About the Sustainable Peacebuilding Network (SPN)

This research project brings together a network of scholars and policymakers to address a crucial, unresolved problem of peacebuilding:

What are the key concepts, tools and strategies to achieve more "sustainable" outcomes in post-conflict peace operations?

Sustainability refers not only to ensuing continued international attention and resources for countries in need, but also to creating the conditions for a durable peace that can last long after the termination of the initial peacebuilding mission.

The SPN is comprised of five working groups, each examining a different aspect of sustainable peacebuilding.  Some of the working groups focus on case studies of countries or regions that have hosted peacebuilding missions, and seek to identify the requirements for sustainable outcomes in those places.  Other groups examine the role of key international actors and institutions in contributing to sustainable peacebuilding.

Each working group is comprised of a core group of scholars and/or policy practitioners who will each write an original paper for publication.  Drafts of these papers will be presented at workshops in the presence of a larger group of academics and policymakers, who will discuss the policy issues arising from the papers.

For further information on the SPN and its working groups, please check this website again.  It will be updated regularly through 2009.

The Project is an extension of the Research Partnership on Postwar Statebuilding (RPPS), which completed its work in early 2008.