Social Cohesion' for Peacebuilding - Arts and Humanities Assignment Help

Assignment Task

The path to a negotiated settlement in Ukraine is worthy but unlikely in the short term. However, other options may exist to maintain an 'uneasy' peace between Ukraine and Russia along similar lines as the Korean Peninsula, Israel and the Arab States following the 1963 and 1973 wars, and Cyprus following the 1974 war. None of these conflicts was fully resolved but the status quo has held for at least 40 years. The key to such a successful arrangement may be one which allows for Ukraine to be a viable state (economically, politically, and militarily). For this to happen, there will need to be sufficient incentives and disincentives to deter Russia from undermining the Ukrainian state.
 

Research Context and Problem Statement:
HD is engaged politically in trying to find solutions for the Russia-Ukraine conflict. HD conducts confidential exchanges and will provide further information.

Main Research Questions:
1. What can be drawn from the experiences in the Korean peninsula, Cyprus and the Arab-Israeli armistice to explain why they have in fact worked at maintaining peace?
2. What lessons can we learn from the armistice arrangements in the Korean Peninsula, Cyprus and the Arab-Israeli dispute which may apply to the Russia-Ukraine context?
 

Proposed Research Methodology:
We can recommend literature on this and perhaps some interviews.
Expected Outcomes:
A key list of applicable lessons learned from the case studies that shows what worked and what did not work.

Project Title: 'Social cohesion' for peacebuilding: an examination of theory and practice
 

Partner Organization: International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Summary of Research Project:
Building or supporting 'social cohesion' is central to many peacebuilding and stabilisation operations, but the concept, though widely used by international development and peace actors for programming in fragile contexts, has no shared definition or theoretical and operationalization consistency. Many actors have developed their own social cohesion frameworks to suit their specific programming objectives and contexts of intervention, often reflecting the pre-dispositions of their organisations. The IOM Transition and Recovery Division (TRD) is seeking to better understand the predominant analytical and theoretical approaches to strengthening social cohesion used by peace and development actors by using comparative analysis to better understand their pros and cons and underlying assumptions.

Research Context and Problem Statement:
The research will be with the IOM Transition and Recovery division (TRD) at Geneva HQ. TRD's programme portfolio addresses the "missing middle" situated between emergency humanitarian interventions and long-term development efforts. The communities targeted by TRD programming are often in contexts of protracted crises, in conflict or vulnerable to conflict. IOM believes that alongside rebuilding the material infrastructure of those communities, it also needs to help rebuild the social infrastructure, damaged by conflict or forced displacement or deteriorating due to contextual pressures. Social cohesion therefore plays a central role in IOM community stabilisation and peacebuilding programming.

However, generally speaking, social cohesion programming often lacks a clear theory of change or theoretical grounding and is often based on implicit assumptions. Those programs which do rely on academically grounded theories are often built on 'social contact theory', which can underplay the role of power structures, culture, and historically grounded grievances. Social cohesion programming based on Social Contact Theory is also difficult to scale and present challenges when working with highly mobile populations. Understanding what approaches are available and their applicability must be informed by solid context analysis and tailored accordingly.

IOM already applies social cohesion successfully in its community stabilisation and peacebuilding programming, based on concepts such as community-based mental-health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) or contact theory. This research programme would broaden IOM's understanding of the conceptual approaches allowing IOM to consider the contribution of other disciplines (economics, political science, etc.) and other levels of analysis (institutional, communities, individual, etc.).
 

Main Research Questions:
1. What are the different conceptual frameworks for social cohesion applicable to or currently used by peace and development actors? In which contexts and to what end are those different frameworks applied?
2. Is there a particular framework or combination of identified frameworks that should be considered by IOM in its peacebuilding and stabilisation work beyond social contact theory?
 

Proposed Research Methodology:
Literature review of the different social cohesion approaches in academic literature and used by international development and peace actors for their programming (IOS, INGOS, think tanks, academia). Then, produce a document or matrix presenting the different social cohesion approaches with: conceptual and disciplinary background (eg. psychosocial, economics, political science, etc.), the basic precepts of the approach, context for which it was designed (development aid, emergency, peacebuilding, etc.), level of intervention (e.g. structural, institutional, communities, individual behaviours, etc.), implementation considerations and examples of projects as available. Compilation of relevant research into a framework document on social cohesion that can be used by IOM transition and recovery work in its program design. Finally, operationalization of this framework into a theory of change. IOM will support by providing relevant literature and insights into TRD programming, as well as supporting the design of the theory of change. Students are encouraged to look for guidance documents on social cohesion produced by international organisations, NGOs, think tanks and academia. IOM TRD already identified some relevant literature from IOM, UNDP, Search for Common Ground, and the World Bank as a starting point for the students.

Expected Outcomes:
A literature review of the different social cohesion approaches used by international development and peace actors for their programming (IOS, INGOs, think tanks, academia). A framework document presenting the different social cohesion approaches with conceptual and disciplinary background (e.g. psychosocial, economics, political science, etc.), context for which it was designed (development aid, emergency, peacebuilding, etc.), level of intervention (e.g. structures, communities, individual behaviours, etc.) and examples of projects. A theory of change that can be applied for TRD stabilisation work.

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