The four-year project is led by Prof. Dr. Ulf Engel (Institute of African Studies). Project partners are Dr. Antonia Witt who is a senior researcher with the Leibniz Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (HSFK) and Prof. Dr. Christof Hartmann who is the director of the Institute of Development and Peace (INEF) at the University Duisburg-Essen. Institutionally the network is anchored at the Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics.
The competence network African non-military conflict intervention practices combines empirical basic research with theory building and strategic policy advice. The project will focus on the academically so far neglected non-military intervention practices of the African Union (AU) and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs). The network aims to strengthen expertise on non-military actors relevant to peace and security policies on the African continent. The collaborative project will (1) establish an online database of non-military interventions by AUs and RECs (from 2004 onwards), (2) empirically reconstruct non-military intervention practices and routines by African actors, and (3) advance the theoretical debate on these issues. Based on sound empirical analysis and conceptual framings, the project also has a clear policy angle: The identification of best practices and lessons learned aims to provide strategic entry points for external interaction with and support for conflict prevention, management, and resolution in Africa.
In detail the seven research fellows already contracted for this network will:
- detail the epistemological foundations for building a database on ANCIP at the disciplinary interface of global studies, new critical geography, and digital humanities
- build the ANCIP portal (website, database, visualizations) as well as a better understanding of academic debates around geographies of conflict
- reconstruct the experience of African Union mediation organs such as the Panel of the Wise (2007) as well as Pan-Wise (2013) and FemWise-Africa (2017)
- establish knowledge on the role of AU High Representatives, Special Envoys and Special Representatives
- provide insights of the dynamics of selected regional and national infrastructures for peace (RI4P, NI4P), particularly in West Africa and the Horn of Africa
- discuss the place of civil society in these interventions
- and reflect on the political economy of ANCIP (i.e., the role of international donors, but also the contested knowledge orders behind these interventions).
The project will be funded from April 2022 to March 2026 with a total of ca. €1.9 million.
Enquiries: uengel(at)uni-leipzig.de (the ANCIP website will be launched soon).