Publications
INEF researchers publish their research results in national and international academic journals or books as well as in the Institute's own formats such as the INEF Report. In collaboration with three other German peace research institutes (BICC / HSFK / IFSH), INEF also publishes the annual Peace Report. Furthermore, since 2015 INEF has been publishing the series Global Trends. Analysis together with the Development and Peace Foundation (sef:).
New Publications
Vüllers, Johannes
Gewalt des Staates und Gewalt gegen den Staat im Kontext von Protest
Handbuch Friedenspsychologie (online).
This chapter uses the example of political protest to discuss the causes and consequences of state violence and violence against the state. First, we show with the help of event data on protests that violence on both sides is the exception rather than the rule. The vast majority of demonstrations are peaceful expressions of political engagement. Nevertheless, violent riots and clashes occur regularly. Based on insights from international comparative work on contentious politics, we discuss possible explanatory factors of violence, including opportunity structures, strategic and normative considerations, and escalation dynamics. We then highlight the potential consequences of violence. Violence can have a direct effect on protest dynamics as well as an indirect effect on election outcomes. It can lead to less acceptance and legitimacy of both a social movement and state institutions. The media plays a crucial role in framing and describing violence. A better understanding of these dynamics can help resolve conflicts on and off the streets more constructively.
Saalfeld, Jannis
Rejectionist Islamism in sub-Saharan Africa
International Affairs (Online First)
This article contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of Islamist mobilization in sub-Saharan Africa. Since the late 1980s, several African societies have witnessed significant Islamist violence. Against this background, the article provides a typology of rejectionist Islamism, a strain of Islamism that has left a major imprint both on East and West African settings. While rejectionist Islamist groups share as their common denominator the explicit negation of the nation state's legitimacy, they can be differentiated according to whether they violently challenge the state and are willing to participate in mainstream civil society. Thus, in this article I present four different types of rejectionist Islamism: ‘isolationism’, ‘militant isolationism’, ‘participatory rejectionism’ and ‘militant participatory rejectionism’. Examining rejectionist groups from four African countries, I demonstrate my typology's capacity for facilitating a fine-grained assessment of individual group trajectories over time. Finally, I present findings on the determinants of the violent radicalization of rejectionist Islamist groups.
Rieber, Arne / Bliss, Frank / Gaesing, Karin
Nachhaltige Finanzielle Inklusion im Ländlichen Raum
AVE-Studie 26/2022
With a contribution on financial inclusion, the AVE project team opens the publication series for the 2nd phase of the research project with a focus on development finance. The study describes ways of sustainable financial inclusion of poorer parts of the population in developing countries, but also warns of the risks of development policy strategies that aim to include the poor in globalised financial systems. In rural areas in particular, formal financial services are not very widespread, as people who are dependent on agriculture in many cases are confronted with a range of financial risks. Digital and innovative services, but also traditional savings and credit systems fill this gap.
Saalfeld, Jannis
Inter-Secular Party Competition and the (Non-)Formation of Salafi-Jihadist Milieus: Evidence from Tanzania
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (Online First)
This article investigates whether inter-secular party competition can constrain the formation of Salafi-jihadist milieus. Focusing on the recent rise of militant Islamism in sub-Saharan Africa, I argue that the electoral process prevents the opening of political space for jihadist radicalization when Salafi contention has historically become aligned with salient non-Islamist grievances. Specifically, I hypothesize that based on this alignment, the competitive electoralization of non-Islamist grievances incentivizes Salafi movements to endorse the electoral process and support secular parties. The article explores the validity of these propositions with the help of a “most-similar” case study of Zanzibar (Tanzania) and coastal Kenya.
Liem, Marieke / Aarten, Pauline / Vüllers, Johannes
From Detection to Sentencing: A Homicide Case Flow Analysis of the Dutch Criminal Justice System
Saiz, Ignacio
Freeing Fiscal Space. A human rights imperative in response to COVID-19
Global Trends. Analysis 01/2021
Inequality between states has been magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. The economic consequences have been particularly devastating in countries of the Global South. The resources they can mobilise to respond to the crisis are, however, totally inadequate. This makes it all the more important that the wealthier countries and the international financial institutions cooperate by lifting the barriers their debt and tax policies impose on the fiscal space of low- and middle-income countries. Such cooperation is not only a global public health imperative. It is also a binding human rights obligation, as Ignacio Saiz explains.
Hofstetter, Julia-Silvana
Digital Technologies, Peacebuilding and Civil Society. Addressing Digital Conflict Drivers and Moving the Digital Peacebuilding Agenda Forward
INEF-Report 114 (2021)
The wide availability of digital technologies is increasingly impacting the work of peacebuilders, altering both peacebuilding practices and conflict dynamics. The malicious use of technology – from the weaponization of social media to digital authoritarianism and cyberattacks – poses new threats to peaceful societies and urges peacebuilders to consider new fields of action in cyberspace. However, digitalization has also brought major innovations to the work of peacebuilders, establishing a new field of practice, ‘digital peacebuilding’. Many of the innovative uses of peace technologies – for conflict prevention, transformation and reconciliation – have been driven by civil society organizations, who are at the forefront of addressing the rising threat of digital conflict drivers, too. This report provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges digital technologies create for peacebuilders, discusses how they alter the role of civil society, and proposes future directions for the digital peacebuilding agenda.
Vüllers, Johannes
Revolutions and Constitutional Crisis
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics (2021)
Revolutionary actions and constitutional crises are closely linked. However, research mainly looks at the two phenomena as distinct from each other. While studies on revolutionary actions are interested in the agency and the impact of the actions on the country’s institutions, legal research focuses on the constitution itself. The separation of the two strands leads to a limited understanding of their dynamics and complexity. What do we know about the relationship between revolutionary actions and constitutional crisis, and vice versa? The first question is how revolutionary actions trigger constitutional crisis, defined as a moment in which decision makers are unwilling or unable to manage the societal conflicts within the confinement of the constitutionally provided boundaries. Different types of revolutionary behavior—such as elite-led military coups, civil wars, and nonviolent resistance movements—trigger constitutional crises in many cases. They can lead to a new constitution with diverse implications for the political system. Whether the opposition or the old regime prevails in the constitutional crisis is a question of the power resources of both parties to the conflict. In some cases, the opposition movements succeed in making the political system more democratic. However, there are also cases where the constitutional crisis ultimately leads to more power for the ruling class.
