Leaders Making Peace: Incentives towards Post-Conflict Peacebuilding

CONFERENCE

In the wake of “ethnic” violence and war, when and why do political elites and other key actors promote intergroup peacebuilding? Under what conditions do leaders compromise? What features of the polity, society or economy incentivize them to cooperate or facilitate efforts to promote improved intergroup relations?

This 2 day conference will bring together academics and practitioners to address these questions and to focus on specific topics related to the question of when influential leaders are incentivized or motivated to pursue peacebuilding.

Attendance can be in-person or online. This ticket is for IN-PERSON attendance only.

Please note the different timings and venues for both days:

DAY 1

Friday 20 September

Start time: 1.00pm BST

Venue: Ridell Hall, 185 Stranmillis Road, Belfast

DAY 2

Saturday 21 September

Start time: 9.00am BST

Venue: Canada Room and Council Chamber, Lanyon Building, Queen’s University Belfast

All timings are local.

VENUE: Riddel Hall Conference Room, 85 Stranmillis Rd, Belfast BT9 5EE

1:00pm –1:30pm - Panel 1: Welcome and Introductions

​​Richard English (Queen’s University Belfast)

Melani Cammett (Harvard University)

1:30–3:00 pm - Panel 2: Leadership and leader motivations

What kinds of ethnic politicians and other types of communal elites seek intergroup compromise? What explains their conciliatory behavior? Does leadership matter on its own or do broader structural and institutional factors facilitate the emergence and explain the behavior of conciliatory ethnic leaders?

Panellists

Moderator: Mina Cikara (Harvard University)

Ronit Berger-Hobson (Queen’s University Belfast)

Saleh El Machnouk (Université Saint-Joseph)

Saumitra Jha (Stanford University)

Rory Montgomery (Queen’s University Belfast)

3:00pm–3:30 pm: Break

3:30pm–5:00 pm - Panel 3: Formal institutions

A robust social science literature traces the impact of formal political institutions in incentivizing or deterring political elites from pursuing interethnic compromise. Why do institutions that promote conciliatory behavior emerge in the first place? Under what conditions do they incentivize improved intergroup relations and, conversely, how do ethnic politicians seek to evade or undermine these institutions?

Panellists

Moderator: Christopher Maccabe (Queen’s University Belfast)

Giuditta Fontana (University of Birmingham)

Damir Kapidžić (University of Sarajevo)

Christiana Parreira (Graduate Institute, Geneva)

Farhan Hanif Siddiqi (Quaid-i-Azam University)

5:00pm: Reception

Venue: Canada Room and Council Chambers, Lanyon Building, Queen's University Belfast

9:00am–10:30am - Panel 4: The economic environment

In what ways do economic factors shape elite incentives to compromise? What aspects of the business environment, labor markets, or other economic factors shape the behavior of influential elites to pursue compromise?

Panellists

Moderator: Mashail Malik (Harvard University)

Moses Shayo (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Joshua Greene (Harvard University)

Jasmin Ramovic (University of Manchester)

10:30am–10:45am: Break

10:45am– 12:15pm - Panel 5: Civil society

When do the efforts of civil society groups and/or informal leaders to promote intergroup reconciliation succeed? What does “success” look like on the ground? When do their conciliatory efforts influence the behavior of ethnic political elites to seek compromise?

Panellists

Moderator: Marsha Henry (Queen’s University Belfast)

Fadi Abi Allam (Permanent Peace Movement, Lebanon)

Timofey Agarin (Queen’s University Belfast)

Avila Kilmurray (Queen’s University Belfast)

Dženana Šabić Hamidović (IOM, Bosnia-Herzegovina)

Cathal McManus (Queen’s University Belfast)

12:15pm–1:15pm: Lunch

1:15pm–2:45pm - Panel 6: Transitional justice

When do political elites promote transitional justice initiatives? What types of initiatives do they champion, and which do they avoid? What lessons can we draw from transitional justice programs across diverse contexts?

Panellists

Moderator: Kieran McEvoy (Queen’s University Belfast)

Laia Balcells (Georgetown University)

Michael Maguire (Queen’s University Belfast)

Louise Mallinder (Queen’s University Belfast)

2:45pm–3:00pm: Break

3:00pm–4:00pm - Panel 7: Key takeaways and conclusion

​​Richard English (Queen’s University Belfast)

Melani Cammett (Harvard University)

The Conference organizers are grateful for the financial support provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and by the Queen's University Belfast North America Partnership Fund.

Host or Publisher The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice