2. Peacebuilding and Governance in Conflict-Affected Societies

This area of research relates to the transformation of governance, security and justice systems as a means of building peace in conflict-affected countries and regions. More specifically, this area of work is interested in questions of everyday peace and the encounter between the global (top-down) and the local (bottom-up) during and following periods of turmoil and violent conflict.

On this topic, Charles was Chief Investigator on a recently completed multi-year research project funded by the Australian government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade examining the empirical realities of social order in the ‘differently ordered’ states of West Africa. This project – ‘Understanding and Working with Local Sources of Peace, Security and Justice’ – identified how and to what effect myriad providers of everyday safety and well-being interact and produce emergent socio-political (dis)order. More detail about this project is available here.

Dr hunt is also lead Chief Investigator on a two-year project, funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung in Germany that aims to contribute to more realistic, effective conflict resolution in societies at different stages of the conflict cycle. This project – New perspectives on international engagement in complex, heterogeneous security environments – draws on the cases of Bougainville (PNG) and Mali (west Africa) to investigate complex heterogeneity as not only a context of chaos or violence but also a source of order and conflict resolution. More detail and outputs from this project available here.

Publications flowing from this area of work include: