CRU

Expert meeting: The conflict in southern Kyrgyzstan - How to get the genie back in the bottle?

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:18:33 +0100

On 22 June the Clingendael Conflict Research Unit organizes a small-scale expert meeting on the causes and consequences of the ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan, entitled: "The conflict in southern Kyrgyzstan - How to get the genie back in the bottle?" Read more »

The Lord�s Resistance Army: In Search for a New Approach

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:52:01 +0100

On Monday 17 May, The Clingendael Conflict Research Unit (CRU) organizes an expert meeting on the Lord�s Resistance Army (LRA), entitled The Lord�s Resistance Army: In Search for a New Approach. The LRA developed out of several rebel movements that emerged in the wake of the events that brought Uganda�s incumbent president Yoweri Museveni to power in 1987. Northern Uganda initially suffered the greatest burden of LRA activity and the movement�s warfare with the Ugandan People�s Defence Forces (UPDF). But gradually, Joseph Kony�s small yet resilient guerrilla army has turned into a regional menace. Today, Southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR) are its key operational bases. Read more »

Aiming High, Reaching Low Four Fundamentals for Gender-Responsive State-building,

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:35:49 +0100

Current external state-building strategies encounter severe difficulties in implementing policy commitments to gender-responsive engagement with fragile states. Because certain areas for intervention are stereotyped as gender-relevant at the expense of others, gender considerations are too often sidelined to subordinate parallel tracks and thus isolated from priority areas for intervention. Cognisant of the many challenges involved in state-building, this policy brief identifies and discusses four building-blocks for the implementation of a gender-responsive approach to state-building in fragile contexts. Download PDF»

Southern Sudan: the new kid on the block?

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:34:43 +0100

Assessing the neighbourhood on the threshold of Southern Sudan�s self-determination referendum As Sudan has entered the final and most critical year of its post-war transition period, the other countries comprising the Horn and central Africa are on the alert. Southern Sudan�s self-determination referendum, scheduled for January 2011, could result in partition of the country and may possibly prompt the resurgence of violent North-South conflict. In any case, the emergence of an independent South would have profound regional implications. With the stability of the entire Horn and central Africa on the line, this policy brief offers a preliminary assessment of how Southern Sudan�s bordering states are likely to position themselves with regard to this potential �new kid on the block�, and explores various political-economic interests that could come into play. It argues that failure to recognize the connections between the region�s many problems is a recipe for ill-considered interventions. Therefore, in any future international involvement in Southern Sudan, careful notice should be taken of its neighbours, their actions and concerns. Download PDF»

Early recovery in Post-Conflict Countries

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:51:04 +0100

On 21 January 2010 CRU published the report Early Recovery in Post-Conflict Countries: A Conceptual Study, by Rolf Maier. In recent years, the term �early recovery� has emerged as one of the main topics in the international debate on post-conflict development. While a broad array of concepts and approaches are present in the international arena, there is currently no consensus on what is meant by �early recovery�, both in policy and programmatic terms. To analyze these issues, this study critically discusses, in a first step, the policy strategies and operational frameworks of selected bilateral donors, regional organizations as well as multilateral institutions to disentangle the main background concepts underlying the policy concepts and to inform the reader of the major challenges involved. Read more »

�How to involve the private sector in peacebuilding processes�

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:56:59 +0100

This policy brief is based on research projects carried out and/or coordinated by the Clingendael Conflict Research Unit in the course of 2009. It presents a number of policy considerations on how to better involve private sector actors in peacebuilding efforts in fragile and conflict affected environments. Read more »

Report Launch: Economic Provisions in Peace Agreements

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:45:59 +0100

On 14 December 2009 CRU published the report Economic Provisions in Peace Agreements, by Hugo de Vries with Paul Lange and Leontine Specker. This paper constitutes a follow-up study to the CRU publication Governance Components in Peace Agreements: fundamental elements of state- and peacebuilding? and focuses specifically on the role of economic components of peace agreements. Read more »

Early Economic Recovery in Fragile States: Priority Areas and Operational Challenges

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:46:35 +0100

On 14 December 2009, CRU published the report Early Economic Recovery in Fragile States: Priority Areas and Operational Challenges, by Hugo de Vries and Leontine Specker. This report is part of a larger research project on early economic recovery which CRU works on with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The programme�s objective is to support the MFA in identifying a number of economic priority areas as part of the broader Dutch policy on fragile states. Read more »

Report Launch: HIV/AIDS, Security and Conflict: New Realities, New Responses

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:15:00 +0100

On Tuesday 22 September 2009 the final report of the AIDS, Security and Conflict Initiative (ASCI) will be launched at the Clingendael Institute. This global research initiative, a joint project of the Social Science Research Council (New York) and the Clingendael Institute, aimed at informing policy and programming by strengthening the evidence base and addressing critical gaps in knowledge in the fields of AIDS and security. The report looks at ways in which peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts may be better aligned with HIV prevention efforts. Read more �

Public Private Cooperation in Fragile States: case study Southern Sudan

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:32:25 +0100

The report Public Private Cooperation in Fragile States: case study Southern Sudan has been a joint effort of the PPC working group Southern Sudan, which consisted of representatives from the Agency for International Business Cooperation (EVD), the Conflict Research Unit of the Clingendael Institute, Cordaid, ICCO, Kadaster International and the Netherlands African Business Council. This case study report is part of a broader project on PPC, initiated under the 2007 Millennium Agreement (formerly Schokland Agreement) on the �Network for Peace, Security and Development�.

Ticking the box: elections in Sudan

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:59:35 +0100

The Clingendael Conflict Research Unit (CRU) is pleased to present its latest publication, entitled Ticking the box: elections in Sudan, written by Jort Hemmer. In Sudan, the country�s first national elections since the end of more than two decades of war are planned for April 2010. This report aims to deepen the understanding of the context in which these elections are to take place and to assess their possible impact.

Pragmatic Realism in Justice and Security Development: Supporting Improvement in the Performance of Non-State/Local Justice and Security Networks

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:50:45 +0100

This report reviews and outlines many of the important conceptual and policy challenges and opportunities for donors to support the strengthening of the performance of non-state/local justice and security networks. Given the poor track record of the current statebuilding approach, the report argues that donor-supported justice and security programming ought to adopt a pragmatic realism approach that recognizes the different nature and structure of power and authority in the fragile, post-colonial state. Because of the vitality of the networks of the �second state�, this approach would proportion a significant percentage of assistance, in the short- to intermediate-term, to improving the performance of non-state/local justice and security networks and building more effective and accountable links and relationships between the state and these networks.

EU support for Security Sector Reform is challenging task

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:18:19 +0100

Within the European Union development has traditionally been seen as the task of the European Community (EC � the First Pillar), while security has been dealt with by the Common Foreign and Security Policy/European Security and Defence Policy (CFSP/ESDP � the Second Pillar). Although both these Pillars addressed individual areas of the security sector, supporting the Security Sector Reform (SSR) is a new area of engagement. Given the holistic nature of SSR and the institutional set-up of the EU, the task for the EU of defining its support to SSR is a complex undertaking.

New CRU paper �Strengthening Governance in Post-Conflict Fragile States�

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:20:31 +0100

This new publication, �Strengthening Governance in Post-Conflict Fragile States�, written by Louise Anten of the Clingendael Conflict Research Unit, provides a mapping of the main issues related to the restoration of governance in post-conflict states. It recognises that in these states, the first priority of peace-building and state-building must be a form of political governance through which the state and society reconcile their expectations of one another.

Governance Components in Peace Agreements: Fundamental Elements of State and Peace Building?

Wed, 27 May 2009 13:51:50 +0100

This new comparative study by the Conflict Research Unit (CRU) looks at the very roots of every post-conflict reconstruction process, whereby a new governance system is expected to be established. Based on the analysis of five peace agreements (i.e. Cambodia, Mozambique, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi and Sudan) and one negotiation process (i.e. Sri Lanka � now dramatically collapsed and overtaken by the Sri Lanka government�s announced military victory), the study carefully explores those agreements and negotiations in search of possible causal relations between the presence of governance components and the development of proper state and peace building processes.