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Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies

Mission Statement

The Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies aims to establish and maintain a forum committed to advancing critical theoretical, conceptual and empirical understandings of the development of responses to conflict and the construction of peace.

In particular it aims to interrogate the relationship between conflict and the forms of 'peace' - often the liberal peace and its local hybrids - being created in conflict zones mainly in the developing world today.

Aims and objectives

The Centre seeks to synthesize empirical data with sophisticated theoretical analyses aimed at the provision of discursive, theoretical and policy insights (as opposed to guidelines). In particular it is interested in uncovering marginalised spaces (geographical and otherwise), issues and actors in conflict and in peacebuilding. The unifying focus of its research lies in a critique of mainstream debates about dealing with conflict and building peace, in the light of the Coxian notion that theory can be problem-solving or emancipatory, laden with agendas related to actors' interests and objectives. The intention is to establish a recognisably coherent and innovative agenda for critical peace and conflict research and to build connections with other related sub disciplines. The objective is to act as a forum for theoretical advancement and for accounts of case studies where important lessons can be learned about conflict and its redressal.

Research expertise

The expertise of the Centre's members ranges across the following areas:

  • Peace and conflict theory
  • Children in conflict
  • Peacebuilding
  • The liberal peace
  • Local contextuality in peacebuilding
  • The IPE of African conflicts (and the attempted construction of the liberal state in Africa)
  • Terrorism and conflict theory
  • UN Peace Operations and state-building, ethnicity, and the role of organisations such as the UN, World Bank, EU, and OAU, and of other major donors in conflict zones around the world.

UN Headquarters in BukavuGeographical expertise covers:

  • Sierra Leone
  • Ethiopia
  • Uganda
  • Middle East
  • Sri Lanka
  • Cambodia
  • East Timor
  • Balkans
  • Turkey
  • Cyprus

Grants

Members of the centre have received research grants to support their work from the British Academy, the Carnegie Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the Nuffield Trust, the Russell Trust, the UN University in Tokyo and the European Commission's Framework VII programme.

Contact

To become involved in project development, and to help support our research in the field of peace and conflict studies, please email the Director or Deputy Director.