In the Peacemakers Toolkit Series, William Zartman and Alvaro de Soto highlight the risks for senior mediators of being associated with sanctions. Similarly, the UN’s Guidance for Effective Mediation instructs international mediators to “avoid association with punitive measures against conflict parties” in order to maintain impartiality. The implied conclusion is clear: engaging with UN sanctions can be a liability and should be avoided. This apprehension is understandable and forms a core part of the conventional…
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CSRF Research Repository
The CSRF Research Repository aims to support greater contextual knowledge for policy makers, programme managers, and implementers by providing a searchable repository of research, analysis, and resources, and providing periodic updates on new research and analysis.
This policy and practice summary accompanies a longer report which identifies overarching lessons contributing to the effectiveness of peacebuilding in South Sudan. It aims to provide some guidance for those wishing to understand or support peacebuilding in South Sudan, particularly donor agencies and practitioners within the peacebuilding sector.
This report analyses approaches to conflict transformation and peacebuilding in South Sudan. It identifies overarching lessons from outside South Sudan, from the country’s own history, and based on the wisdom of local peacebuilders, long-term practitioners and citizens affected by their work. The reports outlines ten lessons or principles which provide some guidance to those who wish to understand or support peacebuilding in South Sudan. These are each accompanied by short case studies which explore why…
Liberia and South Sudan represent important case studies for what sustaining peace means in practice. They provide an opportunity to interrogate how the United Nations (UN) can ensure greater inclusivity in activities carried out across the sustaining peace spectrum, including mediation, security sector reform and institution building. With the current UN focus on sustaining peace, this report provides practical recommendations for more inclusive processes. Download
This article analyses the nature of coordination between the various stakeholders during the design and implementation of a disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) process. It makes detailed reference to the contemporary DDR programme in South Sudan as this African country is a relevant example of significant international and local efforts to facilitate DDR coordination in a fragile and complex political and operational environment. The analyses showed that in South Sudan, coordination appeared to have been…
This paper examines the IGAD-led peace process for South Sudan from 2013 to 2015. Viewed through a prism of mediation best practice, it is a critical assessment of the attempt to negotiate a settlement of the conflict and a distillation of lessons learned. While singular conclusions are hard to draw, the paper concludes that the process may have helped to slow South Sudan’s civil war and provided a platform to confront the fundamental changes required…
In South Sudan, many young people understand the need for them to participate in peacebuilding, but often lack the capacity and resources to take action. Conciliation Resources carried out a study to capture the voices of over 100 young people in the context of on-going civil war in the country. This report documents their thoughts on what needs to change to enable them to meaningfully participate in peacebuilding. Download
The Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS) signed in 2015 between the Government of South Sudan and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) was meant to restore peace and stability to South Sudan, but it failed to do so. The key parties to the agreement signed because of the tremendous international pressure they were under rather than out of conviction of the provisions of ARCSS. They signed amidst…
In the past few decades there has been increased feminist scholarship in the area of conflict and peacebuilding, with calls for the inclusion of previously marginalised feminist and women’s perspectives to peacebuilding as well as examination of the processes that have sanctioned these exclusions. Feminists have argued that women’s daily experiences and struggles enable them to articulate different perspectives on peacebuilding that challenges dominant male discourse on conflict and peacebuilding. Black and African feminist scholars…
This report that refers to South Sudan as one of several case studies seeks to inform UK and international policy and practice that has the objective of reducing levels of armed conflict and building sustainable post-war transitions. The report synthesizes the findings of 21 desk-based case studies, commissioned by the Stabilisation Unit and written by country experts. This provides an evidence base for examining the relationship between elite bargaining, the dynamics of armed conflict and…
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