Previous Research
Between 2001 and 2009, swisspeace has conducted research within the NCCR North-South on the following topics:
Conflict and Economy
What roles do local and international business actors play in reducing violence in fragile socio-economic environments? In this research module, particular attention was given to the contribution of business actors towards reducing the violence proneness of fragile environments and towards achieving sustainable development. Research was carried out in Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire, Tanzania, Kenya and Nepal.
Governance and Gender
Within the research on governance particular emphasis was placed on "bottom-up" governance, where previously "voiceless" social groups such as women, indigenous peasants or laborers have succeeded in asserting their citizenship by taking the political initiative in the public arena. Gender was also considered as a core and transversal tool in the approach of governance and conflict. This research module was conducted in collaboration with the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.
International Water Disputes
Strategies to overcome national and regional "dilemma of hydropolitics" such as international water disputes in the Eastern Nile and Syr Daria basins were at the centre of this research carried out in Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Interventions at the international level were examined in regard to their impacts on national and local levels. Water management strategies in respect to supply and demand were assessed in light of conflict and cooperation.
Violent Land Conflicts
Land conflicts and management strategies were examined in "frontier" areas characterized by weak state power, poverty and parallel formal and non-formal institutional rules. Special attention was given to the harmonization of customary and state resource and conflict management institutions and strategies. Competition between settlers and indigenous people and the dynamics of multiple resource user(s) conflicts in pastoral areas represented major objects of analysis. Research was carried out in Ethiopia, Sudan, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia.