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This case study demonstrates how psychological and political science research has been utilised to inform policy and practice responses to violence and conflict. Work with the Forgiveness Project has utilised social-psychological research to develop the Forgiveness Toolbox. This is designed to assist key stakeholders, victims, perpetrators and civil society organisations in dealing with the psychological consequences of violence and conflict. The political consequences of violence and conflict were addressed, for example, through our collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Bosnia, which resulted in new material for their work on state and welfare reform.
The Build the Truce (BTT) project, undertaken at the University of Manchester (UoM), considers the challenges involved in establishing and maintaining a truce during times of conflict. Findings from the research provided the basis for two innovative exhibitions, co-funded by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). First, an interactive multimedia display at the Imperial War Museum London (IWML), included as an official part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Second, a Big Picture Show (BPS); part of the rolling programme at the Imperial War Museum North (IWMN). Together these exhibitions, associated public engagement activities and workshops, have both challenged and altered public perceptions of truce, as well as offering a valuable example of how complex and controversial topics can be presented within a museum setting.
Research at Oxford, led by Paul Collier, on the causes and consequences of conflict and state failure for low income economies has informed policymakers, and contributed to a substantial increase in the proportion of aid programmes devoted to addressing these problems. Using rigorous quantitative methods, the research has identified the economic factors underlying conflict and state failure in low income countries, quantified the substantial costs inherent in state failure and mis-governance, and proposed effective ways of addressing these problems. The impact of Collier's team's research has been further expedited by his prominent role as advisor to governments and policymakers (eg. IMF, DFID, World Bank). In this way, Collier and his team's research has substantially influenced current thinking on development policy.
Professor Richard Caplan's research explores the challenges that arise in the context of post- conflict peace- and state-building. His work on exit strategies and peace consolidation led the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) to ask him to examine specific challenges to designing and implementing transitional strategies in peace operations, and to suggest how these challenges could be met more effectively. This work initiated a process within the UN to introduce more rigorous benchmarking practices for peacebuilding, laid the foundations for the development of a common UN methodology for measuring peace consolidation and played an instrumental role in the production of a United Nations handbook on peace consolidation monitoring, entitled Monitoring Peace Consolidation - United Nations Practitioners' Guide to Benchmarking (United Nations, 2010). The handbook is being used to support practitioners engaged in peacebuilding across the UN system.
Research led by Professor Sultan Barakat of the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU) has had substantial impact in the UK and internationally on the design and use of strategic conflict and stability assessments of war-affected and fragile states. The PRDU enjoys a strong and sustained relationship with the Department for International Development (DfID) and has directly informed the UK's approach to strategic conflict assessment, leading to the creation of the Joint Assessment of Conflict and Stability (JACS) methodology. Impact has now reached beyond the UK with the PRDU commissioned to undertake conflict analyses for other bilateral and multilateral donor organisations using the approach developed with DfID, including a £487,391 project for UNICEF in Somalia that began in 2013.
Jackson's research on post-conflict state-building has shaped processes of international intervention and internal reconciliation during and following conflicts in Africa and South Asia. His work has had impact in two main areas.
First, in Nepal where Jackson has directly contributed to securing successful implementation of the peace agreement to demobilise, rehabilitate and reintegrate 20,000 Maoist combatants though involvement in mediation between the Nepali military and government on the one hand, and Maoist combatants on the other.
Second, Jackson's research along with a government commissioned evaluation of the UK's peace intervention in Sierra Leone has resulted in the provision of expert advice on security sector reform to UK and foreign governments and non-governmental organisations, through:
Research at Oxford funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) showed that countries with highly unequal resource distribution between culturally defined groups (`horizontal inequality') are more likely to experience conflict. This key insight contributed to changes in: DFID strategy towards conflict-affected areas; UNDP policy on post-conflict reconstruction; the work of the World Bank towards conflict; and OECD guidance on state-building in fragile states. The research also made a contribution to national policy discussions in a number of developing countries, including Nepal, Malaysia and Kenya.
Research by Duncan McCargo at the University of Leeds has changed the way in which domestic and international policymakers, NGOs, the media and the Thai public have understood and engaged with the ongoing insurgency in southern Thailand. Since 2008, this award-winning, ESRC-funded work has played a key part in building consensus around the need for a political solution such as autonomy or decentralisation in the region. The research has supported peace initiatives,changed the implementation of security policy, and provided a road map for international donors seeking to help end the conflict.
Reintegrating ex-combatants after war is critical to the success of peacebuilding and it is one of the top priorities for the United Nations during post-war transition. Research on ex-combatant disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) by Dr Jaremey McMullin was the basis for three major policy reports for the UN on DDR in Liberia and Burundi. These reports have had substantial impacts on UN thinking about DDR and on programs and policies for ex-combatants after war. DDR Senior Managers at the UN continue to use the reports to discuss program innovations and lessons learned that Dr McMullin identified and analysed, and they use his reports as a model for the kind of assessment the UN seeks to commission for subsequent peacekeeping and peacebuilding programs. One of the reports also led to a multi-million dollar program for additional support for ex-combatants in Liberia in 2009 and influenced the contours and scope of that program.
Based on its internationally recognised reframing of transitional justice (TJ) theory and practice, TJI demonstrates singular influence on the tone, language, framing and outcomes of key debates, policies and advocacy in Northern Ireland (NI) since 2003. TJI research has informed political debate and influenced official recommendations on institutions to address the legacy of the conflict; shaped the policy positions and enhanced the capacity of local non- governmental organisations (NGOs); shared in the production of cultural knowledge in a unique law-led artistic collaboration; raised public awareness of the intergenerational aspects of the conflict's legacy; and empowered marginalised individuals. TJI's critiques of local TJ approaches and our development of the TJ Toolkit have demonstrable global applicability. The impact has been primarily regional, with national and international dimensions.