Peace and Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies This section on “Peace and Conflict Studies” welcomes panels and papers on the following questions: What are the determinants and dynamics of international and intrastate war? Why do some wars last longer than others? What are the conditions of successful conflict resolution and post-war peacebuilding? How do international or regional peacebuilding efforts (e.g. mediation and peacekeeping) affect the stability of post-war peace? Can designs of both permanent and transitional political institutions alter the risks of war recurrence, and even promote post-war democratisation? A first set of panels should be concerned with the causes and dynamics of international and intrastate warfare and discuss related theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues. A second set of panels should deal with mechanisms of conflict termination. Particular attention will be given to analyses of mediation, conflict termination including peace agreements, and research that explicitly links the causes-of-war literature with the study of conflict resolution. A third set of panels invites research that seeks to understand and analyse the conditions for peace and the processes of post-war reconstruction, state-building, and/or democratisation. In this regard, it is asked how peace and democracy can be established in post-war societies and what mechanisms stand behind a successful peace process. Possibilities and limitations of designing and engineering political institutions, internationally driven demobilisation and reconstruction processes, or reconciliation programs for different identity groups will be analysed. Keywords for possible panel and paper ideas in this section - Mediation - Peace agreements - Ending of civil war - Conditions of peace - Post-war reconstruction - Democratisation - Institutional design/engineering - Role of international actors/UN in post-war reconstruction - Transitional governments