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Local Dynamics of Conflict and Peacebuilding
Institutions:
Igbinedion University (Nigeria),
Point Sud (Mali),
University of Ghana
(Ghana), Centre de
Recherche et d'Action pour la Paix (Côte d’Ivoire), African Studies
Centre (The Netherlands)
Project leader: Professor Eghosa Osaghae (Igbinedion University)
This project is examining the issue of violent conflict and its resolution
in West Africa by focusing on questions such as: Why do some African
societies fall into patterns of armed conflict and others not? How are armed
conflicts in Africa related to patterns of national and international
governance? How do they relate to wider forces in the world? And what can be
done to aid their resolution? Four research projects (in Ghana, Nigeria,
Mali and Côte d’Ivoire) will allow for an in-depth and comparative analysis
of case studies.
The central objectives of this research program are to:
• analyze the local context of conflicts and peacekeeping, using selected
case studies;
• produce policy recommendations for the resolution or prevention of
conflicts and possible models for conflict management;
• contribute to policy-making by establishing successful interaction between
researchers and policy-makers from the outset of the project;
• build research capacity through the composition of research teams in which
senior researchers mentor junior colleagues; through workshops that function
as training experiences and offer a chance for researchers, national and
regional policy makers and members of NGOs and development organizations to
exchange information; and through an exchange programme for researchers
between the different institutes in Africa, Europe and the US; and
• produce publications, including the reports of the five research groups
(the four research teams plus the African Studies Centre)
Phase I
Studies have been carried out in the four countries involved in the project
and research reports have been produced. A number of useful insights into
how to improve policies that could lead to the resolution of most of the
conflicts in West Africa were generated and shared with policy makers. The
issues still require much more research in Phase II (synthesis
report).
Principal researchers
Phase II: Conflict mobility
Building on the findings from Phase I, the local dynamics of conflicts will
be analyzed in relation to their national and international dimensions. One
issue that needs more attention is the expansive character of the conflicts
themselves and their tendency to spread to or influence conflicts in other
parts of the country and the West African region more generally. The team
will, therefore, focus on the theme of ‘conflict mobility’. In most cases,
the trade and proliferation in small arms, and migration and the
displacement of people are leading to greater tensions and complications.
This could also entail the mobility of conflict resolution models at both
the regional and international levels (military and non-military). This
latter issue raises the possibility of ‘discovering’ local but generalized
models to understand and solve conflicts in the various countries where the
projects are based.
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