Understanding contestations for power: security and justice in fragile environments
Erwin van Veen
Megan Price
Diana Goff
Madina Diallo
AUGUST 2015
Understanding contestations for power: security and justice in fragile environments
CRU Research Programme

This document outlines a research programme of the Conflict Research Unit (CRU) of the Clingendael Institute about the nature, organisation and provision of security and justice in fragile and crisis environments for the period 2015–2019. It is positioned against the broader question of what role violence plays in current processes of state formation and is guided by three lines of research:

1.
How do elite interests, coalitions and pacts influence the organisation and provision of security and justice?
2.
How is local innovation in security and justice solutions addressing 21st-century violence?
3.
How can international support for security and justice development be improved?

Whereas question 1 is more conceptual and examines the power dynamics of security and justice in the creation and mitigation of insecurity and disorder, questions 2 and 3 are more operational and look at practical possibilities in this context for improving the state of security and justice in fragile environments from, respectively, a local (question 2) and an international (question 3) perspective.

Each research question consists of three sub-inquiries that tackle a specific issue on the knowledge frontier of security and justice in fragile situations. The document also provides an overview of the practical requirements for implementation of this research programme, such as partnerships, products and funding.

About the authors

Erwin van Veen is a Senior Research Fellow at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit. He specializes in understanding the politics and change dynamics of security and justice provision, as well as modern conflict dynamics and the nature of associated peace processes.

Megan Price is a Research Fellow at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit. She contributes research on international strategies for supporting security reform in fragile settings. Her current research focuses on security provision as a negotiated political process, and the role of informal and non-conventional actors in statebuilding.

Diana Goff is a Research Fellow at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit. Her research focuses on understanding the dynamics that drive the organization and provision of justice in fragile environments, including access to justice, restorative, transitional and customary justice.

Madina Diallo is a project assistant at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit. She conducts preliminary research in the area of security and justice and generally supports the research program.

Cover photo

Protests in Sana’a (2011). Source: Wikipedia