Comprehensive Approach To Conflict Analysis

Draft article for ECDM Great Insights

Linking conflict prevention to supporting peacebuilding and statebuilding – an EU institutional perspective

The developments we are seeing on the international scene present a serious challenge to any actor seeking to play a positive role in the world whilst also safeguarding domestic interests and security. The sheer number of concurrent crises we are facing; the complexity of inter-locking conflicts; the fragmentation of states and emergence of new, often transnational, violent actors; the simultaneous return to geo-political rivalry and resurgent nationalism in some quarters; the catastrophic humanitarian impacts and spillovers of these crises: at times these challenges can seem overwhelming when trying

Both the early warning system and the conflict analysis approach invariably lead to an examination of the nature and role of the state(s) in question, and the extent to which it generates violence or fails to manage conflict peacefully. Such analysis is also encouraging more focus on the positive capacities and connections within states and their societies and beyond, that provide resilience to risks of violence and that provide a possible basis for conflict prevention and peacebuilding. The analysis leads to identification of options for conflict sensitive EU responses. This investment in focussed analysis and the institutionalisation of a preventive culture are in their early days and still need deepening. They are not a panacea on their own, but they represent an important step

The Arab Spring and developments in other parts of the world have acted as a reminder that the EU itself needs to engage with and understand the perspectives of people in those countries, not just governments, if we are going to respond effectively to statebuilding and peacebuilding challenges. The EU has a long track record of supporting civil society organisations around the world. The EU’s partnership with and funding support to the Civil Society Dialogue Network (CSDN), run by the consortium of NGOs that form the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO), is a good example of how the EU is increasingly engaging civil society in policy and strategy formulation and review – on specific countries, in the design of crisis response missions, or in reviewing overall progress on conflict prevention for example. National experts and civil society representatives are increasingly invited to EU conflict analysis workshops to enrich the analysis and challenge our thinking. And promoting the inclusion of civil society in peace processes, including women, is a central tenet of our approach, even if there unquestionably remains scope to take this