Governance and Conflict

Keywords

Governance, Violent Conflict, Collective Identities

 

Countries

Regional perspectives on Central Asia, South-East Asia, the Horn of Africa Region, and Southern Africa. In particular: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Malawi, Malaysia, Somalia, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan.

 

Objectives

Conflict-prone countries or countries ridden by protracted civil wars, state failure and political disintegration have gained an increasing significance for development research and policy. In many of these cases, the state’s initial failure to provide structural stability and human security results in violent conflicts. But, conversely, violent conflicts can also mark the outset of eruptions shattering the pillars of statehood, such as the legitimate monopoly of power and the notions of territoriality. Thus governance and conflict processes in a country do have transnational and regional effects.
The research group ‘Governance and Conflict’ concentrates on these countries by analysing the structures, characteristics and dynamics of protracted violent conflicts as well as the processes that lead to the escalation respectively de-escalation of violent conflict. Although the research group focuses on the state as the principal agent of development and change, the importance of sub-national and local levels of governance is always taken into account. On the local level, state and informal institutions either compete, coexist or form hybrid structures of governance. Concerning policy outcome, informal or hybrid structures are sometimes more capable to meet local needs than state institutions. Additionally, external actors enter the scene in some cases and influence governance or conflict processes. In the research group’s projects, external actors constitute a cross-cutting topic as they are part of the set and interplay of supra-national rules, institutions and actors (global governance).
For all these reasons, the research group considers governance issues (constitutional settings, rule of law, decision-making processes, forms of sub-national governance, and resource allocation) as well as concepts of conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction. In doing so, the research group contributes to the conceptual and theoretical debate on “Governance and Conflict”. In-depth analysis in several world regions (Central, South and South-East Asia; Eastern/Southern Africa) and comparative approaches render possible the linking of empirical findings from the local, national and regional level with the current scientific debate. Eventually, the conceptual and regional expertise is translated into policy-related advice.

This multi-facetted approach is reflected in the three research fields of the research group:

 

Current Research Projects:

From War to Peace in Afghanistan

Ethnicity and Nationalism in Afghanistan

Conflict Analysis and Early Warning in Afghanistan

State Failure and Local Governance in Somalia and Afghanistan

The Role of Semidemocracies for Nation-Building and Development in Deeply Divided Societies. Malaysia and South Africa in Comparison

Structural Stability and Human Security in Eastern and Southern Africa

Indigenous Institutions of Conflict Management in Northern Afar, Ethiopia

The Politics of Poverty Alleviation in the Context of Political and Administrative Reforms. The Case Study of Decentralisation in Malawi

Local Governance and State Formation in the Amu Darya Borderlands (Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan)

Sustainable Stability? A Comparative Study of Conflict, Governance and Development in East Africa

Local Institutionalism in Uzbekistan


 

Completed Research Projects:

Civil Conflict Prevention

Privatizing Peace - the role of the private business sector in conflict transformation in Guatemala

Collective violence and local level politics in Southern Africa


 

Methodology

Institutional Analysis, Conflict Mapping, Network Analysis, Participant Observation.

 

Coordination

Dr. Conrad Schetter


Partner Institutions / Funding Organizations

 

 

Publications

 

 

 

 

Bookorder

 

 

 

Books

Debiel, Tobias, (2003): UN-Friedensoperationen in Afrika. Weltinnenpolitik und die Realität von Bürgerkriegen, Bonn: J.H.W. Dietz Nachf.

Debiel, Tobias/Axel Klein, (Hg.), (2002): Fragile Peace. State Failure, Violence and Development in Crisis Regions, London: ZED Books.

Nölle-Karimi, Christine/Conrad Schetter/Reinhard Schlagintweit (Hg.), (2002): Afghanistan – A Country without a State? (Schriftenreihe der Mediothek für Afghanistan Bd. 2), Frankfurt a.M.: IKO-Verlag.

Pfaff-Czarnecka, Joanna, (1999): Ethnic Futures. State and Identity in Four Asian Countries. Edited together with A. Nandy, D. Rajasingham and T. Gomez, New Delhi.

Schetter, Conrad, (2004): Kleine Geschichte Afghanistans, München: Verlag C.H. Beck (Beck’sche Reihe). 

Schetter, Conrad, (2003): Ethnizität und ethnische Konflikte in Afghanistan, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag.

Terlinden, Ulf/Ekkehard Forberg, (2002): Hilfe, die nicht vom Himmel fällt. Gewaltprävention in der Entwicklungsarbeit von NGOs. Konflikttransformation 3, Berghof Forschungszentrum für konstruktive Konfliktbearbeitung, Münster/Hamburg: Lit Verlag.

Wimmer, Andreas/Richard Goldstone/Donald Horowitz/Ulrike Joras/Conrad Schetter (Hg.), (2004): Facing Ethnic Conflicts. Towards a New Realism, Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.

Wimmer, Andreas, (2002): Nationalist Exclusion and Ethnic Conflict: Shadows of Modernity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

ZEF A Working Papers

Schetter, Conrad, (2005): Ethnicity and the Political Reconstruction of Afghanistan. ZEF A Working Paper No. 3.

ZEF Policy Brief

Schetter, Conrad/Bernd Kuzmits, (2004): Why a further Afghanistan conference? ZEF Policy Brief No. 1, March 2004.

ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy

Devic, Ana, (2002): Prospects of Multicultural Regionalism As a Democratic Barrier Against Ethnonationalism. ZEF-Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 57 (2002).

Jinadu, Adele L., (2002): Ethnic Conflict & Federalism in Nigeria. ZEF-Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 49 (2002).

Wimmer, Andreas, (2003): Democracy and Ethno-Religious Conflict in Iraq. ZEF-Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 72 (2003).

Wimmer, Andreas/Conrad Schetter, (2002): State Formation First: Recommendations for Reconstruction and Peace-Making in Afghanistan. ZEF-Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 45 (2002).

Articles and Book Sections

Chinsinga, Blessings, (2003): The Problem of Lack of Alternative Leadership in Malawi: Some Reflections Ahead of the 2004 General Elections, in: Nordic Journal of African Studies, 12 (2003) 1, S. 1-22.

Debiel, Tobias, (2003): Staatsversagen, Gewaltstrukturen und blockierte Entwicklung: Haben Krisenländer noch eine Chance?, in: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (APuZ) (2003) B 13-14, S. 15-23.

Joras, Ulrike/Conrad Schetter, (2004): Hidden Ties: Similarities between Policy and Research Approaches to Ethnic Conflicts, in: Wimmer Andreas/Richard Goldstone/Donald Horowitz/Ulrike Joras/Conrad Schetter (Hg.), (2004): Facing Ethnic Conflicts. Towards a New Realism. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 315-332.

Kaßner, Malte, (2000): Der ANC in Südafrika – der Weg zur Dominanzpartei als Selbstverständlichkeit?, in: Bähr, Jürgen/Ulrich Jürgens (Hg.) (2000): Transformationsprozesse im Südlichen Afrika – Konsequenzen für Gesellschaft und Natur. Symposium in Kiel vom 29.10. – 30.10.1999 (Kieler Geographische Schriften, Bd. 104), Kiel: Verlag des Geographischen Instituts der Universität Kiel, pp. 37-48.

Krämer, Mario, (2003): The changing dynamics of collective violence. A case study of a peri-urban community in KwaZulu/Natal, South Africa, in: Entwicklungsethnologie, 12 (2003), S. 284-309.

Kuzmits, Bernd/Sabine Donner, (2004): GUS und Mongolei, in: Bertelsmann Stiftung (Hg.) (2004): Bertelsmann-Transformations-Index, Gütersloh, pp. 154-193.

Kuzmits, Bernd, (2001): Outstanding Development Achievements, in: Weidenfeld, Werner (Hg.) (2001): Shaping Change – Strategies of Transformation. Results of the International Survey. Carl Bertelsmann Prize 2001. Bertelsmann Foundation, pp. 145-155.

Schetter, Conrad, (2005): Das Dilemma der Drogenbekämpfung, in: Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit (E+Z), 46 (2005) 2, S. 66-68.

Schetter, Conrad, (2004): Kriegsfürstentum und Bürgerkriegsökonomien, in: Afghanistan. Arbeitspapiere zur Internationalen Politik und Außenpolitik (AIPA) 3.

Schetter, Conrad, (2003): Die Territorialisierung nationaler und ethnischer Vorstellungen in Afghanistan, in: Orient. Zeitschrift des deutschen Orient-Instituts, 44 (2003) 1, S. 75-97.

Schetter, Conrad, (2002): Das Zeitalter ethnischer Konflikte, in: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik (2002) 4, S. 473-481.

Schetter, Conrad, (2002): Der Afghanistankrieg – Die Ethnisierung eines Konflikts, in: Internationales Asienforum, 33 (2002) 1-2, S. 15-29.

Terlinden, Ulf/Tobias Debiel, (2004): Governance and Democracy in Post-Conflict Situations: Entry Points and Options for External Support, in: Forum. Newsletter of the Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey, Vol.11 (Winter 2004) 4, S. 1-5.

Terlinden, Ulf/Tobias Debiel, (2004): Deceptive Hope for Peace? The Horn of Africa Between Crisis Diplomacy and Obstacles to Development, in: Peace, Conflict & Development: An Interdisciplinary Journal, (April 2004) 4, Bradford.

Terlinden, Ulf/Tobias Debiel, (2005): Promoting Good Governance in Post-Conflict Societies,
Discussion Paper, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Eschborn, 45 pp. 

Wagner, Christian, (1999): Democracy and State in South Asia: Between Fragmentation and Consolidation?, in: Asian Survey, 39 (November/December 1999) 6, S. 908-925.

Wimmer, Andreas, (2000): Ethnizität, in: Streck. Bernhard (Hg.), (2000): Wörterbuch der Ethnologie, Köln: Dumonde, pp. 53-55.

Wimmer, Andreas, (2000): Migration und ethnische Minderheiten, in: Münch, Richard/Claudia Jauss/Carsten Stark (Hg.), (2000): Soziologie 2000. Sonderheft 5 der Soziologischen Revue, München: Oldenbourg, pp. 154-166.

Selected Newspaper Articles

Hagmann, Tobias/Ulf Terlinden, (2005): Somalias fiktiver Friedensprozess: Neue Briefkasten-Regierung statt Konfliktregelung, in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 03.03.2005.

Schetter, Conrad, (2004): Ausweitung der Kampfzone. Hamid Karsais Vorgehen gegen die Warlords in Afghanistan ist gefährlich, in: Financial Times Deutschland, 18.09.2004, S. 38.

Schetter, Conrad, (2004): Wahlen in Afghanistan sind nicht frei (Aussenansicht), in: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 24.08.2004. S. 2.

Schetter, Conrad/Tobias Debiel, (2003): Sicherheit statt übereilte Wahlen, in: Die Tageszeitung (taz), 11.08.2003.

Schetter, Conrad, (2001): Völker eines Landes, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 11.11.2001.

Schetter, Conrad, (2001): Die gefährliche Ethnisierung eines Konflikts, in: Frankfurter Rundschau, 30.10.2001.

Schetter, Conrad, (2001): Die Schimäre der Ethnie in Afghanistan, in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 26.10.2001.

 

Workshops / Conferences

Facing Ethnic Conflict – Perspectives from Research and Policy-Making.
Organized by the Center for Development Research (ZEF), Haus der Geschichte, Bonn,14-16 December 2000.

Civil Society and State Building in Afghanistan
Organized by the Center for Development Research (ZEF), ZEF Bonn, 29 November 2002. 

Afghanistan: From Economy of Violence towards Economic Reconstruction
Organized by the Center for Development Research (ZEF), ZEF Bonn, 21 January 2003. 

Promoting Security in Afghanistan and the Region
Organized by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self Determination, Princeton, and the Center for Development Research (ZEF), Avendi, Bad Honnef, and ZEF, Bonn, 21-24 May 2003.

State Reconstruction and International Engagement in Afghanistan
Organized by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Development Research Centre, London School of Economics, ZEF, Bonn, 30 May – 1 June 2003.

Workshop "Structures of Violence", 11 June 2003. Workshop Programme, Workshop Report

Der afghanische Verfassungsentwurf und die Situation in Afghanistan – Aus der Sicht junger Afghanen
Organized by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), Bonn, 21 August 2003

Workshop „Menschliche Sicherheit, Good Governance und strukturelle Stabilität: Hilflose Konzepte in Zeiten des Staatsverfalls? Eine Überprüfung anhand von Nepal, Äthiopien, Afghanistan und Nordkorea.“
20./21. November 2003, Bonn.

Symposium on “Violent Conflicts and their Impact on Democracy in South Asia”, 18 February 2004

 

Contact

Dr. Conrad Schetter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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