How do China, Japan, and Russia pursue multilateral and bilateral policies and programs in conflict-affected and fragile states? How do they affect the global normative order of peacebuilding?
This SNSF-funded project investigates these questions in two directions. First, it examines what the three peacebuilders (i.e., China, Japan, Russia) do in specific conflict-affected and fragile settings (Burkina Faso, Madagascar, the Philippines, and Timor Leste), analysing if and how they challenge the “liberal” peacebuilding practices on the ground.
Second, the project looks at the interactions between the three peacebuilders and local actors in the processes of peacebuilding, revealing how their policies and programs are received locally. The analysis focuses on three general norms– state sovereignty, governance model, and human rights– which form the “norm matrix” governing the peacebuilding order. It explores how the three peacebuilders embed (or not) these general norms in their specific programs, based on a combination of practice-tracing, textual analysis, and semi-structured interviews with programme implementers.
The project is the first multi-year research project to investigate comparatively the practical enactment of norms by major “non-Western” powers. It also advances non-binary frameworks on the global normative transformation that will stimulate further research on norms and practices, rising powers, and international orders.
This project will be undertaken in collaboration with CCDP Research Associate Kazushige Kobayashi, Associate Professor of Peace Studies, College and Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan.
February: Kazushige Kobayashi published the chapter: Active Learning Beyond Borders? Interrogating the Diffusion of Development Cooperation Norms from Japan to China and Beyond. In: Kolmašová, Š., Reboredo, R. (eds) Norm Diffusion Beyond the West. Norm Research in International Relations. Springer, Cham. Link.
2023, February, Xinyu Yuan visited Beijing. During the visit, she connected with Chinese academics and officials relevant to peacebuilding, identified key policy dynamics in the field, and disseminated the research findings of Phase 1 of the SNF research project.
2023, March, the team conducted comprehensive desk research on Timor Leste and drafted an informative country report.
2023, March, Keith Krause participated in the 2023 Annual Conference of the International Studies Association (ISA), held in Montreal, Canada.
2023, April, Xinyu Yuan and Emilian Berutti conducted fieldwork in Dili, Timor Leste. They had discussions with a range of actors involved in the local peacebuilding processes, including researchers, business people, leaders of non-government organizations, officials of the Timorese government, and staff of international organizations and bilateral aid agencies. They also visited key project sites and observed meetings and press conferences.
2023, June, Xinyu Yuan participated in the Standing Group Conference of International Relations of Italy (SGRI), presenting at the panel Contesting the Politics of Intervention. The conference was organized by the University of Catania and by the Italian Political Science Association and Xinyu Yuan's participation was funded by the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAGW/ASSH).
October: Kazushige Kobayashi participated in a webinar entitled "War and Peace in Global International Relations," in which he talked about the research outcomes from phase 1 of the project.
