Our Library
Explore our publications, from research papers and series to educational materials, covering all aspects of conflict transformation and peace promotion.

Sociedad Civil y Estado, en confianza: camino para construir pazLa experiencia Cercapaz
La ausencia de confianza entre el Estado y la Sociedad Civil fue el problema central que inspiró el diseño y la apuesta metodológica del programa Cercapaz, Cooperación entre Estado y Sociedad Civil para el Desarrollo de la Paz. Un programa de la Agencia Alemana para la Cooperación Internacional, GIZ, ejecutado por encargo del Ministerio Federal Alemán de Cooperación Económica y Desarrollo, BMZ, en conjunto con una diversidad de contrapartes colombianas, que tuvo como objetivo central durante tres fases de trabajo (2007-2014), en todos los temas y procesos asesorados, fomentar la confianza entre la Sociedad Civil y la institucionalidad pública. Después de aproximadamente ocho años de trabajo, el Programa quiere reconocer de manera cualitativa cuáles fueron los resultados de su implementación.
- Year2014
- Author(s)Myriam Sánchez, María Paula Prada, Lorena Cantillo

Learning Lessons from Failed NegotiationsA Strategic Framework
This strategic framework was developed during the 5th Meeting on Negotiations “Learning Lessons from Failed Negotiations and National Dialogue” held in November 2013, in Berlin. It provides an overview of some of the most frequent stumbling blocks in peace negotiations, addressing process- and party-related as well as contextual challenges and ways to tackle them. While in no way exhaustive, we hope that our readers find this overview useful both for reflecting on their own case-specific negotiation challenges and for designing strategies to overcome them.
- Year2014
- Author(s)Katrin Planta, Luxshi Vimalarajah, Jonathan Harlander

Serving People's Need for Peace: Infrastructures for Peace, the Peace Sector, and the Case of NepalBerghof Handbook Dialogue Series No. 10
In this reader's comment on our publication Berghof Handbook Dialogue No. 10 on Peace Infrastructures, the authors, using the case of Nepal, show how a perspective based on people's peace needs may help clarify the concept of Infrastructure for Peace. They also reflect on practical implications and potential developments in Nepal's peace sector.
- Year2013
- Author(s)Prakash Mani Sharma, Jeannine Suurmond

Security Arrangements Before, During and After NegotiationsA Strategic Framework
- Year2013
- Author(s)Vanessa Prinz, Luxshi Vimalarajah, Katrin Planta

Dealing with the Past in the Western BalkansInitiatives for Peacebuilding and Transitional Justice in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia (Report No. 18)
The publication presents results of a project funded by the German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF). The study investigates initiatives for reconciliation and “dealing with the past” which were undertaken by international organisations, legal institutions and local civil society actors in response to the wars of the 1990s. The coherence of objectives and strategies and their implications for peacebuilding, forms of cooperation and learning experiences, and the political resonance of the various approaches were a particular focus of interest. In all, 150 interviews were conducted in 28 municipalities. The study was carried out with input from civil society organisations and academic experts in the region. Srđan Dvornik (Zagreb), Katarina Milićević (Belgrade), and Ismet Sejfija (Sarajevo) co-authored the study.
- Year2013

Capacitación en transformación de conflictos. Un análisis de abordajesHandbook Article
[Resumen traducido automáticamente] Busca proporcionar una primera orientación para una audiencia menos familiarizada con el campo de la transformación de conflictos y sus posibilidades educativas. Las preguntas planteadas incluyen: ¿quién ofrece formación para qué público objetivo? ¿Cuáles son las fortalezas y las deficiencias? ¿Existen criterios que ayuden a evaluar la formación? ¿Qué retos quedan, qué recomendaciones se pueden hacer para mejorar la oferta formativa? El artículo tiene una sección de referencia extensa que cubre manuales y materiales de capacitación, organizaciones, recursos y análisis. (actualizado y revisado para la edición impresa de 2011)
- Year2013
- Author(s)Beatrix Austin

Peace Infrastructures: Assessing Concept and PracticeHandbook Dialogue Series No. 10 - complete
- Year2013

The CNDD-FDD in Burundi: The path from armed to political struggleTransitions Series No. 10
The civil war sparked by the assassination of President-elect Melchior Ndadaye in October 1993 pitted a variety of mostly Hutu rebel movements – principally the National Council for the Defence of Democracy and the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (identified by its French acronym, CNDD-FDD) – against Burundi’s regular army. The principal demands of the rebel groups were the return to constitutional law, the institution of democratic majority rule and, most especially, the reform of the Tutsi-dominated army that was viewed as the centre of power. The peace negotiations initiated in June 1998 in Arusha (Tanzania) led in August 2000 to a peace and reconciliation agreement without a ceasefire – mainly because of internal dissent within the main rebel groups and the virtual exclusion of the real belligerents from the negotiation table. Eventually, the ceasefire agreement signed in November 2003 between the CNDD-FDD of Pierre Nkurunziza and the Transitional Government led by President Domitien Ndayizeye enabled peace to return to most of the territory – with the exception of the zones where the remaining rebel group, the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People and National Forces of Liberation (PALIPEHUTU-FNL), which was hostile to any peace agreement with the government, continued to operate.
- Year2012
- Author(s)Willy Peter Nindorera

Le CNDD-FDD au Burundi: Le cheminement de la lutte armée au combat politiqueTransitions Series No. 10
La guerre civile déclenchée en octobre 1993 par l’assassinat du président élu Melchior Ndadaye a opposé essentiellement divers mouvements rebelles majoritairement hutu, dont principalement le Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie et Forces de Défense de la Démocratie (CNDD-FDD), et l’armée régulière. Ces groupes rebelles avaient pour principales revendications le retour de la légalité constitutionnelle issue des élections de 1993, la mise en place d’une démocratie majoritaire, et surtout la réforme d’une armée dominée par les Tutsi et considérée comme le cœur du pouvoir. Les négociations de paix initiées en juin 1998 à Arusha en Tanzanie débouchèrent sur un accord pour la paix et de la réconciliation en août 2000 en l’absence de cessez-le-feu, du fait notamment de dissidences internes au sein des principales rébellions et de l’exclusion de fait des véritables belligérants. Ce n’est qu’à la faveur de la signature d’un accord de cessez-le-feu en novembre 2003 entre le CNDD-FDD de Pierre Nkurunziza et le gouvernement de transition dirigé par le président Domitien Ndayizeye qu’on a pu observer un retour de la paix sur la majeure partie du territoire, en dehors des zones d’opération de la rébellion du Parti pour la Libération du Peuple Hutu et Forces Nationales de Libération (PALIPEHUTU-FNL) réfractaire à tout accord de paix avec le gouvernement.
- Year2012
- Author(s)Willy Peter Nindorera

The Art of Seeing: Investigating and Transforming Conflicts with Interactive TheatreHandbook Article
Takes as its starting point the uncertainty that remains central in post-war situations even though direct physical threats from through warring factions have been successfully brought to an end. The legacy of the war usually includes a society that is divided into different factions that have hardly any constructive relationships with each other and that lacks a ‘conflict culture’.
- Year2012
- Author(s)Hannah Reich