S1 Ep6: What works? Exploring the role of local peace agreements in contemporary conflict resolution

Conflict Zone from the LSE

It can be hard not to get lost in the horror when studying societies experiencing violent conflict. And it can easily lead to the conclusion that 'nothing can be done'. Our findings on the Conflict Research Programme challenge this assessment by uncovering the presence of civic minded groups and individuals pushing for alternatives to exclusionary identity politics and the political marketplace. What's more we have also found local peace agreements to be a pervasive response to contemporary war.
In this episode, we look at the role local deals can play in building a sustainable peace. We suggest caution in seeing these as a silver bullet to organised conflict, but identify the potentially positive role they can play if part of a citizens' and civil society grounded approach to peace building.
Drawing on evidence from Somalia, Iraq, Syria and South Sudan this podcast looks at the potential for local peace deals. Featuring Rim Turkmani, Director of the Syria Programme at LSE CCS, Martin Ochaya, lecturer and consultant research for the programme based in South Sudan, Dylan O’Driscoll, Research Fellow on the Iraq team, Kuyang Logo, a legal researcher on the South Sudan team, and Nisar Majid, manager of the Somalia Programme.
This podcast series has been funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office as part of the Conflict Research Programme.
Producers: Luke Cooper, Azaria Morgan
Sound editor: Ben Higgins Millner
Intro music: The Drama by Rafael Krux (used for education purposes under Creative Commons License).