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Completed Projects



Multi Stakeholder Partnership in Post Conflict Reconstruction
The project implemented by an international consortium in the Seventh Framework Programme of the EU tackled the question how, to which degree and under which conditions – if at all – Multi-stakeholder partnerships can contribute to peacebuilding and human security in the context of post conflict reconstruction. It aims at the consolidation and promotion of knowledge about factors enhancing peace and human security. The assumption is that successful partnerships enhance non-violence and support long-term peace. They build a productive framework for the shaping relations between local and external actors. The EU claims to follow a comprehensive approach with regard to peace and security issues notably in post conflict societies. Specific modes, models and guidelines to implement this approach have to be identified though (with Michael Brzoska and Jens Narten).
The project was completed in 2012.

Researcher: Dr. Michael Brzoska, Dr. Hans-Georg Ehrhart


Project Handbook Peace
In this “Handbook Peace”, which will comprise nearly 60 articles (in German), the notion of peace is treated encyclopaedically in a historic-political and socio-scientific perspective. The handbook is to inform, in a user-friendly, reliable and state-of-the-art manner, about the different aspects of peace as well as peace- and conflict research. Accordingly, in the framework of this handbook, “peace“ is covered and discussed in various political and social contexts. (With Prof. Dr. Hans J. Gießmann, Berghof-Institut für konstruktive Konfliktbearbeitung).
The Handbook was published in 2011 (VS Verlag, Wiesbaden).

Researcher Dr. Bernhard Rinke, Dr. Hans J. Gießmann (Berghof-Institut für konstruktive Konfliktbearbeitung)


Between threat perception and enemy images: Construction of security policy on terrorism in Germany and the United States
The externally funded dissertation project analyses the threat perceptions in current German and American security policy, especially in the fight against international terrorism. The main interest lies in the constructions in security policy of the political elites in both countries. Of special interest is how these constructions influence decision-making processes. Due to the security policy approaches of Germany and the U.S. being of a different nature, the opportunities for a more effective German-American as well as transatlantic security cooperation are to be weighed. Equally, ways of dealing more constructively with threat perceptions are to be developed.

Dissertation Sybille Reinke de Buitrago


Analysing EU Institutions’ and Member States Approaches to Promote Policy Coherence of Development and Security
Long-term engagement, if understood as acting preventively, means taking development as a security issue. As a consequence, the number of strategic, institutional and procedural overlaps between development and security has grown dramatically. While there is an impressive body of academic and policy research on various dimensions of policy coherence, comprehensive analyses of the sensitive interfaces between development and security are still lacking. The project aimed to fill this gap by providing a theory-driven comparative analysis of the interrelations between joined up approaches of EU institutions and the key supporters among the member states (Great Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany). The justification for this combined approach stems from the analysis of European policies as multilevel, consisting of actions and activities of bureaucracies within member states, by member state governments and the European Union as collective actor. The chronological dimension of the evaluation, e.g. the interaction between the levels over time, was assessed through process-tracing. The project was completed in 2009.
Post-doc fellowship funded by StiftungVolkswagen and the EFSPS-Program: Belle Tannous

Ethnic cleansing as state-building policy: Milosevic, Serbia and Serbs - politics, policy, violence
The doctoral dissertation had two interrelated goals: to analytically separate ethnic cleansing as a political concept from genocide and crimes against humanity as legally codified crimes and to approach ethnic cleansing as a state-building policy. The thesis was focused on ethnic cleansing as a process that is closely linked with the process of state-building, state-formation and/or state-consolidation. In addition, it also examined the interaction between murderous regimes and societies and communities in which they operate. The thesis drew on the evidence and testimony from the archives of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia – by far the largest collection of evidence on the nature of violence in the recent Yugoslav conflict – in the study of the Serb ethnic cleansing campaign in the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1999. The ultimate goal of the thesis was to demonstrate that behind the Serb ethnic cleansing campaign there was a state-seeking and state-building nationalist movement and that its policy of choice in pursuing a common state for all Serbs in former Yugoslav lands was - ethnic cleansing. The project was completed in 2009.
Doctoral project Emir Suljagic

Federal Armed Forces deployment abroad: Goals, foundations, strategies and results of the Federal Armed Forces participation in international peace missions
After more than one decade during which the German Armed Forces have been increasingly involved in out-of-area operations the outcome of this military commitment has to be analyzed. The analysis raised various questions: What are the aims of Germany’s security policy concerning international trouble spots? Is there a coherent strategy for deploying German soldiers in peace supporting missions? Furthermore, the following report analysed the legal basis of such involvement as well as the design of the “new” Federal Armed Forces which have to meet the new military challenges. The experiences gained in previous and present missions were examined with a view to the future and perspectives of the German Armed Forces as a field-tested army. The project was completed in 2009.
Project Coordinator: Dr. Armin Wagner with Prof. Dr. Hans J. Gießmann(Berghof-Institut für konstruktive Konfliktbearbeitung)

Telecourse Civics/International Politics: War and peace - the case of the Middle East conflict
The telecourse presents the Middle East conflict as a problem of international politics. In addition to an analysis of the historical and current dimensions of the Middle East conflict it contains self-monitoring checks and the corresponding answers as well as homework assignments. The peace educational project addresses students of the second chance education who acquire the university entrance diploma via a telecourse offered at the Hamburger Institut für Lernsysteme. The educational objectives are geared to the curriculum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. The project was completed in 2008.
Project Coordinator: Dr. Margret Johannsen

The EU and the fight against terrorism
The strategies and instruments, institutions, penal procedures and information systems developed by the EU in the fight against international terrorism are the aim of the analysis. Regarding the inner territory of the EU, questions concerning “freedom” and “security” are dealt with. Regarding politics towards external states, the compatibility of strategies for elimination of causes and short-term strategies for defence is examined. A special focus is on the problem of effectiveness of the EU anti-terrorism policy in view of the specific profile and strategies of Islamist terrorists. The project was completed in 2008.
Project Co-ordinator: Dr. Martin Kahl

Co-operation in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) as an instrument of combating terrorism in the European Union
The project deals with the goals and means of the fight against terrorism through cooperation between the police and the judiciary. The aim is to understand the results of this cooperation in the context of the strengthening of security in the European judicial area and the expected future impact due to foreseeable assignments of competencies. Efficiency deficits of this policy and possibilities to overcome them are pointed out. The key question of the project deals with the critical balance of “security and freedom”, i.e. the implementation of an efficient security policy in which the civil liberties of EU citizens are preserved. The project was completed in 2008.
Project Co-ordinators: Dr. Erwin Müller / Dr. Patricia Schneider

Risk analysis terrorism. Terrorism as threat for seaports: The cases of Hamburg and Shanghai
The project examines the presence of specific threat potentials of terrorist attacks for modern seaport metropolises. Recommendations for the prevention and risk provision will be worked out. The organization of conferences is planned. The project was completed in 2008.
Project Co-ordinator: Dr. Erwin Müller
Researcher: Dr. Patricia Schneider

Security governance as challenge for the EU
The project deals with the part that the EU plays as international actor in the area of conflict prevention and crisis management. The starting point is that on the one side today’s conflicts are complex and need differentiated strategies in the international context and on the other side that the EU has diverse but still to be connected institutional and material instruments for the prevention of conflicts and crisis management. In this light, the goals, role and manner of working of the Union as post-modern crisis manager are to be examined and the concept of “security governance” is to be determined in greater detail. The project was completed in 2008.
Project Co-ordinator: Dr. Hans-Georg Ehrhart

National debates on a common European foreign policy in Poland, Romania and Hungary
The German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF)-sponsored doctoral dissertation evolved in the context of the enlargement of the European Union to include the above-mentioned states. The objective of the project was to grasp their conceptions on European foreign and security policy, which they most likely would try to imprint on CFSP and ESDP. The analysis focused on their basic discourses on foreign policy as they evolved after the system change as well as their contribution to further developing the CSFP and ESDP. The project was completed in 2007.
Doctoral project Heiko Fürst

Elitocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992 – 1995
The project is an externally funded doctoral dissertation. It examined the elimination of the political, economic, scientific and intellectual-cultural elites during the war and the consequences for the consolidation of peace after the end of war. The case study looked at possible elitocidal crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995 using witness accounts, documents and other sources, which are available to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Institut for War Crimes in Sarajevo. The aim of the study was to better understand elitocide as a phenomenon fairly unexamined until now – in the framework of the war strategy of ethnic cleansing as well as to scientifically define it as a sociological-penal term. The project was completed in 2007.
Doctoral project Dennis Gratz

Aspects of Chinese-European security cooperation
The projects deals with the security relations between China and the EU in light of their just beginning strategic dialogue. Building on an analysis of each actor’s understanding of security and the resulting strategies and activities, concrete possibilities for interregional and global cooperation as well as chances in the area of common “capacity building” were examined. The project was conducted in cooperation with the East China Normal University (ECNU) and was completed in 2007.
Project Co-ordinator: Prof. Dr. Hans J. Gießmann / Dr. Hans-Georg Ehrhart
Researcher: Bernt Berger, MSc. Phil.

Privatisation of the security sector in the periphery of post-socialist states
The (German Research Foundation) DFG-funded project analysed the forms of privatization of public security in post-socialist societies. Following the paradigm of modernization theory, the project connects hypotheses about the governance logic of hybrid states with methodically uniform case studies. The empirical research focused on the police in Albania and Georgia. The project was completed in 2006.
Project Co-ordinator: Dr. Hans-Georg Ehrhart
Researcher: Dipl. Pol. Stephan Hensell

Norm socialisation in Russia - Chances and Limits for European human rights policy vis-à-vis the Russian Federation
The “export”, i.e. the transfer to and internalization of international and European human rights norms in Russia is part of the European Union's foreign policy strategy vis-à-vis the Russian Federation. Russia represents a region of special security interest to the EU. A successful democratization is seen as a means for long-term stability in the country and as a contribution to European security. The project examined how European human rights policy can take effect and be successful in Russia. It looked at the factors of influence, both external and internal, and their interaction as determinants for effective transfer of international human rights norms from the EU to Russia. The project was completed in 2006.
Doctoral project Regina Heller

Democracy in the armed forces. Democratization of the military in the context of European security I (DemoS I)
The project examined in a comparative manner the central democratic deficits within the armed forces of Germany and other EU members. The armed forces’ constitution and military structures as well as the principle of “order and obedience” were analysed. The aim of the project was a comprehensive model of reform within the scope of a future ESDP. The project was completed in 2005.
Project Co-ordinator: Dr. Jürgen Groß

The armed forces in a democracy. Democratization of the military in the context of European security II (DemoS II)
This project considered the organization of democratic control over the armed forces of Germany and other EU members. A particular focus was the involvement of parliaments during military operations. The goal was the development of a comprehensive model of key control mechanisms within the scope of a future ESDP.
The project was completed in 2005.
Project Co-ordinator: Dr. Jürgen Groß

“Innere Führung” and European peace policy (DemoS V)
The project, conducted in cooperation with the Baudissin-Documentation-Centre at the German Armed Forces Staff College, examined the elements of European and peace policy of Baudissin’s concept of “Innere Führung” and possibilities of their integration in a future common Foreign, Security and Defence Policy of the EU. The project was completed in 2005.
Project Co-ordinators: OTL i.G. Dr. Jürgen Groß / Dr. Claus Frhr. v. Rosen, FüAk BW (responsible)

Security in the Broader Middle East: Challenges for the EU and NATO
The empirical-analytically and comparatively designed project aimed to analyse the security policy dynamics in the so-called “Broader Middle East”. Starting with an international conference on the topic, which brought together experts on security policy and the Middle East as well as representatives of the EU, NATO, the Foreign Office, the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Ministry of Defence, studies were conducted, which led to shared publications. The project was completed in 2005.
Project Co-ordinators: Dr. Hans-Georg Ehrhart / Dr. Margret Johannsen

The role of the Palestinian diaspora in the development and transformation of the Middle East conflict
The project considered the influence of exiled and migrant Palestinians in Western Europe on dynamics in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as the possibilities and limits of their contribution to a transformation via an integration in processes of civil conflict resolution. While empirical evidence suggests that the activities of such communities often act to exacerbate conflicts back home – which cannot be ignored in this case either – the focus of the study was on the Palestinian exile communities as a potential resource to reduce violence, in dialogue and conflict resolution. The project was completed in 2005.
Project Co-ordinator: Dr. Margret Johannsen

CD-ROM: Why is Israel building a wall in the Holy Land?
The peace-educational project makes a contribution to the multi-media project series of the German South-West Broadcasting Service “Why?… Events that Made the Headlines”. The guiding question, which focusses on the disputed construction of a separation fence/wall in the West Bank, serves as a key to explain the many facets of the century-old Palestine conflict. Stories, photographs, documents, films, charts and speeches offer the user a diverse access to the event, its historical background, consequences and possible outcomes. The CD-ROM is being produced by the South-West Broadcasting Service/Multimedia-Based School-TV and is being sponsored by the states of Baden-Württemberg, Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate. The project was completed in 2005.
Order:
Warum?... Internationale Krisen. Hrsg. vom SWR-Schulfernsehen. Unter Mitarbeit von Stephan Hensell (Jugoslawien), Margret Johannsen (Nahost) u.a. Baden-Baden 2006. CD-ROM.
http://www.wissen.swr.de/sf/04_mul01.php
Project Co-ordinator: Dr. Margret Johannsen

EU security policy in the 21st century
The research project dealt with recent developments and challenges in the area of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common European Security and Defence Policy. The goal of the international cooperation with participants from eight countries and twelve research institutions was to conduct a study on four themes: challenges and threats, a changing EU, the EU as an international actor, and capabilities. The project was completed in 2005.
Project Co-ordinators: Dr. Hans-Georg Ehrhart / Dr. Burkard Schmitt (EU Institute for Security Studies, Paris)