Current research projects

Research Area A - Conflict Transformation 

The majority of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) find themselves displaced for more than five years—either in their own or in neighbouring countries. Of the three durable solutions for these so-called protracted refugee situations—local integration, resettlement in third countries and repatriation—the latter is still considered to be the best option by most stakeholders. Yet, due to the increasing prevalence of protracted conflicts worldwide, voluntary return often is not possible. Thus, as only very small numbers of displaced persons are eligible for resettlement, the most relevant issue for the vast majority of displaced persons is local integration. Even though return and local integration of displaced persons have increasingly featured on the agendas of researchers and politicians in the past few years, effective sustainable solutions for practical implementation are lacking.

In January 2015, BICC started the four-year research project entitled “Protected rather than protracted—Strengthening refugees and peace” as a response to the challenges posed by reintegration respectively local integration of displaced persons and their participation in peace processes. This project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in the framework of its Special Initiative “Fighting the causes of refugee movements, reintegrating refugees”. In the centre of the project is the collection of empirical data from seven regions, their comparative analysis and the elaboration of concrete proposals for action.

Field research will be led by three main questions:

·         What chances and risks can be observed during the reintegration of refugees and IDPs or rather what makes reintegration sustainable and successful?

·         Under which conditions does the participation of refugees and IDPs in peace processes play a key role in the sustainability of their return and peace?

·         How can local integration contribute to the development of host communities and support displaced persons in their current situation?

The dialogue-oriented research will be conducted with refugees, IDPs, decision-makers, experts and representatives of national and international organisations in the following seven regions: Middle East; Eastern Africa; Afghanistan/Iran/Pakistan; Southeast Asia; the Great Lakes region; Upper Guinea Coast; Colombia/Ecuador. Information is collected on-site, in and outside of refugee and IDP settlements, and discussed during workshops with all parties. BICC will draw lessons from the observed practice to develop recommendations for action intended to strengthen displaced persons and peace in the long term.

Please find more information here.

Research Area A - Conflict Transformation

In his seminal work, Civilisation and Its Discontents (1930), Sigmund Freud challenges the near-universal espousal of civilisation (die Kultur) as a virtue and social process, while ignoring the great costs and sacrifices that such a project demands. The over-suppression of deep-seated human needs renders the otherwise humanity-serving endeavour a source of unnecessary suffering for those who “fail” to be civilised. The “discontent” (das Unbehagen) or dissatisfaction with such a condition is thus expressed as an earnest call for the reform of civilisation. In the past three decades or so, there has also been a sustained effort to promote “reconciliation” among historical enemies around the globe, not the least by the European Union, whose self-identity as a peacebuilder and model reconciler in regional conflicts has been buttressed by the Nobel Peace Prize of 2012. Yet, there has also been growing resentment among those – not the least within Europe itself – directly affected by the project of reconciliation, whose needs for justice and for truth have time and again been sacrificed in the name of peace and mercy. Like the “uncivilised”, the unreconciled are subject to social pressure to let go or to feel the guilt imposed upon them for “blocking” society from moving forward. As they say in Northern Ireland, “Reconciliation is a dirty word” (McEvoy et al. 2006). Such discontents and resentments with regard to political reconciliation and their sources are the subject of the proposed four-year project. Built upon its principal investigator’s previous and ongoing work on “coming to terms with the past” in different regional contexts, the project takes seriously the lingering “resentments” and “nasty unreconcilability” (Améry 1966: 115) of victims and survivors of atrocities committed in Europe in the last century. It investigates the nature of such resentments at political reconciliation in selected post-conflict European cases. Using process tracing and triangulated comparative historical analysis, the project examines the cases of reunified Germany, post-accord Northern Ireland and the disintegrated former Yugoslavia to theorise on “premature reconciliation” and “false reconciliation” as the twin mutations of the otherwise commendable enterprise that are responsible for lingering resentments of victims and survivors of past atrocities. In terms of impact beyond academic outputs (e.g. in International Journal of Transitional Justice, Journal of Peace Research), the project endeavours to contribute to the discussion on “reconciliation” in Hong Kong where the abuse and misuse of the concept have likewise aroused reservation (Shen 2020).

For more information about the project, please visit: https://cerg1.ugc.edu.hk/cergprod/scrrm00542.jsp?proj_id=12614422&old_proj_id=null&proj_title=&isname=&ioname=&institution=HKBU&subject=H2&pages=1&year=2022&theSubmit=12614422

James Krull: Trauer mit „Geschichtswucht“ – nationale Gedenktage in Deutschland und Großbritannien seit 1945  (Supervisor: Christine Krüger)
National days of remembrance play a central role in the collective memory of a society. As focal points, they reveal a state's relationship to its past and thus to itself; intimate, individual emotions are publicly transferred to the collective and commemorated in ritual form. The aim of this dissertation project is to create a current, theoretically grounded, and transnationally comparative perspective on national days of remembrance. To this end, the central state events on the occasion of annually recurring official commemorative days related to World War II or the Holocaust in the Federal Republic of Germany and Great Britain since 1945 will be examined. In an asymmetrical comparison, the focus will be on the staging and narrative practices of historical politics as well as the respective national character of the commemorative act.
Great Britain is particularly suitable as a point of contrast due to obvious differences such as the victor's perspective and the monarchy. However, there are also striking similarities in the structures of participation, which make a comparison worthwhile. The period under investigation deliberately extends to the present day, as the young 21st century has already seen new transnational commemorative days, decisive processes of change, and intense public discussions about the orientation and form of national mourning, which should not be left out.

Philomen Mtoi:  Debating Colonial Destructive Administration: The interface between German and Indigenous health systems in North Eastern Tanzania, 1884 -1914 (Supervisor: Christine Krüger)
This study investigates the interface between German health policies and the indigenous health system in North-eastern Africa from 1884 to 1914. It is an attempt to uncover the rich but under research topic in German colonial history by examining the interplay of German and indigenous health systems in North-Eastern Tanzania, in the former German East Africa. Specifically, the study examines Indigenous health system plea to colonization in North-eastern Tanzania, the imposition of German health system and policies during German colonial era in North-eastern Tanzania. Equally, it analyzes the reactions of indigenous people towards German health policy and investigates how these two-health care systems co-existed, conflicted or deviated from each other. The research data will come from oral interviews and archival records. It is expected that this kind of history that will be an outcome of this study will be of benefit to the public, researchers, and scholars interested in researching the history of German health system and medical history in general. Furthermore, the government and other institutions will benefit from this research, as it will chart the degree of co-existence and deviation of the health systems of both German and indigenous and learn how the challenges have been dealt with over time.

Theresa Gerlach, M.A. (Research assistant at the Chair of Political Theory and History of Ideas) - Der ethisch-politisch blinde Fleck agonaler Demokratietheorien (Supervisor: Grit Straßenberger)
The starting point of the dissertation project is the assumption that democratically constituted communities require a socio-moral foundation. What does this mean for the project of agonal democracy? Agonal political theories are based on the shared assumption that democracy is constitutively dependent on the public expression of dissent and conflict. From an agonistic perspective, ethical-political arguments are therefore suspected of stifling democratic debate. The research project mobilizes the socio-moral resources of agonistic, republican, and liberal approaches and brings them together to form a pluralistic ethic of agonistic politics, which is what makes the practice of democratic debate possible in the first place.

Wendy Chavez: “Powerful and Powerless: Senses of Justice regarding Conflicts Treatment in community-based Management“ (Supervisior: Conrad Schetter)

My research topic is "Powerful and Powerless: Senses of justice regarding conflict treatment in community-based management." Fieldwork will be carried out in Ecuador from October 2022 to August 2023. The objective is to document and compile the conflicts that communities live within Community-based Mangrove Management and analyze their senses of justice about the way these conflicts are treated.

Elizabeth Mumbi Ndunda: Grassroot Conflict Management. Challenges and Opportunities for Collective Action among Pastoral Communities in Northern Kenya (Second Supervisor: Conrad Schetter)

Gina Chinchilla: “Memory Work in Colombia after the Peace Accord with the FARC-EP Guerilla: Memory Actors and Narratives in Dispute“ (Supervisor: Conrad Schetter)