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Centre on conflict, development & peacebuilding
05 November 2013

Stephanie Hofmann and Susanna Campbell Awarded New SNSF Grant

The Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) has begun a two-year research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) entitled “Bad Behavior? Explaining Performance in International Peacebuilding Organizations”.

Existing scholarship has generally focused on the failure of international organizations (IOs), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and bilateral donors to achieve their peacebuilding aims. This project, by contrast, suggests that the puzzle lies in why these organizations sometimes achieve their transformative aims in conflict-torn societies, and will therefore focus on the possibility of successful peacebuilding operations.

The premise of the project is that IOs, INGOs, and bilateral donors, at times, make important contributions to the negotiation and implementation of peace agreements, not just by providing money but sometimes by implementing targeted, nuanced and highly adaptable interventions. The analysis will shed light on the effectiveness of current peacebuilding policies and tools and present a framework that international peacebuilding actors can use to assess and improve their performance. The findings will also contribute to the theoretical debates within International Relations on the performance, accountability, legitimacy, informal governance, and change processes of international security and development institutions.

This SNSF project links the research of Associate Professor Stephanie Hofmann, CCDP Deputy Director, on international and regional crisis management organizations, with the work of Dr. Susanna Campbell, Post-Doctoral Researcher at the CCDP, to further develop a theory of peacebuilding performance in IOs, INGOs, and bilateral donors in her dissertation and related CCDP research. It aims to refine the generalizability of this theory, built in Burundi, and investigate the particular situation of regional security organizations. In combination with the case study work already completed in Burundi, Hofmann and Campbell will both conduct fieldwork in two additional case study countries, Haiti and Liberia, as well as interviews with case study organizations and their observers and partners in New York, London and Geneva.
For more details, please visit the CCDP’s project page.

The Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) has begun a two-year research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) entitled “Bad Behavior? Explaining Performance in International Peacebuilding Organizations”.

Existing scholarship has generally focused on the failure of international organizations (IOs), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and bilateral donors to achieve their peacebuilding aims. This project, by contrast, suggests that the puzzle lies in why these organizations sometimes achieve their transformative aims in conflict-torn societies, and will therefore focus on the possibility of successful peacebuilding operations.

The premise of the project is that IOs, INGOs, and bilateral donors, at times, make important contributions to the negotiation and implementation of peace agreements, not just by providing money but sometimes by implementing targeted, nuanced and highly adaptable interventions. The analysis will shed light on the effectiveness of current peacebuilding policies and tools and present a framework that international peacebuilding actors can use to assess and improve their performance. The findings will also contribute to the theoretical debates within International Relations on the performance, accountability, legitimacy, informal governance, and change processes of international security and development institutions.

This SNSF project links the research of Associate Professor Stephanie Hofmann, CCDP Deputy Director, on international and regional crisis management organizations, with the work of Dr. Susanna Campbell, Post-Doctoral Researcher at the CCDP, to further develop a theory of peacebuilding performance in IOs, INGOs, and bilateral donors in her dissertation and related CCDP research. It aims to refine the generalizability of this theory, built in Burundi, and investigate the particular situation of regional security organizations. In combination with the case study work already completed in Burundi, Hofmann and Campbell will both conduct fieldwork in two additional case study countries, Haiti and Liberia, as well as interviews with case study organizations and their observers and partners in New York, London and Geneva.
For more details, please visit the CCDP’s project page.