understanding violence and political markets in the … · justice africa social science research...
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The Conflict Research Programme (CRP) is a four year £6.7 million research programme. Our goal is to understand and analyse the nature of contemporary conflict and to identify international interventions that ‘work’ in the sense of reducing violence or contributing more broadly to the security of individuals and communities who experience conflict. The programme focusses on five sites: Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria. The methodology combines political economy with ethnography.
our partners
Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies
Arab Studies Institute – Research and Education Methodologies – GDRC
Conflict Research Group at Ghent University
Feinstein International Center at Tufts University
Institute of Regional and International Studies at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani
Justice Africa
Social Science Research Council
World Peace Foundation at Tufts University
CONFLICT RESEARCH PROGRAMMEUNDERSTANDING VIOLENCE AND POLITICAL MARKETSIN THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
It is often assumed that contemporary conflicts are the consequence of ‘fragile’, ‘failed’ or ‘collapsed’ states. The CRP uses the concept of public authority, which could refer to a state, a municipality, a chiefdom or an international organisation—or any emergent form of socio-political institution. The programme investigates how different forms of public authority actually function; we define the way that public authority functions as a ‘logic’ of public authority and we argue that levels of violence and insecurity tend to depend on the nature of the different logics.
We analyse three specific types of logic:First we explore the ‘political marketplace’. This is an extreme form of neo-liberalism in which political relations are literally monetised and in which violence is an intrinsic part of the bargaining process for power. A major part of our work is elaborating and substantiating the logic of the political marketplace and developing a political marketplace ‘toolkit’ to help policy makers and analysts identify the political marketplace and how it functions.
A second logic often associated with our sites is ‘identity politics’ – the claim to power on the basis of exclusive and singular identities, such as clans (Somalia) or religious affiliation (Syria) that is propelled forward in violent conflict – a process some call ‘sectarianisation.’
The third logic that is counterposed against the first two is ‘civicness’ – behaving like a citizen on the assumption of individual rights and an implicit social contract. In all our sites we observe some manifestation of civicness – in everyday humanitarianism, in functioning law courts, in the provision of services, or in public protests. Our analytical approach provides a framework for studying international interventions. The programme looks at interventions in the areas of security, local agreements, resource management and decentralisation. The programme investigates the argument that the extent to which international interventions ‘work’ depends on the logic of the relevant public authority. By and large, most interventions tend to be subverted by the combined logics of the political marketplace and identity politics. One question we ask is whether interventions can be designed to facilitate a shift in logic towards civicness?
find out moreWebsite: www.lse.ac.uk/conflict | Blogs: blogs.lse.ac.uk/crpEmail: [email protected] | Twitter: @LSE_CCSThis project is funded with UK aid from the UK government.
Somalia
DRC
Syria
Iraq
South Sudan
The Conflict Research Programme (CRP) is a four year £6.7 million research programme. Our goal is to understand and analyse the nature of contemporary conflict and to identify international interventions that ‘work’ in the sense of reducing violence or contributing more broadly to the security of individuals and communities who experience conflict. The programme focusses on five sites: Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria. The methodology combines political economy with ethnography.
our partners
Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies
Arab Studies Institute – Research and Education Methodologies – GDRC
Conflict Research Group at Ghent University
Feinstein International Center at Tufts University
Institute of Regional and International Studies at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani
Justice Africa
Social Science Research Council
World Peace Foundation at Tufts University
CONFLICT RESEARCH PROGRAMMEUNDERSTANDING VIOLENCE AND POLITICAL MARKETSIN THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
It is often assumed that contemporary conflicts are the consequence of ‘fragile’, ‘failed’ or ‘collapsed’ states. The CRP uses the concept of public authority, which could refer to a state, a municipality, a chiefdom or an international organisation—or any emergent form of socio-political institution. The programme investigates how different forms of public authority actually function; we define the way that public authority functions as a ‘logic’ of public authority and we argue that levels of violence and insecurity tend to depend on the nature of the different logics.
We analyse three specific types of logic:First we explore the ‘political marketplace’. This is an extreme form of neo-liberalism in which political relations are literally monetised and in which violence is an intrinsic part of the bargaining process for power. A major part of our work is elaborating and substantiating the logic of the political marketplace and developing a political marketplace ‘toolkit’ to help policy makers and analysts identify the political marketplace and how it functions.
A second logic often associated with our sites is ‘identity politics’ – the claim to power on the basis of exclusive and singular identities, such as clans (Somalia) or religious affiliation (Syria) that is propelled forward in violent conflict – a process some call ‘sectarianisation.’
The third logic that is counterposed against the first two is ‘civicness’ – behaving like a citizen on the assumption of individual rights and an implicit social contract. In all our sites we observe some manifestation of civicness – in everyday humanitarianism, in functioning law courts, in the provision of services, or in public protests. Our analytical approach provides a framework for studying international interventions. The programme looks at interventions in the areas of security, local agreements, resource management and decentralisation. The programme investigates the argument that the extent to which international interventions ‘work’ depends on the logic of the relevant public authority. By and large, most interventions tend to be subverted by the combined logics of the political marketplace and identity politics. One question we ask is whether interventions can be designed to facilitate a shift in logic towards civicness?
find out moreWebsite: www.lse.ac.uk/conflict | Blogs: blogs.lse.ac.uk/crpEmail: [email protected] | Twitter: @LSE_CCSThis project is funded with UK aid from the UK government.
Somalia
DRC
Syria
Iraq
South Sudan