The Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding is pleased to share that Research Professor of International Relations and Political Science and CCDP Faculty Associate, Sara Hellmüller, together with postdoctoral researcher Bilal Salaymeh, have been shortlisted for the 2026 Bernard Brodie Prize for best article published in Contemporary Security Policy in 2025. The shortlist represents a wide range of topics, approaches, and methods, and highlights the depth of scholarship featured in the journal.
Their article, “Transactional peacemaking: Warmakers as peacemakers in the political marketplace of peace processes”, advances a timely conceptual contribution to the study of peace processes under conditions of shifting geopolitical competition. The work is grounded in more than 70 interviews across three complex conflict settings and offers an original frame for understanding how states navigate overlapping roles as both warmakers and peacemakers.
Abstract
World politics are changing with important implications for international peace processes. We argue that recent changes in world order have led to transactionalism becoming more pronounced in peace processes. This is because increased geopolitical competition often leads to a conflation of warmakers and peacemakers: States that provide military support to belligerents also engage in peacemaking. This renders peace processes political marketplaces with transactionalism as main modus operandi. Transactional peacemaking has three features: It prioritizes bilateral over multilateral approaches; is interest-based and exclusive rather than value-based and inclusive; and focuses on short-term deals instead of long-term outcomes. Drawing on over 70 interviews, we empirically demonstrate our argument with the peace processes in Libya, Syria, and Yemen. We conclude by discussing the consequences of transactionalism for the global peacemaking landscape. By providing a new conceptualization of an emerging phenomenon in contemporary peace processes, we contribute to the literature on changing peacemaking approaches.
Hellmüller, S., & Salaymeh, B. (2025). Transactional peacemaking: Warmakers as peacemakers in the political marketplace of peace processes. Contemporary Security Policy, 46(2), 312–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2024.2448908
About the Bernard Brodie Prize
The Bernard Brodie Prize is awarded annually by Contemporary Security Policy to the author of the most outstanding article published in the journal during the previous year. Named after Dr. Bernard Brodie, a leading figure in strategic studies and a pioneer in bridging official policy environments with academic research, the prize recognizes work that shapes contemporary debates on peace and security.
A jury composed of members of the Contemporary Security Policy Editorial Board will select the winner. The announcement will appear in the January issue. More information about the Brodie Prize and past recipients is available through Contemporary Security Policy.