In view of armed violence in Nagornyi Karabakh and political unrest in Kyrgyzstan, the question of the possibilities and limits of the local population to contribute to everyday conflict resolution is gaining in importance.
Both regional research and social anthropology on the post-Soviet Caucasus and Central Asia confirm that customary social orders play a major role in the population's ability to cope with everyday tensions. For peace and conflict research, the question arises whether and how it can use this knowledge to support local peace.
27 participants of an international workshop funded by the German Foundation for Peace Research and organized by Anna Kreikemeyer had an exchange on this topic on 8/9 October 2020 in the form of a video conference. They discussed intensively about a better research and a deeper understanding of local perspectives, experiences and practices in peace formation. Experts from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Georgia presented examples of communal conflict resolution in accordance with still widely relevant customary law; a round table exchanged views on the suitability of different concepts and metodologies for studying societal peace from below; and a fish bowl discussion juxtaposed different perspectives on conflict and peace from Europe and Central Eurasia. Finally, all participants discussed the opportunities and limits of interdisciplinary and inter-regional peace research. They agreed to continue the dialogue in an online network "Studying Local Ordering and Peace Formation" from November 2020.
Illustrating literature from single participants can be found online at https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/risb20/14/4