrist, through which Ji-young comes to represent the unheard everywoman in South Korea.

The novel shines a glaring light on endemic sexism, misogyny, and institutional discrimination in the country, and shows how they are tied into many other socio-economic issues. The book is up there with Bong Joon-ho’s film Parasite in the vanguard of South Korean cultural social criticism.

Recommended by Alex Bramble

The Peacebuilding Puzzle

A book I think about often and have occasionally returned to (though not as much as I would like), it provides a compelling analysis of why international investments in peacebuilding have not led to sustainable outcomes, chiefly because they have been co-opted by or have failed to transform dominant modes of power and influence associated with the political economy of conflict, and associated modes of governance. While approaching in on 10 years old, the analysis in the book remains highly relevant.

Recommended by Alex Shoebridge

Risk Savvy, Gerd Gigerenzer

This book is about how in an age of data and information overload we can manage risks and uncertainty (which the author shows are not the same) and become more risk savvy. Often it is simple rules of thumb, knowing how to read and communicate the risks well, and trusting our intuition, that can guide us much better than so called “experts” can. An easy, straight-forward and often funny read.

Recommended by Rainer Gude

Listen

The Mediator’s Studio

This podcast is from the Oslo Forum. It gives the space to practitioners in diplomacy and peacebuilding to share their experiences of mediation/negotiation behind closed doors.

Recommended by Tamar Tkemaladze

Our team has selected books and webinars that they found interesting, engaging and informative to enjoy this month.

Read

The Earth Transformed, Peter Frankopan

The book explores the interactions between human societies and the environment, with a particular focus on how closely the environment has shaped human civilisation. Impressive in its sweeping scope. I haven’t yet finished; I have a sneaking suspicion the news at the end isn’t going to be great…

Recommended by Alex Bramble

Monocle’s The Foreign Desk, “The Good Friday Agreement 25 years on”

A critical look back at how the Good Friday Agreement was achieved, the intended and unintended consequences of the Agreement on political and social dynamics since, and some remaining questions regarding pathways to reconciliation and collaborative governance.

Recommended by Alex Shoebridge

The Swarm by Frank Schätzing

Having already reached the status of a classic in Germany, this novel makes you think about what the consequences of the destruction of the earth’s ecological balance could look like further down the road. Thrilling and disturbing.

Recommended by Philip Poppelreuter

Transformative Scenario Planning, Adam Kahane

Sometimes instead of just adapting to the future, we need to take a step back, create a diverse group of people from across the whole spectrum, and start imagining different scenarios of what could (not should) happen. In that slow process, new ideas can be planted and eventually grown that can help transform systems. Some interesting anecdotes and good examples as well.

Recommended by Rainer Gude

Listen

Queen’s University Belfast’s Agreement 25 conference

To mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (B/GFA), Queen’s University Belfast hosted a three-day conference under four themes:
celebrating the achievements of those who signed the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (GFA), recognising the role of women in peace building, amplifying the voice of the next generation of young leaders, and creating a dialogue that proposes and considers social and economic solutions to the major issues that will impact the region over the next 25 years. On Day 2, the one event “Media in Conflict and Peace” looked at the role journalism played from the Troubles to the present day.

Recommended by Wairimu Wanjau

This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement (GFA) in Northern Ireland, which was signed on 10 April. The specific peace process that gave rise to the GFA, as well as events during the 30 years before the GFA and in the 25 years since are an excellent illustration of how building peace is a perpetual, non-linear process, involving constant negotiation and re-negotiation of the social and political contract, marked by a mixture of progress, resistance, and setbacks.

Paving the way for the GFA: Northern Ireland’s protracted official peace process(es)

During the 30 or so years of conflict known as “the Troubles”, there was a series of formal attempts at reaching a constitutional settlement to reconcile loyalist (unionist) and republican (nationalist) divides. While they did not resolve any major substantive issues, they did lay the groundwork for the GFA process by improving and institutionalising Anglo–Irish cooperation at the inter-governmental level, and reaching a consensus on the main topics and discussion strands future negotiations would address, including devolved democratic institutions in Northern Ireland, formal bodies dedicated to North–South relations (Northern Ireland and Ireland), and structures dedicated to institutional East–West cooperation (the United Kingdom and Ireland). The two Governments outlined these themes in a comprehensive set of proposals, the “Frameworks Document,” which served as a blueprint for the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

The GFA process itself was also far from plain sailing. The IRA’s attack in London in February 1996, ending its ceasefire, meant that while Sinn Féin still contested the election to the Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue it was initially barred from attending the multi-party talks. Elections in the UK in May 1997 and in Ireland in June 1997 catalysed the peace process: the new Labour Government in the UK was better placed to temper the suspicions of nationalists in Northern Ireland about the UK Government’s commitment to the process, and it had a more solid parliamentary base for engagement in the process; the new Irish Fianna Fáil government was in a better position to deal decisively with the republican movement due to its traditional association with the ideals of republicanism. In July 1997, the IRA announced the renewal of its ceasefire, prompting an invitation to Sinn Féin to join the multi-party talks. Despite a brief withdrawal of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), substantive negotiations began in October 1997. After all-night discussions and a 17- hour extension of the deadline, the talks resulted in the signing of the GFA on 10 April 1998.

The political Rubik’s Cube: navigating the post-GFA political landscape

The GFA is a multifaceted agreement dealing with issues relating to sovereignty, governance, decommissioning and security, policing and the judiciary, and discrimination. In addition to establishing formal institutions across these thematic areas, it also established a devolved system of government in Northern Ireland comprising a legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly (“Stormont”), and a power-sharing executive – the Executive Committee – run by a duumvirate appointed by the two largest parties in the Assembly.

Yet, the political settlement ushered in by the GFA has proved highly contested; Northern Irish politics has remained extremely polarised, and there have been multiple collapses of the executive (which has now not functioned for over a third of its lifespan) and suspensions of the Assembly since 1998. Renewed talks in 2006 attempted to provide a road map (the 2007 St Andrews Agreement) towards addressing the major bones of contention, chiefly the acceptance of devolved policing and the rule of law for Sinn Féin, and the acceptance of power sharing for the DUP. The power-sharing arrangement subsequently was slightly more stable, until circumstances – notably the result of the referendum in June 2016, on the United Kingdom leaving the European Union – once again muddied the constitutional waters. The power-sharing arrangement was suspended for three years in 2017 following a crisis over a renewable energy payments scandal, before being uneasily restored. Brexit provoked another collapse in early 2022 that is yet to be resolved; whether the February 2023 Windsor Framework for post-Brexit trading arrangements can do so remains to be seen.

Healing a divided and changing society

The inherent weaknesses in the power-sharing arrangement are both rooted in and reflect the fact that societal tensions are yet to be fully reconciled. While efforts at peace-making and peacebuilding in Northern Ireland have significantly attenuated generations of violent inter-communal division in Northern Ireland, ongoing sectarian tension – including a lack of integration and cohabitation amongst communities and, in recent years, disputes over the use of flags and symbols, parades and marches that showcase sectarian identities, welfare and police reforms, the arrest of Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams in 2014, and the Irish National Language Act – is both a symptom and a cause of ongoing distrust between loyalists and republican communities.

Caption: The persistence of about 60 peace walls, which physically separate loyalist and republican neighbourhoods in various cities, bear witness to the ongoing divisions in Northern Irish society.Yet, there has also been a marked recent shift in political and societal attitudes and priorities beyond sectarianism. The electoral success of both Sinn Féin and the non-sectarian Alliance Party in the 2022 Stormont elections are the manifestation of the Northern Irish population attaching greater importance to (universal) issues like education, healthcare, the welfare system, and economic considerations – chiefly inflation and the cost-of-living crisis – than to sectarian issues and Northern Ireland’s constitutional status. Polls in 2022 found that 21% Northern Ireland’s citizens consider themselves as “Northern Irish” rather than “British” or “Irish”.

This can partly be explained by a (natural) generational shift; younger people in the country who didn’t grow up during the Troubles seemingly view their aspirations and the challenges they face through other lenses than a purely or even principally sectarian one. All of this shows that what peace means and looks like in a specific context is a constantly moving target.

Building lasting peace is a society-wide endeavour

Northern Irish society during the Troubles has been widely referred to as a state of “armed patriarchy” underpinned by conservative, masculinised values and discourse of nationalism and religion.

In spite of that, women were heavily involved in civil rights and particularly local community work during the Troubles, advocating for peace and social change. Women’s groups succeeded in securing the participation of a dedicated women’s caucus – the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition – in the track one negotiations. Women successfully advocated for the inclusion of language and provisions in the GFA on equal opportunity, women’s rights to equal political participation, social inclusion, reconciliation and the needs of victims of violence, integrated education and mixed housing, and for a Civic Forum to engage with a broad range of stakeholders on the implementation of the GFA. Women were also included in official consultations, played a key role in the “yes” campaign that succeeded in ratifying the GFA by referendum, and were involved in GFA-mandated commissions.

Faith-based actors have also made a major contribution to building peace in Northern Ireland. During the Troubles, in spite of the sectarian divide, which was partly both crystalised around and perpetuated by socio-cultural religious organisations like the Orange Order, a number of Protestant and Catholic actors mobilised for peace. This included organising large scale Peace Marches, acting as mediators between militants, and advocating for and facilitating ceasefires. They also worked to build trust and understanding within and between different sectarian groups through hosting meetings between paramilitary leaders on both sides of the conflict. Faith-based actors have been involved in the implementation of the GFA and have continued efforts to foster social reconciliation and healing, including through creating and facilitating spaces where people who identify as loyalist or republican can come together and have uncomfortable, but necessary conversations to humanise one another.


Caption: Peace walls decorated with hopeful murals are just one example of the myriad ways in which communities in Northern Ireland are trying to reconcile their differences and build a shared peaceful future

We know from evidence and experience that society-wide involvement in building peace is crucial to making peace inclusive and sustainable. Bottom-up initiatives and spaces for societal involvement take on even greater importance in contexts like Northern Ireland, where the formal political arena is deadlocked. Recent and current examples, ranging from consultative bodies the Civic Forum and the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, to existing inter-sectarian civic spaces such as the Suffolk and Lenadoon Interface Group or the 174 Trust provide a blueprint to consolidate and expand. Doing so is a crucial aspect of reimagining and diversifying the ways we understand and undertake peacemaking and peacebuilding, which is essential to making sure these processes are an integral part of – rather than separated from – the arc of a society’s changing development, and to ensuring that that arc bends towards a peaceful, just, and inclusive future.

————————————————————-
This blog post was written by Alexander Bramble and Philip Poppelreuter

Check out our case study and our infographic on women in the 1996-1998 Northern Ireland peace process, our digital story on faith-based actors’ peacebuilding work in Northern Ireland, and our blog post on Perpetual Peacebuilding.

 

Photos: “File:Nothing with us.jpg” by Michael Lovito is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, “Peace in Northern Ireland – geograph.org.uk – 3551004” by Oliver Dixon is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. “Belfast Murals – Sandy Row (5702530038)” by William Murphy from Dublin, Ireland is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. “File:Peace Line, Belfast – geograph – 1254138.jpg” by Ross is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Case Study,

Women in Peace and Transition Processes: Northern Ireland (1996–1998)

This case study analyses women’s influence in Northern Ireland’s Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement (1996-1998).

December 2018|Alexander Bramble,

Download Pdfview document

Infographic,

Infographic: Women’s role in Northern Ireland’s Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement (1996-1998)

This infographic analyses women’s influence in Northern Ireland’s Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement (1996-1998).

December 2018|IPTI,

Download Pdfview document

Faith-based actors can have a fundamental influence in relation to peace and political transition processes. Given the legitimacy, influence, and public platform they possess, religious leaders (and institutions) can either sow the seeds for peace, or fan the flames of war.

In the course of a joint project with The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and The International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD), Inclusive Peace have produced a forthcoming report that draws on 71 case studies of peace and transition processes assessing the involvement of faith-based actors. The report lays out a series of comparative findings examining why, the extent to which, and how faith-based actors have been engaged in formal peace processes over the last 30 years. Despite significant differences in terms of conflict dynamics, recent experiences from Ukraine and Ethiopia illustrate the significant bearing faith-based actors can have on the trajectory of a conflict as well as a strong influence on any rapprochement, dialogue, and reconciliation attempts. Our comparative research also explores a number of factors which either enable or constrain faith-based actors’ influence.

This blog explores a few of these factors that may be particularly pertinent to consider with regard to the current dynamics at play in relation to Ukraine and Ethiopia.

Unity: Internal unity of faith-based actors has a pronounced effect on the influence they can exert on peace and political transition processes. This can often be a gargantuan task, given that cleavages within or between faith communities often mirror conflict lines. In Sri Lanka, polarisation within the Catholic Church prevented it from adopting a clear anti-war message. Such divisions are not uncommon, and in some contexts can also be used to demonstrate a commitment to internal dialogue and reconciliation, as was seen in the Catholic Church in Guatemala, where internal divisions were addressed through dialogue. By demonstrating and seeking to peacefully manage divisions, the Church’s legitimacy was actually bolstered, which then positioned the Church to play a central role in the country’s peace process. Similar kinds of dialogue – initially informal grassroots dialogue – are currently happening amongst Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UCO-MP) and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), including through public joint prayers. It remains to be seen the extent to which religion will become a central point of contestation in the conflict itself, which could fundamentally shift conflict dynamics (and how broader parts of society and the international community are mobilised to support, or not, military objectives). In Ethiopia, recent tension within the Orthodox Tewahedo Church has threatened to create new waves of instability (both at national and community level), and it remains to be seen to what extent a reconciled Orthodox Church can now play an active role in advancing dialogue and reconciliation efforts more broadly in the country.

Coalition building: Faith-based actors’ ability to build coalitions among different actors of different faiths and other stakeholders, particularly those likely to have an influence over conflict parties, strongly contributes to their ability to influence peace and political transition processes. In some instances, these coalitions are formal mechanisms or institutions, such as Inter-Religious Councils. The Inter-Religious Council in Liberia played a critical role in bringing together Muslim and Christian leaders (and communities), who in turn pushed for an end to the civil war, and who subsequently were deeply involved in the country’s pathway to reconciliation. In other contexts, such as the Philippines, faith-based actors worked with civil society and business actors to increase public mobilisation and support for a peace process, while also using the breadth of the coalition to influence main actors in the implementation process and to engage with political leaders.

Resources and organisational capacity: Faith-based actors, particularly when members of large powerful social organisations such as churches, have important material, infrastructural and political resources that facilitate both their inclusion and influence in peacemaking and peacebuilding efforts. The fact that these organisations have their own resources rather than being dependent upon others increases their independence and, in turn, their legitimacy. In Afghanistan, the ulama councils of religious scholars supported outreach and public mobilisation in the Constitutional Loya Jirga process, increasing their influence in and around the process. Yet this influence was also exploited by certain Mujahideen leaders (claiming religious leadership) to take a stance against transitional justice, which made more moderate clerics and mullahs fearful of supporting such an initiative. Because they have the necessary financial and human resources, faith-based actors can invest in long-term involvement both in mediation efforts among conflict parties but also within communities. Many religious groups remain involved in the post-agreement phase and help parties heal, build social institutions, and seek justice. In Sierra Leone, the Inter-religious Council of Sierra Leone (IRCSL) was involved in reconciliation, relief, human rights training, democratisation, and reintegration programs, especially of child combatants. In this way, the resources and organisational capacity of faith-based actors can lend themselves to sustained engagement and involvement overtime as conflict dynamics change, and the potential for peace processes (and their implementation, including through reconciliation) also evolves over time.

Early involvement: Early involvement of faith-based actors in dialogue efforts establishes a precedent for their continued involvement and increases its legitimacy. While the conflict dynamics may not lend themselves to overt engagement (or even in the use of rhetoric around “negotiation” or “reconciliation” given the political sensitivities and the realities of the violent conflict “here and now”), finding ways to engage with conflict parties (and the wider community/ society) can ultimately create the conditions for faith-based actors to play a meaningful role in peacemaking efforts. This can be true of faith-based actors within a particular context, as well as faith-based actors from neighbouring countries or at the international level. In the case of the Beagle Channel dispute between Chile and Argentina, early Papal mediation was key to preventing further escalation. On the other hand, Buddhist actors in Sri Lanka strongly opposed the Norwegian-led peace process, which served as a major “spoiler”. In Ethiopia, the Inter-Religious Council and a number of individual faith communities made individual and joint statements calling for violence in the north of the country to be avoided during the early period of the internal conflict. While these calls weren’t headed, they have subsequently conferred a degree of legitimacy on the Inter-Religious Council (and national faith-based bodies such as the Orthodox Church, Catholic Church and the Islamic Supreme Council) as the country now looks ahead to a National Dialogue process.

 

Photo source: Dimitris Avramopoulos/Flickr

We’ve put together a selection of readings and podcasts that we think you might enjoy in December.

READING

Yemen’s Incomplete National Dialogue: Insights on the Design and Negotiations Dynamics by Ibrahim Jalal

An analysis of Yemen’s National Dialogue, identifying a number of lessons learned and the legacy and implications of the National Dialogue for peacemaking efforts in the country going forward.

Recommended by Alex Shoebridge

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

It is a classic on describing the horrors of war and the dangers of hyper-nationalism and propaganda. It is beautifully written and also manages to find a deep humanity in the chaos that humans can bring upon one another. It follows a young German who enthusiastically enlists in WWI and then is soon mired in the atrocity of the trenches. A story of great humanity and still extremely timely. There is also a film out on Netflix now.

Recommendation by Rainer Gude

Ideology and Mass Killing: The Radicalized Security Politics of Genocides and Deadly Atrocities by Jonathan Leader Maynard

Maynard’s book, Ideology and Mass Killing: The Neo-Ideological Motivation behind Genocide and State Terror, advances an alternative ‘neo-ideological’ perspective which systematically retheorises the key ideological foundations of large-scale violence against civilians. By combining cutting-edge research from multiple disciplines — ranging from political science and political psychology to history and sociology — to demonstrate how ideological justifications for violence shape such violence in ways that go beyond deep ideological commitment. Most disturbingly of all, the key ideological foundations of mass killings are found to lie, not in extraordinary political goals or hatreds, but in radicalized versions of those conventional, widely accepted ideas that underpin the politics of security in ordinary societies across the world.

Recommended by Nick Ross

PODCAST

Crisis Group “Hold Your Fire” Season 3, episode 12: Football and Politics in the Gulf

In honour of the self-styled Greatest Show on Earth™, Crisis Group’s “Hold Your Fire” series has an episode on Football and Politics in the Gulf. One of the respondents is Dina Esfandiary, an extremely astute observer of all-things MENA and particularly Iran (with whom I had the pleasure to work in a previous professional life).

Recommended by Alex Bramble

Into Africa (produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C.

This bi-weekly podcast discusses security, political, economic, and cultural themes that occupy the continent. An exciting and enjoyable opportunity to stay updated on and better understand the multi-faceted change that African countries are currently undergoing individually and/or collectively, including the opportunities and challenges that they are encountering.

Recommended by Philip Poppelreuter

Seeking Peace podcast

The Seeking Peace podcast, produced by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security in partnership with UN Peacekeeping and Our Secure Future, explores women’s roles in bringing lasting peace to communities—whether it be through grassroots activism, peace negotiations, journalism, politics, or as uniformed peacekeepers. The podcast has covered themes such as the role of women in negotiations , building peace , defying gender norms , leadership and allies , and more. Interviewees range from grassroots activists and peacebuilders to scholars and academics to UN officials.

Recommended by Wairimu Wanjau

We’ve put together a selection of readings, podcasts and video recommendation that we think you might enjoy this new year.

READING

Tattoos on the Heart by Greg Boyle

The founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest Gang reinsertion program in the world, Father Greg Boyle tells stories that will make you laugh and cry about the power of compassion and how to stand with those on the margins. A great and powerful model for inclusion.

Recommendation by Rainer Gude

Other news

Other News is a nonprofit organisation that publishes expert analyses of and opinions on a variety of global issues and trends. The organisation prides itself as a platform for voices against the tide. This aptly summarises the content of the stimulating and thought provoking daily contributions one can find on the organisation´s website, which approach and discuss global challenges from a different angle than the mainstream media.

Recommended by Philip Poppelreuter

PODCAST

Top Global Crises to Expect in 2023 by Global Dispatches 

The attention will continue to be directed towards Horn of Africa. Somalia, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Yemen, and DRC will be the top countries to watch in terms of humanitarian assistance. Based on the mixed methodology to assess the risks, they discuss how countries like Somalia will be further exposed to the climate emergency. Another significant effect is to be derived from the economic problems and food crisis that piles up for 2023, accelerated by the war in Ukraine.

Recommended by Tamar Tkemaladze

“Hold your fire!” / Dec 2022 / “No end in sight in Ukraine?” by International Crisis Group 

While the conflict continues to evolve and shift on an almost daily basis, ICG’s podcast from December reflects on some of the broader lines regarding the trajectory of the conflict, including in terms of possible scenarios towards negotiation.

Recommended by Alex Shoebridge

A crisis in Peru Signals Trouble for South America & Why Haiti Asked for an Intervention by The New York Times 

From the New York Times, two episodes of the Daily podcast hosted by Sabrina Tavernise examining the recent political showdown in Peru and the request for international aid launched by Haiti.

Recommended by Giulia Ferraro

Conversing on Africa Peace by Africa Amani & Australian Embassy in Ethiopia 

A Podcast series is hosted by the Africa Amani and Australian Embassy in Ethiopia, which is focussed on highlighting how peace processes and peacebuilding in Africa is shaping up and what lessons can be drawn from the various processes highlighted.

Recommended by Wairimu Wanjau

Video

Under the Sun, Vitaliy Mansky by Icarus Films

After years of negotiation the Russian director Vitaly Mansky was invited by the North Korean government to make a film about one girl and her family in the year she prepares to join the Children’s Union, on the ‘Day of the Shining Star’ (Kim Jong-Il’s birthday). The North Korean government cast the film, wrote the script, and provided guides to feed the actors their lines while managing every detail of the project. But the government handlers supervising the production did not realise that Mansky kept filming even after they had shouted “Cut.” The result is an extraordinarily revealing mixture of official propaganda and unauthorised behind-the-scenes footage

Recommended by Alex Bramble

 

Our session at GPW 2022 “Increasing militarisation and feminist foreign policy: compatible or worlds apart?” – co-organised with the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy, the Government of Mexico, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the German Mission to UNOG – shared some of the growing wealth of lessons from the experiences of governmental and non-governmental actors on the opportunities and challenges of applying a feminist foreign policy lens to policymaking efforts. It included insights on how to effectively implement and amplify feminist foreign policy, and how it can serve as a tool to counter increasing militarisation and catalyse more just and inclusive policymaking.

Over the past few decades, intersectional feminist perspectives have been increasingly incorporated in academia and activism, and significant multilateral gender-sensitive normative advances have been made, notably centred around the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and UN Security Council Resolution 1325.

Yet, until more recently, policy practice was behind this curve. In 2014, Sweden became the first country to launch a feminist foreign policy (FFP), with Luxembourg following suit in 2018, and Mexico in 2020. In May 2022, the Netherlands committed to pursuing an FFP, and the new coalition government in Germany has signalled its intention to adopt an FFP and is currently defining the shape it will take. In 2017, Canada created a feminist international assistance policy, with France adopting a similar feminist foreign aid policy in 2019. An FFP moves away from the traditional foreign policy lens of hierarchical global systems, reframing security in the perspectives and well-being of marginalised and vulnerable groups.

In parallel, the world is witnessing an ever-increasing degree of militarisation. All forms of organised violence and armed conflict have risen over the past decade. In 2021, global military expenditure surpassed the two trillion US dollar mark for the first time, and despite the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, military spending in 2021 was 0.7% higher than in 2020 and 12% higher than in 2012. The trend of heightened militarisation can be observed across multiple other domains, from policing to outer space. It has been sharply exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, – which prompted both Sweden and Finland to relinquish decades of military non-alignment and simultaneously apply to join NATO. Germany has also significantly increased military funding and agreed to arms transfers to Ukraine.

The workshop addressed whether doctrines such as FFP can help to assuage increasing militarisation, and explored whether increasing militarisation and feminist foreign policy can co-exist, both in the realm of international relations and even within individual governments’ foreign policymaking; and if so, how?

The discussion underlined how FFP can help to apply a gender lens – rooted in UNSCR 1325 and the WPS agenda – to conflict resolution and security challenges, such as disarmament and arms control, to minimise the harm caused by weapons, hold perpetrators accountable, help victims, and ensure that approaches to tackling security challenges address the needs of all people to build resilient and inclusive societies. It also showed that doctrines like feminist foreign policy can provide and help to promote alternative frames of reference as a counterpoint to traditional Realist IR paradigms, which are dominated by and perpetuate militarisatised narratives and frames of reference, from both a theoretical and practice-oriented perspective. This can help peacebuilders develop conceptual clarity and support their critical thinking and reflection on their work and the opportunities and challenges they face in order to contribute to sustainable peace in creative and innovative ways with a maximum level of effectiveness and impact.

Five key takeaways from the event were:

1. Feminist policymaking needs to be enacted both within and beyond borders, meaning FFP has to go hand in hand with feminist domestic policy. Coherence between domestic and foreign policy ensures not only more joined-up policymaking, but applying a feminist policymaking lens to all sectors can help societies become more inclusive and just. This does not mean that there is no room for a degree of pragmatism alongside an idealist goal; as is the case with some governments that have adopted FFP, feminist foreign policy can act as a catalyst for more gender-responsive domestic policy. The discussion also underlined the importance of countries “exporting” FFP committing to and achieving a degree of self-examination at home before carrying the torch elsewhere.

Caption: H.E. Francisca Elizabeth Méndez Escobar, Permanent Representative of Mexico to UNOG

2. At both national and international level, it is not enough for FFP to be a top-down project; it needs to be anchored in the wider societal context, with broad-based public consultations to ensure public buy-in and to collectively shape the agenda. The Swedish tradition of feminism from above and below that has defined a lot of public policy is a good example in this regard. As ever, grassroots movements are key; in the same way that women and young people drive many aspects of peacebuilding, women and youth at the grassroots level can help to apply intersectional approaches to defining domestic and foreign feminist policymaking that responds to the needs and demands of all members of society.

Caption: Annika Bergman Rosamond, Associate Professor (Docent) in Political Science and International Relations, Lund University

3. Gender equality is a fundamental part of FFP, but the doctrine goes further than that: at its heart is an intersectional approach that also addresses race, ethnicity, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. Above all FFP is about addressing unequal manifestations of power. To be a vehicle for intersectional policymaking and outcomes, FFP needs to continue to champion rights, representation, and resources. But it also needs to be more transformative and radical, going further than the “three r’s” to dovetail with other fundamental systemic transformation like adopting less extractive and exploitative economic growth models to reduce structural inequality and exclusion, and tackling climate change and reimagining our relationship with nature. In short, the three r’s should be joined by the three p’s: peace, people, and planet.

Caption: Kristina Lunz, Co-Executive Director, Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy

Africa more than anywhere has seen the use of foreign policy to advance power and acquire resources to benefit certain countries at the expense of others. Despite a first wave of decolonisation in the second half of the 20th century, the legacy of colonial foreign policy still presents a major challenge. Africa today is also still heavily influenced by external powers: it is one of the loci of the rivalry (and to some extent cooperation) between China and the US, one of the upshots of which is greater militarisation and securitisation of Africa, impelled by the war on terrorism and the need to protect vested political and economic interests. There is potentially a role for FFP to play in both counteracting militarisation in Africa and also breaking down the legacies of colonialism. But a fundamental barrier is the double standards of governments – both “exporters” and “importers” of FFP – addressing armed conflict with violence, while at the same time calling for peace. To reduce militarisation in Africa, African governments (like all governments) must first address gender inequalities inside their borders through African governments’ enactment of national plans to advance gender equality, such as 1325 National Action Plans.

Caption: Helen Kezie-Nwoha, Executive Director, Women’s International Peace Centre (WIPC, Kampala)

It is important to recognise that security without arms is not a reality that will materialise any time soon, if ever, and that – as with all political endeavours – unless the notion is backed up by tangible manifestations of political will, FFP is in danger of being just more empty rhetoric. However, FFP can help to assuage the rising trend of militarisation. It can do this in a number of ways, including by helping to diffuse tensions by furthering trust-building between more immediate neighbours, and also more broadly between the global north and global south. This needs to be based on exchanges in good faith to clarify any misconceptions around FFP and its relationship with the existing international peace and security agenda. This also means open and constructive exchanges about existing inherent contradictions, such as governments – including proponents of FFP – prioritising militarised or securitised remedies to instability and armed conflict while calling for peace. Above all, backed up by the necessary political will, FFP can be a catalyst for domestic and international policymaking with peace, people, and planet at its heart.

Last but by no means least, a big thank you to the speakers, co-organisers, our GPW virtual assistant, participants, and everyone else who contributed to the event.