Events
INEF Expert Workshops in Berlin and Brussels
As part of the ANCIP network project, funded by BMBF, and co-implemented by INEF with colleagues at Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) and University Leipzig, together with partners in Africa and Europe, two transfer workshops were organised in February 2025 in Berlin and Brussels to communicate the first results of the project to German and EU policy communities. The project investigates African Non-Military Intervention Practices (ANCIP) of regional organisations, such as mediation, special envoys, early warning, electoral observation and infrastructures for peace, and also sets up a novel database and dashboard to analyse such practices.
Detailed reports on the transfer workshops in Berlin and in Brussels can be found on the ANCIP project website.
INEF Lecture Series
Prospects of Peacebuilding in West Africa. The Role of ad hoc Military Coalition Interventions
Dr. Emma Birikorang
20 November 2024, 2 pm c.t., LF 310, Campus Duisburg
Regionalism has been an essential feature of Africa’s international relations. This first wave begun in the 1960s and lasted through the 1980s. This was followed by a second wave of regionalism that begun in the second half of the 1980s. Regional economic communities and institutions continue to play essential roles in addressing pertinent developmental and security challenges. Nonetheless, the continent is witnessing a new wave of regionalism where countries are now harnessing their strengths to tackle common threats. Notably, there has been the emergence of collaborative initiatives such as the G5 Sahel, the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to fight Boko Haram, the Accra Initiative, and the Alliance des Etats du Sahel (AES). This INEF lecture argues that Africa is currently moving towards a new form of regionalism. It interrogates whether the emerging wave challenges or complements the old regionalism.
Dr. Emma Birikorang is acting director of research at the Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana. She studies peace operations and regional security dynamics in Africa.
Panel discussion Ambitious Goals, Sober Reality? Feminist Foreign and Development Policy Put to the Test
25 June 2024, 4–6 pm (CEST) | College for Social Sciences and Humanities, Essen
In recent years, numerous governments have adopted a “feminist foreign policy”, a contested effort to bring about a paradigm shift in how their country engages with the rest of the world. In this public panel discussion that was co-hosted by INEF, experts from government and academia addressed various facets of feminist foreign and development policy, drawing on the experiences of Germany and other countries.
INEF Lecture
Prof. Stephen Brown
22 May, 2024, 2 pm c.t., Campus Duisburg
In this talk, Stephen Brown considers the place of sexual and gender minorities – and their rights – in global politics. He examines current global and regional trends, many of which are contradictory, and unpacks the contested role of international actors (countries, international organizations and civil society organizations) in defending LGBTQI+ rights. How effective are their efforts, he asks, and to what extent can they fight marginalization and promote social inclusion without engaging in neoimperialistic and neocolonial practices?
Stephen Brown is a professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, where he is also affiliated with the School of International Development and Global Studies. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the College for Social Sciences and Humanities, University Alliance Ruhr, Essen.
Dr. Carole-Anne Sénit
22 April 2024, 4 pm c.t., Campus Duisburg
Dr. Carole-Anne Sénit, Assistant Professor of Inclusive Sustainability Governance at Utrecht University, will deliver the next INEF Lecture on 22 April, 2024, at the University of Duisburg-Essen. She will talk about “Civil society participation in global governance: Contributions to democracy, justice, and sustainability”. Dr. Sénit will especially focus on the dynamics of exclusion of the Global South in global sustainability governance and explore other power and justice issues faced by civil society, including from a decolonial conceptual lens.
The cooperation between researchers and practitioners in development research can benefit the management of social transformation processes. On the other hand, research–practice–collaborations may equally have unintended adverse effects and carry the risk of exacerbating existing inequalities. Against this background, on January 23, 2023, Prof. Dr. Katja Bender gave a presentation titled “Research-Practice-Collaborations in International Sustainable Development - A Political Economy Perspective” as part of the INEF lecture series.
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Prof. Bender is the Director of the International Centre for Sustainable Development (IZNE) at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg. Her research fields include the political economy of social protection and health system reforms in the global south and the analysis of research-practice collaborations in international sustainable development.
Online Workshop - Transnational Jihadism and Collective Security in East Africa
Over the past decade militant Islamism has become a substantial security threat in East Africa. Following the advent of Al-Shabaab in Somalia, jihadist groups and networks have emerged in Kenya, Tanzania, and, most recently, in northern Mozambique. In the light of this worrisome development, on 26 January 2021, INEF hosted the online expert workshop "Transnational Jihadism and Collective Security in East Africa" together with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Kenya Office.
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The workshop built on the work of FES on collective security in the Horn of Africa and on the new INEF research project “Party Competition and Collective Jihadist Radicalization in sub-Saharan Africa”, which is funded by the German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF).
Who are the relevant militant Islamist actors? To what extent can the rise of jihadism be attributed to pre-existing ethnic/religious tensions? How can further escalations of jihadist violence be avoided? What could regional responses look like? These are some of the question addressed by a group of renowned research and policy experts on the region.
Sef/INEF Workshop - The World Trade System after COVID-19
On September 14/15, 2020, the Development and Peace Foundation (sef:) and INEF jointly hosted the international expert workshop "The World Trade System after COVID-19: Pathways towards welfare-oriented trade policy" at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
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The world trade system was already in deep crisis before the coronavirus pandemic. Key elements of this system risked being eroded by geopolitical power struggles and protectionist foreign trade strategies. Against this background, the workshop undertook an initial review of the performance of the world trade order in the pandemic.
The workshop report is available for download here.
Which Role for the UN in Today’s and Tomorrow’s World? International Expert Workshop Held in Duisburg
On September 3/4, 2019, the Development and Peace Foundation (sef:) and INEF invited researchers and practitioners to address the challenge of the UN as “The Essential World Organisation: Reinvigorating the UN at 75”. Experts gave insights on the legitimacy and adaptability of the organization and shed light on strategies, reform challenges and new alliances, necessary to empower the UN to operate in a polycentric future and live up to its charter.
You will find the workshop programme and short report here.
Findings of this workshop were also reflected in a policy paper on “Shaping Multilateralism”.
Expert Workshop on “Goodbye to Elitism: Anchoring Global Governance in Societies”
On September 25/26, 2018, the Development and Peace Foundation (sef:) and INEF jointly hosted an international expert workshop at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Our focus was on identifying new strategies which might enhance the progressive rooting of global governance in societies. Recent trends, amongst others urbanisation and digitalisation were reflected upon in light of their potential to foster participation of local actors and the democratisation of global governing.
You will find the workshop programme and a short report here.