http://berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/ en astrid.fischer@berghof-center.org Copyright 2012 2012-01-24T15:34:17+00:00 http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/new-policy-report/ http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/new-policy-report/#When:14:34:17Z We are happy to announce the release of the policy report “From Combatants to Peacebuilders: A case for inclusive, participatory and holistic security transitions”. Authored by staff members Véronique Dudouet, Hans J. Giessmann and Katrin Planta, it presents key lessons learnt and policy recommendations based on findings from the participatory research project “Non-state armed groups and security transition processes” (2009-2012). The purpose of this project was to identify the conditions under which armed resistance/liberation movements (RLMs) generate and maintain the political will to restore the state’s monopoly over the use of force and participate in post-war governance. It does so by investigating the timing, sequencing and components of post-war security and political transitions, from the perspective and self-analysis of conflict stakeholders who have made the shift from state challengers to peace- and state-building agents in South Africa, Colombia, El Salvador, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Burundi, Southern Sudan, Nepal and Aceh. The empirical findings are indeed based on thematic case studies written by local teams made up of researchers and former combatants. This report is complemented by a more comprehensive volume edited by the same authors and published by Routledge, to be released later this month. Watch out also for the next issue of our Berghof Transitions Series (also part of our programme on resistance/liberation movements in transition) on the CNDD-FDD in Burundi, which will be available online in the coming days. 2012-01-24T14:34:17+00:00 http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/berghof-foundation-2012/ http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/berghof-foundation-2012/#When:16:34:10Z As of 2012 the former Berghof Conflict Research, Berghof Peace Support and Institute for Peace Education Tübingen (ift) have merged together as part of the Berghof Foundation. The Berghof Foundation has been given a new structure and organisational setting – merging our manifold operational competences in conflict research, peace support and peace education, being complemented with targeted grant-making that draws upon the traditional philanthropic funding provided by the Zundel family to further nurture peacebuilding and conflict transformation. Currently we are working hard to develop our new joint website. Within the coming weeks and months the content from our old websites (Berghof Foundation.de, Conflict Research, Peace Support, Friedenspaedagogik.de and Berghof Handbook) will be transferred to our new one Berghof Foundation.org. The existing websites will remain available during this transition period, until all the information has been made accessible on the new site. Please be informed that some information and content on the old websites may already have become outmoded, since those will not be updated anymore. We apologize for any inconvenience. Allgemeines 2012-01-01T16:34:10+00:00 http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/policy-brief-2-anti-terror/ http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/policy-brief-2-anti-terror/#When:09:15:21Z We are pleased to announce that the second Berghof Policy Brief, ‘Anti-terrorism Legislation: Impediments to Conflict Transformation’ is now available online. Authored by our senior researcher Dr Veronique Dudouet, the paper reviews the ambivalent impact of terrorist ‘blacklisting’ regimes on peace processes with non-state armed groups, and argues that when applied unwisely, they might interfere with efforts to find a political solution to asymmetric intra-state conflicts. Indeed, the political nature and inconsistent application of terrorist proscription tends to blur the distinction between legal and unlawful political activism, encourage state repression of unarmed dissidents, and fuel radicalism. Anti-terrorist policies also shrink the space for international peace facilitation in intra-state conflicts by criminalising third-party mediation and negotiation support, and impeding confidence-building with listed actors and ‘insider mediators’. The paper concludes by offering a range of reform options to improve the capacity of anti-terrorist policies to foster armed groups’ shifts from violent to non-violent strategies. To access the series, see here . Neuerscheinungen 2011-11-24T09:15:21+00:00 http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/trauer-um-volker-rittberger/ http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/trauer-um-volker-rittberger/#When:08:04:00Z With great sadness we announce that Prof. Dr. Volker Rittberger (1941-2011) has passed away. He was one of the most important representatives for Peace Research in Germany. He has contributed substantially to establishing Peace Research programmes at Tübingen University in the past decades and was co-founder of the Institute for Peace Education. He inspired the dialogue between politics and peace research and at the same time enhanced its international reputation, in particular in his function as President of the German Foundation for Peace Research (2003-2010). The Peace Research community has lost an important teacher and promotor. Allgemeines 2011-11-18T08:04:00+00:00 http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/martina-fischer-mitglied-im-kirchentagspraesidium/ http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/martina-fischer-mitglied-im-kirchentagspraesidium/#When:11:51:17Z Martina Fischer was elected to join the board of the “German Protestant Kirchentag” (Präsidium Evangelischer Kirchentag), an eminent 60-year-old institution and important civil society forum that creates space for inter-religious dialogue and exchange on ethical, religious and political questions, including panels on global justice, environmental issues, development and peace and conflict related issues. The last event took place in Dresden 2011 (120.000 visitors), the next one is planned in Hamburg 2013. The board is composed by 25 persons active in politics, influential institutions and CSO’s. It supports the process, taking decisions on design and content of the events that usually attract people of many diverse backgrounds and professions. Allgemeines 2011-11-10T11:51:17+00:00 http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/sct-book-online1/ http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/sct-book-online1/#When:08:51:43Z We are pleased to announce that all articles from our book The Non-Linearity of Peace Processes – Theory and Practice of Systemic Conflict Transformation, edited by Daniela Körppen, Norbert Ropers and Hans J. Giessmann, are now available online. To order a hardcopy, please visit the publisher’s website or, for example, Amazon. free pdf-downloads Neuerscheinungen 2011-10-31T08:51:43+00:00 http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/handbook-II-online/ http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/handbook-II-online/#When:09:43:38Z We are happy to report that all articles of the second print volume of our Handbook on Conflict Transformation are now available also online (Handbook downloads ). Berghof Handbook II brings you 20 new or revised articles not previously available. For further information on the print version and order options Neuerscheinungen 2011-10-20T09:43:38+00:00 http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/unterstuetzung-fuer-den-frieden-im-baskenland/ http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/unterstuetzung-fuer-den-frieden-im-baskenland/#When:14:47:28Z As part of its peace support activities in the Basque Country, the Berghof Foundation has co-sponsored the convening of an international conference to promote the resolution of the Basque conflict in San Sebastian on 17 October 2011, organised by the local peacebuilding NGO Lokarri. The conference, attended by other peacebuilding organisations and prominent world leaders including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, represents a major milestone in the search for lasting peace in the Basque Country, by demonstrating the readiness of all citizens to end violence and move forward through peaceful and democratic means. Berghof Peace Support senior programme manager Luxshi Vimalarajah attended the event on behalf of the Berghof Foundation. Berghof’s past involvement in the resolution of the conflict in the Basque Country also included the publication of a study written by prominent analysts of the Basque Abertzale Left on the history of the conflict and the arduous path to its resolution. Allgemeines 2011-10-17T14:47:28+00:00 http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/buch-zu-systemischer-konflikttransformation-erschienen/ http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/buch-zu-systemischer-konflikttransformation-erschienen/#When:09:17:52Z We are pleased to announce the publication of our book The Non-Linearity of Peace Processes – Theory and Practice of Systemic Conflict Transformation edited by Daniela Körppen, Norbert Ropers and Hans J. Giessmann. This is the first comprehensive volume analysing the value added by integrating systemic thinking into peacebuilding theory and practice. The aim of this book is to link the most recent debates in the peacebuilding field, e.g. on liberal peace, on the non-linearity of conflict dynamics and on bridging the attribution gap, with various systemic discourses, discussing the extent to which systemic thinking and methods are helpful to further develop existing approaches to conflict transformation. Against the background of different case studies, practitioners and scholars frame their various understandings of systemic thinking and present a great variety of systemic concepts, such as systems theory, systemic action research and constellation work. Details: The Non-Linearity of Peace Processes – Theory and Practice of Systemic Conflict Transformation, edited by Daniela Körppen, Norbert Ropers and Hans J. Giessmann, Barbara Budrich Publishers, Opladen / Farmington Hill, 2011, 273 pp. Pb. 33,00 € (D), 34,00 € (A), 45,50 SFr,US$47.95, GBP 29.95, ISBN 978-3-86649-406-0 To order, please visit the publisher’s website or, for example, Amazon. Neuerscheinungen 2011-08-30T09:17:52+00:00 http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/trauer-um-dekha-ibrahim-abdi/ http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org/en/news/trauer-um-dekha-ibrahim-abdi/#When:10:56:45Z Dekha Ibrahim Abdi (1964 in Wajir – 14 July 2011 in Nairobi). With great sadness we announce that our dear friend and member of the Advisory Board of Berghof Peace Support, Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, has died following severe injuries sustained in a car accident in Kenya, in which her husband and their driver were immediately killed. Our heartfelt condolences go to the couple’s four children and family, and the many colleagues who are left behind. We mourn the loss of an outstanding woman who enriched and inspired the peacebuilding field for over two decades with her ideas, initiative, wisdom, creativity and persistence. Born into a Muslim Somali family in the Northeast of Kenya, she encountered early on the challenges of ethnic and religious conflicts. She became a key leader of the Wajir peace initiative and ensured its future viability by helping to establish the Wajir Peace Committee. This model of a sustained, inclusive and comprehensive effort to transform the dangers of unleashed tribalism became the starting point for many similar initiatives, in Africa and beyond. Dekha herself became an inspiring model of an “Insider Mediator”, combining the wisdom of African conflict resolution with her knowledge and insights from many peacebuilding engagements around the world. To learn more about her work you may read her contribution to the Berghof Handbook Dialogue. What inspired many of us particularly in peace research as well as in the peacebuilding community was her soft, humble, imaginative and nonetheless determined approach to take our field of work forward. We will miss her dearly. Allgemeines 2011-07-17T10:56:45+00:00