Conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia are rarely confined within state borders. Instead, they extend through the transnational flows of people, weapons, and resources, creating intricate cross-border conflict systems that span the formal and informal, licit, and illicit. These systems empower armed actors, enmesh conflict in crime and violent extremism, and ensnare local…
This post originally appeared on the XCEPT project website. In February 2021, three months into the war in Tigray in northern Ethiopia, researchers noticed something that would confirm their worst fears about the nature of the conflict. With a communications blackout and access to the region largely closed off, the team from research organisation Vigil…
Cross-border “cluster” regions in the Horn of Africa have historically suffered from underinvestment and, as a result, face related challenges. Communities living in the cross-border towns of Karamoja, Moyale, and Mandera who move across Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, and Somalia’s borders face numerous shocks and stressors. These include ethnic conflict, drought, flooding, pest infestations,…
Chemonics’ recently published toolkit offers peacebuilders a practical guide to applying “Elite Bargains and Political Deals” (EBPD) theory to their activities. Through her work delivering stabilization programming in Mali, Jaclyn Grace co-authored the toolkit. She explains how EBPD theory helps development practitioners see localized conflicts in a new light. 1. What is Elite Bargains and Political Deals…
The event examined how informal power drives conflict through the lens of “Elite Bargains and Political Deals” theory. By exploring the new approach’s potential, the presenters sketched a roadmap for engaging often elusive power brokers in peacebuilding programming. Panelists, drawn from across academia and implementation, discussed how “Elite Bargains and Political Deals” theory sheds new…
Today’s conflicts are long, intractable, and more complicated than ever. The last decade saw a marked rise in state-based armed conflict for the first time since the end of the Cold War, all involving non-state actors. Radicalization, organized crime, climate change — and now pandemics — bring new challenges to convoluted conflict systems. Yet, the…
The practical guide provides a means to analyze power dynamics in local conflicts. The approaches and activities contained support organizations to develop conflict mitigation, resolution, and prevention techniques that reflect the underlying political and cultural factors that drive conflict. The free, open-access toolkit provides organizations with a step-by-step guide on how to plan and run…
The free, open-access toolkit provides organizations a step-by-step guide to plan and run a two-to-four-day workshop on applying “Elite Bargains and Political Deals” (EBPD) theory in community-level conflicts. The workshop explains foundational EBPD concepts and helps local organizations translate theory into practical peace and stabilization activities. Peacebuilding and stabilization efforts must consider informal power structures…
Since 2012, Mali has faced a succession of violent conflicts. This violence has fractured Mali’s political landscape, with several warring factions holding power in different parts of the country. In Mali’s Sahel region, local and international NGOs are promoting dialogue among influential groups to revitalize the stalling peace process, reduce violence, and deliver long-term stability.…
Six years into the Yemen conflict, the war shows no sign of abating. The situation is dire: 80% of Yemen’s population of 30 million requires some form of humanitarian assistance; nearly half the population is in acute need. With violence spilling across Yemen’s borders and threatening maritime security in the Red Sea’s strategically important Bab el-Mandab Strait, regional…
Chemonics is pleased to announce Sahar Tabaja as its new Peace, Stability, and Transition Practice (PST) director. Ms. Tabaja is an accomplished stabilization expert with more than 10 years of experience in governance, conflict prevention, and managing capacity building programs in conflict-affected and fragile environments. Prior to this role, Ms. Tabaja served as a stabilization…
Sahar Tabaja is a conflict specialist with more than 15 years of experience designing and managing stabilization, governance, P/CVE, and peacebuilding programs in the Middle East. Her work has focused on exploring how youth, women, civil society, and local actors can positively change governance practices, alter conflict systems, and enable societal peace in fragile environments.…