Research Profile

Analyzing globalization processes is a central part of the research work carried out by INEF. Global problems such as climate change, migration, poverty and instabilities in the global economy exert excessive pressure for adaptation on individual states. INEF traces these processes of change in its well-known publication series Global Trends co-edited with the Peace and Development Foundation (Stiftung Entwicklung und Frieden, SEF). This series, which is published every two to three years, analyzes political, economic, social and ecological developments. Apart from discussing the state of Global Governance, the authors map out prospects for future development.
Another important research area at INEF focuses on the analysis of violent conflicts, and aims to develop strategies and instruments for the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Wars and violent conflicts have far-reaching consequences for the societies affected. Not only do they cause human suffering, countless deaths and humanitarian crises; they also bring development processes to a halt. Moreover, they can lead to a change in political identities, the fragmentation of states or even the disintegration of societies at large. In particular, violent transnational conflicts have repercussions on the international level and pose a real challenge to states, governments and international organizations. This becomes obvious with respect to contentious issues such as humanitarian interventions and peacekeeping missions in various parts of the world (e. g. Balkans, Afghanistan) or in situations where the role of the United Nations or the unilateralism of the United States is contested. Together with four other German peace and conflict research institutes, INEF co-edits the annual Friedensgutachten (Peace Report), in which new scientific insights are presented to political scientists and a wider public.

In view of these manifold changes which are underway, moreover, international development policy has to face new challenges. Two of the most important questions demanding answers in this context are: “Given the dominance of security policy, will development policy be able to contribute to solving global problems and shaping globalization?” and “Will development policy be an effective instrument for establishing and strengthening governance capacities in developing countries?” INEF subscribes to a concept of development that is firmly based on human rights. From this perspective development policy is closely linked to the issues of democratization and enforcement of human rights. When the United Nations proclaimed its “Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs) to fight poverty, the international community set new developmental goals. These goals should be reached together with non-governmental and private stakeholders. This is why research at INEF increasingly focuses on private actors. A prominent example of the type of question INEF deals with in this research area is the 2006 edition of the Jahrbuch Menschenrechte (Annual Report on Human Rights). In this human rights yearbook various authors discuss how human rights can be protected by governments and private stakeholders.

The specific approach taken by INEF of combining basic and applied research in peace and development studies is also reflected by the broad range of third-party funding bodies supporting the activities of the Institute. Over the last years the roster of funding agencies has included the German Research Foundation (DFG), the German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF), the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and the World Bank. INEF also conducts smaller projects for NGOs and NGO networks such as FIAN and VENRO.
The combination of basic and applied research is illustrated by the research project “Local Governance after State Failure”, which is based on field research in selected regions of Afghanistan (Kunduz, Paktia) and Somaliland (Awdal, Sanaag), a part of Somalia striving for independence. In a clear renunciation of Hobbes’ Theory of Anarchy and the construct of a Leviathan, the hypothesis serving as a starting point for this project was that, even in societies far from any state, decision and control processes (Governance) are characterized by certain standards, rules and methods which constitute social order. By employing innovative methods (e. g. stakeholder and institutional mapping, survey of the attribution of authority to representatives of selected groups of the population), the researchers were able to confirm the basic assumption. At the same time they discovered a substantial variance between the case studies. In Kunduz, for example, violent players organized themselves into loose vertical networks; in their role as violence-mongering oligopolists, these players were able to establish only a conditional security. In Paktia, in contrast, we found horizontal networks which were deeply rooted in society and possessed an astonishing ability to control violence and regulate conflicts. In both regions of Somaliland which were investigated, efforts to establish peace and control violence were largely successful; this was achieved primarily by the council of elders on the basis of the institution of traditional law (xeer). One result of this research was the discovery of alternative routes to nation-building transcending the thesis of Charles Tilly that “War makes States”. A second important achievement was that the researchers were able, in cooperation with local project partners, to use their knowledge of local stakeholders and institutions to identify modalities for regulating land conflicts under the conditions of fragile government.