Project members
Makiko Takemoto (Coordinator), Narayanan Ganesan, Robert Jacobs, Gen Kikkawa (since April 2018)
Outline
This project aimed to analyze the role of reconciliation and justice in the peace process, as well as the meaning of peace and democracy in the political sciences. Although the concepts of negative and positive peace have become quite popular in peace studies, they are still ambiguous and controversial, especially in the field of peace processes. Also, the concepts of reconciliation, justice and democratization are often not well understood, especially in countries that have had civil wars. This project is a challenge to fill the gap of empirical and theoretical research as well as to link international scholars in this field, to gain a wide view of peace in the world.
Outcome of research
The international workshop “Democratization and Peace” was held on December 10 and 11, 2018 in Lisbon, which was a joint venture between HPI, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Spanish office (KAS-Spain) and the Institute of Political Studies at the Portuguese Catholic University (Universidade Católica Portuguesa). The theme of the workshop was the linkages between democratization and peace with case studies on the peace process in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East presented as well as theoretical studies on peace. Originally, we planned to hold the workshop in Barcelona in 2017. However, owing to the political turbulence created by the independence movement in Catalonia in Spain, it had to be cancelled.
The theme of each HPI participant in the Lisbon workshop was as follows:
Gen Kikkawa: Comparative analysis of regional security system of Europe and Asia: the dilemma of the Asian security system
Narayanan Ganesan: Democratization and its impact on ethnic conflict and peace in Myanmar
Robert Jacobs: Post-nuclear / post-colonial challenges to democratization in the Pacific
Makiko Takemoto: Democratization, peace and the differences between Asian and Western approaches: the case of Cambodia