Postgraduate Dissertation - Charles University in Prague

The dissertation project Using Carrots to Bring Peace? Negotiation and Third Party Involvement focuses on peace processes in resolving intrastate armed conflicts and attempts to explain what effect the employment of carrots (incentives) has on peace negotiation and negotiation strategies of the involved parties. After the evaporation of the Cold War structure, new tools emerged in conflict resolution efforts, providing facilitators and other external actors with a greater variety of measures to engage in conflict resolution. Peace processes ending conflicts in former Yugoslavia, Guatemala, and El Salvador proved that aid tools (development aid, reconstruction aid) conditioned to the adherence of commitments from ceasefire and peace agreements are just as relevant as security measures. This new phenomenon, looking more closely at ties between security and development aspects of conflict resolution, is on the verge of gaining a more prominent place in the theoretical debate as well receiving more attention from practitioners. While most studies attempt to explain how third parties approach negotiation and mediation (Zartman, Kleiboer, Bercovitch, Rubin, Fisher, Crocker, Hampson, Aall), incentive employment and conditionality are mostly examined separately (Boyce, Cortright, Stokke).

This research merges both aspects into one concept and investigates how different conditionality policies affect negotiations, negotiating strategies, and the behavior of adversaries in peace processes. Accordingly, this project merges theories on negotiation processes and effective third party involvement with theories on the expediency of incentive employment and peace conditionalities.

Case studies

Peace processes in Sri Lanka (2002-2006), Aceh - Indonesia (2000-2003; 2004-2005), and Mindanao - the Philippines (2001-2008).

Funding

Swedish School of Advanced Asia Pacific Studies (SSAAPS) at STINT: Travel grant (position - a Visiting Research Associate at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyang Technological University, NTU, Singapore, summer 2009)

Helge Ax:son Johnsons Foundation, grant, field research, 2009/2010