Artikel Justice for Syria: Lessons from Innovative Tools for Accountability Justice remains elusive in the case of Syria. With the UN Security Council blocked, the hope of securing justice rests with national prosecutors. The IIIM was established to organise the largely uncoordinated documentation effort, necessary to support prosecutors. But for states seeking accountability, two questions loom: what could have been done better? And what more can, and should, they do? Sareta Ashraph • 09 October 2018
Artikel Letter from Warsaw: How Germany Can Gain Security Credibility in New York In Polish eyes, Germany lacks credibility when it comes to security matters. In the UN Security Council, Germany could gain such credibility if it steps out of its comfort zone by focusing on selected partners to get things done, taking everyone’s priorities into account, and formulating real strategies. Adam Traczyk • 18 October 2018
Artikel It’s the Economic and Social Rights, Stupid! Transitional justice cannot prevent the recurrence of human rights violations if it does not address economic and social rights violations. For Germany’s transitional justice strategy this means: first, do not privilege criminal prosecution; second, provide technical assistance to local actors; third, become a voice for exploring and implementing remedies for economic and social rights violations. Ruben Carranza • 24 October 2018
Artikel A Europeanized German Security Council Seat: How Berlin’s Actions Can Live Up to Its Words Merkel and Maas announced ambitious goals for “Europeanizing” the German seat on the UN Security Council. To avoid disappointing its closest partners, Berlin needs to find more inclusive ways of leading on both thematic and crisis-specific issues – and possibly sacrifice some of its own priorities. Noémi Blome, Theresa Lütkefend • 01 November 2018
Artikel Choose your partner wisely: regional actors in crisis management Crisis management can only succeed with regional partners: so far, so true – but insufficient. Regional hegemons rarely deliver official German hopes to be “anchors of stability”, and regional organizations are rarely neutral, legitimate and effective at the same time. Still, regional cooperation has great peacekeeping potential if pursued more strategically. Ingo Henneberg • 09 November 2018
Artikel Adopt a Stance, Not Just Mechanisms The rapid success of transitional justice led to blue-printing mechanisms without adequate consideration of context. The German government should think of transitional justice not only as a set of mechanisms, but also as a stance to any activity in any field it supports in transitional societies. Thus, the government should ensure past-sensitivity in all interventions it pursues in post-conflict or post-authoritarian contexts. Alexander Mayer-Rieckh • 15 November 2018
Artikel People and Politics: Fostering the Art of Conflict Prevention Researchers and practitioners should pay greater attention to the human beings at the center of conflict politics. Gerrit Kurtz, Christoph Meyer • 11 December 2018
Artikel How to Unify the European Union: The View from Italy The European Union is divided. To overcome this, the EU should redefine its internal positions to be able to represent its interests more coherently in the Security Council. In this regard, Germany’s commitment to the Europeanization of its seat could play a vital role. The German government should form strategic alliances to merge EU stances. Silvia Francescon • 13 December 2018
Artikel A Road Map for Germany: Negotiating a Path to Accountability with Assad Germany should make accountability a condition for its reconstruction aid for Syria: It should demand the handing over of the top five senior leaders of the Syrian government to face justice. In addition, Germany and others should pool their extra-territorial jurisdiction through a treaty process and create an ‘international criminal tribunal for Syria’. Melinda Rankin • 18 December 2018
Artikel Any “One-Size-Fits-All” Approach to Transitional Justice is Doomed to Fail The African Union’s transitional justice policy development process shows that a society’s context determines timing and sequencing of any transitional justice measure. Thus, the German government should prioritize collaboration with African actors in order to design effective and context-specific policies. Also, it is important that the strategy includes provisions for its implementation. Annah Moyo • 20 December 2018
Artikel Beyond Best Practices: How to Use Design Thinking in Rule of Law Promotion Law in action can be messy. Therefore, formalistic approaches to rule of law promotion that ignore the context on the ground are often destined to fail. Design thinking is a creative method that facilitates an understanding of and empathizing with specific needs of those affected. It prevents mere transplantation and instead promotes solutions developed in collaboration between experts and locals. Siddharth Peter de Souza • 13 March 2019
Artikel How to Strengthen Rule of Law Through Legal Education: Lessons from Pakistan A proper training of lawyers is key for rule of law promotion. The earlier it starts, the more receptive the students. Academic and cultural interaction between law students, academics and practitioners in developing and western countries should be part of this training. It helps both sides to improve understanding, analytical skills and context sensitivity. Syed Imad-ud-Din Asad, Niels Petersen • 25 March 2019
Artikel Global Consultations on the World Bank Group’s Strategy for Fragility, Conflict and Violence By 2030, at least half of the world’s poor will be living in fragile and conflict-affected settings. To address this challenge, the World Bank Group is developing its first Strategy for Fragility, Conflict and Violence. Now it is looking for input: How to best invest in prevention? How to enhance operational effectiveness in the most insecure environments? How to maximize impact on the ground? Join the discussion! Franck Bousquet • 03 May 2019
Artikel Civil Society and Rule of Law Assistance in Fragile States: Lessons from Libya When working with civil society, donors need to be flexible, provide regular psychological and security support and advocate for official channels for civil society participation in the design of rule of law initiatives. “Civil society” is not a homogenous entity. Projects therefore need to factor in time and space for debate within civil society. Rebecca Wright • 06 May 2019
Artikel Lessons from German Rule of Law Support in Sudan and South Sudan Establishing access to justice for all in fragile states requires looking into practical realities and understanding where people actually seek justice. Experiences from Sudan and South Sudan show that Germany should (1) support more informal justice providers; and (2) more women at the community level; and (3) combine rule of law promotion with the fight against inequality and discrimination. Noha Ibrahim Abdelgabar, Pall Davidson • 07 May 2019
Artikel International Rule of Law Assistance: Learning from Failures in Afghanistan 18 years of rule of law assistance in Afghanistan provide key lessons for donors: Ensure that assistance for security and assistance for justice go hand in hand and make fighting corruption a priority. In supporting local organizations, Germany should combine clear criteria for funding with the flexibility needed to work in a country like Afghanistan. Lutforahman Saeed • 08 May 2019
Artikel Directorate ISP: No Deus Ex Machina for the EU’s Integrated Approach Due to improved managerial strength and operational implementation, the new Directorate Integrated Approach for Security and Peace (ISP) will clarify and strengthen the chain of command in implementing the EU’s Integrated Approach. However, the new structure fails to merge the operational level with the political level. In this regard, the EU could learn lessons from recent UN reforms. Loes Debuysere, Steven Blockmans • 05 June 2019
Artikel No More Cherry-Picking: The EU’s Internal and External Security Arms Should Streamline Operations Due to a growing overlap, the civilian missions of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy fear being eclipsed by EU home affairs agencies. Agencies should start to share work with the missions because, due to their geographical range, third country involvement, and advanced cooperation with military actors, they are key boosters of the EU’s global footprint. Roderick Parkes • 27 June 2019
Artikel Mission Impossible? Creating a Dialogue between Research, Policy and Practice Communities Creating a collaborative and inspiring dialogue between academics, policymakers, and practitioners isn’t easy but it’s not impossible. The authors learned eight lessons on how to facilitate engagement by carefully selecting your topics, goals, and guests as well as by mixing different methods and choosing the right setting. Govinda Clayton, Simon J. A. Mason, Siri Aas Rustad, Julia Palik • 15 January 2020
Artikel Why Berlin needs a positive narrative for Germany’s role in the world Germany should take on more responsibility internationally. To effectively communicate why that is the case, German policymakers do not only need a communication strategy: They need to develop a positive narrative for Germany’s role in the world. Joseph Verbovszky • 21 January 2020
Artikel Want Better Policymaking on Conflicts and Crises? Support Independent Journalism Fewer and fewer journalists are covering international conflicts. This is a serious problem: A lack of media attention leads to low public awareness and understanding of conflicts, and to worse policy responses. For policymakers looking to improve communication on crisis prevention, stabilisation, and peacebuilding, supporting independent media coverage would go a long way. Heba Aly • 18 March 2020