International Peacebuilding and the Local Context – Lessons Learnt from Past Interventions?

Photo by Greg Funnell

For around 60 years, the United Nations have deployed their blue helmet peacekeepers to violent conflicts all over the world. When acting in a foreign environment, one of their key challenges is how to bridge the knowledge gapwith the local context. To build lasting peace, international peacekeepers must learn the traditional ways of interaction and negotiation, they must understand the sources of local conflict dynamics, and what concepts of peace exist in a community. Incorporate such local knowledge(s) in international intervention is an essential condition for more contextualized peacebuilding. Failure to do so risks unintended consequences and renewed violence.

In this panel discussion with experts from the United Nations, the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Centre, the Center for International Peace Operations, the University of Readings, and Zeppelin University, we will explore what mechanisms of knowledge linkage exist, what lessons the United Nations and other organizations in humanitarian and development assistance have learned over the past decades, and what questions remain yet to be answered.

In addition to speakers at the podium, additional guests from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, Durham University in the UK, the Swedish Defence University and the Crisis Management Centre Finland will be present and join the debate from the audience.

Come by – for an exciting evening with a champagne reception!

Speakers

• Marco Donati (United Nations, Department for Peace Operations)
• Fiffi Edu-Afful (Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Center)
• Annika Hansen (Center for  International Peace Operations)
• Klaus Mühlhahn (ZU)
• Sarah von Billerbeck (University of Readings)

Chair of Public Administration & Public Policy at the Zeppelin University 

Co-host: Club of International Politics e.V.

Sponsors: SSHRC and ZU Research Cluster Global Networks