ISP researchers presented research on the dynamics of reforming institutions in post-war and divided societies
The third Institutions for Sustainable Peace (ISP) network conference took explored institutional reform in post-conflict and divided societies. Presenters analyzed drivers and roadblocks of political change from a variety of perspectives, including long-term effects of reform, peacebuilding, and business actors. A particular focus of the conference was the interaction of institutional reforms and the (un-)successful consolidation of peace after violent conflict, combining quantitative approaches and qualitative case studies, on cases such as Burundi, Colombia, Kosovo, Mexico, and Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda.
The conference took place on 27 and 28 May at the Graduate Institute's Villa Barton and was jointly organized by the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies and the Graduate Institute's Centre on Conflict, Peacebuilding and Development (CCDP). The Institutions for Sustainable Peace (ISP) project is a research network of distinguished scholars from all over the world, dedicated to develop research projects and deliver research results on institutional prerequisites for peace in post-conflict and divided societies.
Conference Program
Conference Day I - Tuesday, 27 May 2014
First Panel: Institutional reforms in divided societies
Chair: Nadine Ansorg
Discussant: Susanne Buckley-Zistel
Sabine Kurtenbach: The Challenges of Institutional Reforms in the Midst of War
Artak Galyan: Political Institutions and Political Violence in Divided Societies: towards a Conjunctural Institutional Theory
Matthias Basedau: Does the Success of Institutional Reform Depend on the Depth of Divisions? A Study on 34 African Countries
John Laidlaw Grey: Security Sector Reform, Ethnic Representation and Perceptions of Safety: Evidence from Kosovo
Second Panel: Long-term effects of institutional reform
Chair: Oliver Jütersonke
Discussant: Susanna Campbell
Gerald Schneider: Making it better or worse? Institutional reform in divided societies
Esteban Ramirez Gonzalez: Armed Groups, Governance and State Building: A Comparative Perspective from 19th Century Mexico
Julia Strasheim: The Polity, Policy and Politics of Interim Governments and their Impact on Post-Interim Peace
Keynote speech Donald L. Horowitz: Power Sharing: New Evidence on Two Approaches
Conference Day II - 28 May 2014
Third Panel: Economy and institutional reform
Chair: Andreas Mehler
Discussant: Matthijs Bogaards
Brian Ganson and Achim Wennmann: Business and institutional reform in hybrid political orders
Caroline A. Hartzell: Good, Bad, or Ugly? Economic Power Sharing and Post-Conflict Power Relations
Sergio Gemperle: Anti-Corruption Agencies in Post-Conflict Contexts. An Analytical Framework
Fourth Panel: Institutional reform and peacebuilding
Chair: Sabine Kurtenbach
Discussant: Keith Krause
Nadine Ansorg, Felix Haaß, and Julia Strasheim: Provisions for Police Reform in Peace Agreements
Susanna P. Campbell: International Intervention and Informal Governance
Phil Clark: Clashes between International and Domestic Reformers: Assessing Post-Atrocity Justice Sectors in the African Great Lakes
Karly Kupferberg and Stefan Wolff: Sudan: “Successful” Constitutional Reform Spurs Localized Violence
Below you find selected impressions of the conference. We're grateful to Mariana Beirao Xavier for taking pictures.