Local Peace Processes

My third strand of research focuses on local peace processes aimed at resolving non-state conflicts.

While working with the peacekeeping data on Darfur during my post-doc at the University of Manchester, I was struck by the extent of peace processes aimed at resolving communal conflicts and intra-rebel conflicts. I therefore extended my focus to mediation efforts on the local level, exploring how UN peacebuilding supports these peace processes. I started this research with a study on these type of peace efforts using the peacekeeping data on Darfur. Together with Samantha Gamez, I collected data on local peace processes across Africa, which was published as the African Peace Processes (APP) dataset in the Journal of Peace Research. I have drawn on this data to examine the impact of UN peacekeeping on the conclusion of local agreements. This research has been published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding. Together with Hannah Smidt, I have also published an article in Comparative Political Studies in which we examine how armed violence shapes local peacebuilding efforts by civilian personnel in UN peacekeeping. I have conducted several consultancies in which I tried to translate my research to practice. For instance, 2023, I was a consultant for MINUSCA, drafting a report on local peace agreements in the context of communal conflicts in the Central African Republic. I mapped and analyzed the content, implementation, and durability of local peace agreements supported by the mission. Finally, I am currently finishing a book project on how UN peace missions engage with the messy, fragmented realities of local conflict. This book draws on field work in Sudan, Mali, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.