The CRP addresses the drivers and dynamics of violent conflict in the Middle East and Africa and measures to tackle armed conflict and its impacts. Its research is framed by the following central questions: (a) the logic of the ‘political marketplace’ and how it intersects with ‘moral populism’ to drive violence; (b) the logic of ‘civicness’ in these situations, in which people try to constitute humane forms of public authority; and (c) how international interventions can better resolve conflict-related problems, especially supporting responses based on local ‘civicness’. Using the concepts of public authority and political networks, the CRP looks below and beyond the state and includes research at the local, provincial, national, regional and international levels in Iraq, Syria, DRC, Somalia and South Sudan, and the Horn of Africa/Red Sea and Arabian Gulf/Syria/Iraq regions. The CRP uses a comparative politics approach to analyse the specifics of these locations, while also elaborating upon local political idioms to better understand the complex economic and social underpinnings of politics and conflict across research sites, and help explain the frustrations of state-building. The programme is coordinated by the London School of Economics.

Funded by: Department for International Development (DfID)     

Staff involved: Kasper Hoffmann, Esther Marijnen, Koen Vlassenroot