Evaluation document, KoF11 Part A: Strategic aspects on research ...

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Uppsala University 1<strong>KoF11</strong><strong>Evaluation</strong> <strong>document</strong>, <strong>KoF11</strong><strong>Part</strong> A: <strong>Strategic</strong> <strong>aspects</strong> on researchDepartment of Peace and Conflict ResearchA1.i) Give a summary of the current research activities. State primary missions andgoals as well defined as possible.ii) List actions that would improve the quality of the department’s research, andobstacles that hinder improvement.iii) Describe interdisciplinary activities and networks, giving information on jointpublications and funding, and provide statements on the suitability of the presentorganizational placement within Uppsala University.i) Give a summary of the current research activities. State primary missions and goals aswell defined as possible.The primary goal of research of the Department is to understand the causes and dynamics ofpeace and conflict. The goal is attained through maintaining and further enhancinginternationally recognized academic excellence. This means paying attention to newdevelopments in Social Science methodology, finding ways to integrate different researchthemes and deepening the Department’s commitment to national and internationalcollaboration, across disciplines and themes.Research at the Department is both basic and applied, and some projects are policydriven.A range of quantitative and qualitative methods is used, and several projects aremulti-method, with the Department gaining international attraction as a place ofmethodological strength and credible information. The Department houses a world-leadingdata-collection program – the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) – which provides aunique freely and globally accessible dataset for frontline research. In recent years this datahas been used by the Department’s researchers for statistical, comparative and case analyses.These traits make the Department the most ‘complete’ research department of its kind inScandinavia, and it is internationally recognized as one of the foremost institutions in itsfield. The research falls into three thematic areas which partly overlap: 1) causes anddynamics of conflict; 2) peace processes, and 3) sustainable peace.Research on (1) includes work related to different types of organized violence andarmed conflict. Ongoing projects address topics such as violence against civilians,peacekeepers and humanitarian workers; rebel mobilization and recruitment; aid and conflict;causes and effects of electoral violence; causes of communal conflict; patrimonialism andconflict; relationships between climate change, governance, and conflict; disaggregatedstudies on civil war; environmental degradation and non-state conflict; and strategicinteraction in armed conflict. The focus is not only on intra-state armed conflicts, but also onnon-state conflicts and one-sided violence. Research on (2) addresses the core elements ofconflict resolution processes, including negotiation and mediation. Ongoing projects containwork on the mediators themselves (personalities, particular conflicts); third-partyinterventions, peacekeeping and peacebuilding; justice, negotiations and peace agreements;mobilization for peace; violence and spoilers during peace processes; durable resolution of2011-02-28 Dept of Peace and Conflict Research v 1.0
Uppsala University 2<strong>KoF11</strong>communal conflict; challenges to effectiveness in bilateral and multilateral negotiations; andcivil-military relations. Research relating to (3) is wide-ranging, and investigates the subjectfrom many angles. Ongoing research includes projects on the quality of peace; remobilizationof ex-combatants; post-war democratization; sustainable post-conflict state building: theprovisions of negotiated agreements and sustainable peace; reconciliation and war-relatedtrauma; transnational <strong>aspects</strong> on post-war reconciliation; securitization of threats; and climatechange and conflict prevention. A particular concern is the role of international organizations(UN, EU, AU) and the possibilities of regional peace.The Department retains a firm interest and competitive edge in these three core areas ofresearch. Furthermore, recent developments highlight interconnections between the differentthemes and phases of conflict, with matters of human security and the uses of sanctions beingclear examples of cross-cutting issues. The relevance of challenges integrating differentphases of conflict is notable in several of the research programs that have been launched (e.g.the Programme on Governance, Conflict and Peacebuilding) and the abovementioned UCDP,which currently gathers information pertaining to all phases of conflict, including preventivemeasures.Researchers at the Department are involved in the elaboration of these themescontributing their expertise in particular regions, problems and/or methodologies. A strongbasis in academia makes the Department’s research highly political relevant. The Departmentis seen a credible source of information, commentary and policy formulation in specificareas. This is made possible by maintaining expertise in the three core areas which serve asguidelines for the Department’s development of research, teaching and outreach activities; byfinding ways of integrating the themes, the Department will enhance its standing and meetthe two objectives of academic excellence and policy relevance.ii) List actions that would improve the quality of the department’s research, andobstacles that hinder improvement.Most of the Department’s research is externally funded. It is a mark of its quality, but also asource of vulnerability. More core faculty funding would ensure the recruitment of talentedyoung researchers to post-doc positions which would enable the Department to maintainexpertise within its three themes. A chair in international peacebuilding is a priority in theUniversity’s search for large-scale donations. These are measures that would help to maintaina vigorous research milieu for the future.iii) Describe interdisciplinary activities and networks, giving information on jointpublications and funding, and provide statements on the suitability of the presentorganizational placement within Uppsala University.The Department is today a middle-sized department. A major explanation for the vitalityand success of its research environment, and its vigorous growth, is its autonomy and itsfocus on a set of core issues. Any major organizational changes affecting such keyfeatures run the risk of seriously hampering future possibilities. Thus, it is crucial for theDepartment to remain an autonomous unit within the Social Science Faculty.In-house researchers come from several disciplines, the peace-and-conflict fieldbeing in itself interdisciplinary. A key aspect of the Department’s research is itsnumerous and wide-ranging collaboration with world-leading scholars and institutionswithin and outside Sweden and Scandinavia.Several of these cooperative arrangements are also truly interdisciplinary.Researchers of the Department report 67 collaborating institutions with joint publicationsin the 2005-10 period. One example within the university is the Uppsala Forum on Peace,2011-02-28 Dept of Peace and Conflict Research v 1.0
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