It has been more than eighteen months since the civil war in the northern part of Ethiopia started, with no clear end in sight. The war has resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and deteriorated security in Ethiopia and beyond. The war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced much more, torn the social fabric of the people, exacerbated political polarization, compromised the territorial integrity of the country, and poses a direct threat to the peace and security of Horn of Africa, among others. Despite some efforts to halt the war and bring about peace through the AU-led mediation as reinforced by the support of international actors, the war had spread to the entire northern part of the country, with sporadic armed hostility still ongoing throughout the country.

When did Ukrainian national identity emerge? What are the roots of the Ukrainians’ fierce belief in their right to an independent statehood? And on what basis does the Russian president question the very existence of Ukraine? How do identity issues play into the ongoing war in this country? A lot of questions that should be asked to understand the background of the war… And we will!

On Friday and Saturday, the IIP hosted the annual meeting of the Austrian Network of Peace and conflict Studies (NeFKÖ) on the topic “Current debates on peace and conflict”. In two intensive days of discussions and workshops in e.g. Afghanistan and Ukraine, the network tried to explore possibilities of constructive dialogue, cooperation between organizations and individuals, how to deal with set-backs within and outside the field of peaceful conflict resolution and how we can strengthen an active discourse about inclusive peace!

Post 2001 Afghanistan has become a case study for the failure of liberal peace as part of a nation-building exercise. The scars that the US withdrawal have left on Afghanistan are manyfold, and deep, yet these are only superficial when compared to the disintegration of its social fabric, its youth, and the deep fragmentation of Afghan society that has followed. Amidst the rapid formation of Taliban authoritarian rule, what is next for Afghanistan and what can the EU do to assist its population, whilst not empowering the Taliban. The talk will seek to explore the different steps that led to August 15th's disintegration of the Afghan State, identify the current situation of peace networks in the country, and point towards avenues for support, amplification and strengthening of a decolonial peace in and out of Afghanistan.

For Dok 1 our Director, Stephanie Fenkart, spoke with Hanno Settele about Austrian Neutrality and the nostalgic feelings about it. Neutrality proved to be useful in times of the Cold War, but until today Austrians have a nostalgic feeling about it and inherited it as part of their identity!

In der Ukraine tobt seit bald zwei Monaten ein Krieg mit 4,7 Millionen Flüchtlingen, darunter zwei Millionen Kindern, gut 30.000 toten Soldaten, 3400 getöteten, zuvor oft schwer misshandelten Zivilisten und zerbombten Städten. Dass es so etwas mitten in Europa wieder gibt, ist unvorstellbar. Die Ukrainer haben die völkerrechtswidrige Invasion Russlands mit ihrem mutigen Widerstand zum Stocken gebracht, anscheinend sogar den Rückzug von der geplanten Eroberung von Kiew erreicht.

the IIP hosted another background talk with Sebnem Udum, Associate Professor at the Hacettepe University! The interesting and fruitful discussion covered the issue of #Turkey’s foreign and security policy.

The International Institute for Peace hosted a background talk with Greg Yudin, Professor of Political Philosophy at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. The fruitful discussion covered the topic of ongoing developments in Russia‘s war and political regime!