Civilian populations are often the foremost victims of modern conflicts. Still, historical and recent examples also show how civilians can have the power to make political change, bring about peaceful transitions, but also contribute to conflict dynamics – both as contributors to reducing violence but also exacerbating conflicts as instigators of violence. This research group puts focus on the role of civilians in all phases of conflict and post-conflict situations, to understand this role and contribute to policies to better the situation of civilians in conflict.
Research Questions
The Research Group addresses a set of overarching questions:
- How are civilians affected by conflict and peace processes, and what factors explains variations in this across contexts?
- How can and do civilians affect conflict dynamics and peace processes and be change-makers?
- What policies can be implemented, how and when, to prevent civilian victimization and strengthen civil society-based peace-building?
The focus areas can be studied across three phases:
- In pre-conflict settings, to better understand processes of escalation to conflict (e.g. via repression and mobilization)
- during conflict, to understand dynamic variations in the repertoire of violence and resistance, and
- post-conflict, to understand the societal mechanisms of peace-building and transitions to a robust peace
More specifically, researchers in this group are interested in understanding inter alia:
- Drivers and dynamics of popular protest (such as the Arab Spring uprisings)
- How civilians in general and women in particular are affected by conflicts and can be agents of change
- The functioning of civil society and civilian group actors (such as social movements, transnational networks, grassroots organizations, entrepreneurs, and individuals) as peace builders, conflict actors, and/or veto players in transitions between violence and peace
- Impacts (positive and negative) of interventions, sanctions, peace missions, transitional justice, and truth commissions on civilian populations and civil society
- If and how civilians respond to and (potentially) support peace-building initiatives
- How conflicts impact on the health of civilians and what interventions can improve on the health outcomes
- How transnational organized crime networks act as a destabilizing factor in weak states
- Drivers and implications of population displacement
- Homicide rates during the fighting and the peace
- The diffusion of weapons to civilians
Research orientation
Civilians in conflict should be studied using a variety of research tools and approaches, ranging from formal models, via statistical empirical examinations, to in-depth ethnographic studies. To improve the understanding of the role of civilians in conflict, we need rigorous data, comparative analyses, as well as in-depth understanding of contextual factors and specific local challenges. The research group reflects this need for a variety of research methods and a multidisciplinary approach.