Conflicts Forum Receives Study Grant from the US Institute of Peace

Disarmament vs. demilitarization: A case study of military integration in the Lebanese post-conflict environment

Conflicts Forum is pleased to announce that the United States Institute of Peace has awarded $50,000 to Conflicts Forum to conduct a research study on “disarmament vs demilitarisation.” The research project will investigate the efficacy of the two approaches and how they might best be applied in the case of the disarmament or demilitarization of Hezbollah in the Lebanese political environment. “We are proud that our organization has been recognized by USIP for its work over a period of many years in Lebanon,” Conflicts Forum co-Director and founder Alastair Crooke said, “and we certainly appreciate this sign of USIP’s trust in our capabilities.”

The USIP-funded study will determine whether full disarmament should precede the negotiation of a political settlement or whether it is better to couple “demilitarization” (the integration of a militia group into a national army) as a parallel political process leading to national reconciliation. The study will take as its baseline the successes and failures of previous attempts at disarmament and demilitarization in Southwest Africa and Northern Ireland.

The Conflicts Forum research project will involve the publishing of a series of detailed monographs by a variety of experts on the “demilitarization vs. disarmament” question.

Conflicts Forum will approach this study by placing the perspectives of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Government, and the relationship between the two within a historical context as well as tracing the roots of current US and EU narratives on disarmament.

The project will be overseen by Conflicts Forum Directors Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry together with international experts Lord John Alderdice (one of the four international monitors to the Good Friday Agreement appointed by the British Government in 2004 and senior member of Conflicts Forum Advisory Board) and Geoffrey Aronson (Director of the Foundation for Middle East Peace in Washington DC and senior member of Conflicts Forum Advisory Board). Results of the research project and monographs published by Conflicts Forum on the research project can be accessed after their publication on the Conflicts Forum website.



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