News

EPON joins Research Project on the Ethics of Peace Negotiations and Mediation

What makes peace negotiations fair? This is the central question when EPON partners with PRIO, NUPI, KAIPTC and CSIS on the PRIO-led research project “On fair Terms: The Ethics of Peace Negotiations and Mediation”, which has now received three years funding from the Research Council of Norway

The project participants are Henrik Syse, project leader (PRIO), Cedric de Coning (NUPI), Eli Stamnes (NUPI), Kristoffer Lidén (PRIO), Kwesi Aning (KAIPTC), Fitriani (CSIS), Harry Tzimitras (PRIO Cyprus Centre), Zenonas Tziarras (PRIO Cyprus Centre), Torunn L. Tryggestad (PRIO), Gregory M. Reichberg (PRIO), Nadim Khoury (PRIO), Wenche Hauge (PRIO), Kristian Berg Harpviken (PRIO), Jenny Lorentzen (PRIO), Isabel Bramsen (University of Copenhagen), and Eric Stollenwerk (Freie Universität Berlin).

Can ethics and philosophy make a difference in negotiations on the ground?

When diplomats and negotiators find themselves in tense mediation situations, discussions on ethics and philosophy sometimes feel far away. Still, we see that mandates from international organizations and governments often lack coordination and cohesiveness. There is a need for a shared understanding of what constitutes fairness, and this can consequently affect the success and legitimacy of peace negotiations.

The purpose of the project

The point of departure in the project is different philosophical understandings of fairness and to unpack how they are understood and practiced by practitioners in peacemaking. The ambition is to establish firm foundations for more coherent debates on ethical problems and solutions in peace negotiations and peace mediation.

Introducing the ethics of peace negotiations and mediation as a field of systematic research and debate, the project is divided into four complementary research components:

  1. an overview of the field, setting the agenda through a book project and journal special section,
  2. a set of case studies of normative controversies,
  3. expert consultations on ethical principles for negotiations, and
  4. philosophical analyses of justice in peace negotiations and mediation.

Partners

  • The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
  • Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), and the NUPI lead Efficiency of Peace Operations Network (EPON)
  • Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Ghana
  • Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Indonesia