Regional Research Center Transformations of Political Violence (TraCe) (2022-2026)

Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Principal Investigators: Christopher Daase, Nicole Deitelhoff, Sabine Mannitz and Jonas Wolff (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt); Astrid Erll, Hanna Peifer, Constantin Ruhe, Lisbeth Zimmermann (Goethe University Frankfurt); Horst Carl, Thilo Marauhn, Stefan Peters, Monika Wingender (Justus Liebig University Giessen); Susanne Buckley-Zistel, Thorsten Bonacker, Christopher Cohrs, Anika Oettler (Philipps University Marburg); Sybille Frankfurt, Nicolai Hannig, Markus Lederer, Christian Reuter (Technical University Darmstadt).

The Regional Research Center “Transformations of Political Violence" is a cooperative project of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), Goethe University Frankfurt, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Philipps University Marburg and Technical University Darmstadt. TraCe brings together disciplinary perspectives from political science, sociology, history and law, social anthropology, social psychology, cultural and linguistic studies, and computer science, as well as various methodological approaches. It systematically examines the interplay of different types and levels of political violence in three thematic research fields as well as in a field of synergies. For further information, see https://www.hsfk.de/en/research/transformations-of-political-violence.

ConTrust: Trust in Conflict – Political Life under Conditions of Uncertainty (2021-2025)

Funding: Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts (HMWK). Project team: see https://contrust.uni-frankfurt.de/en

Social conflicts are unavoidable, but they do not make it impossible for human beings to live together. But how can we be certain that conflicts will not escalate, that the other parties will abide by the rules, that institutions will protect us against transgressions and that the social world as a whole is sufficiently stable so that we can orient our actions in it in meaningful ways? The answer to these questions is trust. Trust creates a form of 'insecure security' that can never be fully redeemed and yet it holds the secret of social cooperation. But how is trust being formed, what are its sources? The joint research initiative ConTrust, which is jointly conducted by Goethe University and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, stimulates collaborative, interdisciplinary, empirical as well as normative research on trust in conflict contexts ranging from democratic structures to international politics and markets to knowledge discourses and media. The overall aim is to develop a diagnostic of the dynamics of trust and mistrust in typical conflict constellations over the next four years and use it to found an international research center for trust and conflict. For further information, see https://contrust.uni-frankfurt.de/en.

The impact of the Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation (ETCR) on reincorporation processes and the reconstruction of the social fabric in the territories (2021-2022)

Funding: Instituto Colombo-Alemán para la Paz (CAPAZ). Project team: Laura Barrios Sabogal (Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Coordinator), Santiago López Álvarez (Rice University, Houston, TX), Andrés Restrepo Correa (Centro de Estudios Regionales del Sur, Neiva), Jonas Wolff (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt)

This project explores the impact of the Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation (ETCR) on the ways in which local communities perceive the ex-combatants in the municipalities where they carry out their resocialization processes. Based on surveys in and qualitative studies on selected communities, the project aims at identifying the social factors and dimensions that hinder and/or facilitate the reconstruction of the social fabric between the two groups that share the same territory.

Police Use of Deadly Force in Democracies: the Philippines and Brazil (2021-2024)

Funding: German Research Association (DFG). Project team: Peter Kreuzer (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Co-Director), Jonas Wolff (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Co-Director), Ariadne Natal (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt).

The project investigates state coercion in the form of deadly police violence in times of domestic peace in two democracies of the Global South (Brazil and the Philippines) that stand out within their regions due to high levels of police violence. Through intensive field research in several subnational units of the two countries, the project examines the relationship between deadly police violence on the one hand and the violent attitudes of politicians and the general population on the other. For further information, see https://www.hsfk.de/en/research/projects/projects/democracy-beyond-legitimate-coercion-deadly-use-of-force-by-the-police-in-the-philippines-and-brazil.

Rural border communities and the defense of territorial autonomy in the post-agreement Colombia: The cases of Puerto Asís (Putumayo) and Tumaco (Nariño) (2020-2022)

Funding: Instituto Colombo-Alemán para la Paz (CAPAZ). Project team: Luis Gabriel Salas Salazar (Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Co-Coordinator), Jonas Wolff (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Co-Coordinator), Vicente Fernando Salas Salazar (Universidad del Nariño, Pasto), Fabián Eduardo Camelo (Universidad Nacional, Bogotá)

The project analyzes territorial struggles and changes in power relations at the local level during the implementation of the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC-EP. It focuses on understanding the socio-territorial reconfiguration of violence and armed conflict in border areas, its impact on local communities and the resistance strategies developed in response by community organizations. Based on surveys, interviews and participatory workshops, the project investigates two Colombian border regions with Ecuador, the Pacific plain (Tumaco, Nariño) and the Amazon region (Puerto Asis, Putumayo), which are characterized by a strong presence of illegal economies and armed groups, high levels of violence and a very limited and slow implementation of the peace agreement.

Struggles over socioeconomic reforms. Political conflict and social contention in Egypt and Tunisia post 2011 in interregional comparison“ (2019-2022)

Funding: VolkswagenStiftung. Project team: Irene Weipert-Fenner and Jonas Wolff (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Co-Directors), Amr El Shobaki and Nadine Abdalla (Arab Forum for Alternatives, Cairo), Bassem Karray and Hamza Meddeb (University of Sfax)

Socioeconomic reforms sit atop the political agenda in Egypt and Tunisia. Since 2014 governments in both countries have reacted to the worsening economic situation by addressing highly contested topics such as subsidies and public sector reforms. This has led to heated struggles that are sure to be of vital significance for Tunisia's fragile democracy and Egypt's reconstituted authoritarian regime. The research team consisting of Middle East and Latin American experts from Egypt, Germany and Tunisia analyzes the consequences of the contentious negotiations over socioeconomic reforms for societal peace and political order in Egypt and Tunisia. For further information, see https://www.hsfk.de/en/research/projects/projects/struggles-over-socioeconomic-reforms-political-conflict-and-social-contention-in-egypt-and-tunisia-post-2011-in-interregional-comparison.

Violence and political order in post-conflict Colombia: An analysis of the assassination of social leaders (2019-2022)

Funding: Instituto Colombo-Alemán para la Paz (CAPAZ) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Colombia (FESCOL). Project team: Juan Albarracín (Keough School of Global Affairs, Notre Dame, IN, Coordinator), Juan Pablo Milanese (Universidad ICESI, Cali), Inge H. Valencia (Universidad ICESI, Cali), Jonas Wolff (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt).

Since the signing of the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) in late 2016, most indicators of violence and armed conflict have declined. Against this overall trend, one type of violence has seen a marked increase: the assassination of social leaders. While this wave of targeted violence is frequently attributed to the presence of armed non-state actors and their fight for control over illegal economies, the project aims at investigating the explicitly political logic behind this worrisome phenomenon. Combining statistical analysis, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and qualitative case studies, the project studies whether and how the very modus operandi of local authoritarian orders in Colombia's peripheral regions shapes this type of targeted violence against civilians. For further information, see https://www.hsfk.de/en/research/projects/projects/gewalt-und-politische-ordnung-in-kolumbien-seit-dem-friedensabkommen.