Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research
| Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research eV | |
|---|---|
 Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research |
|
| Category: | research Institute |
| Facility location: | Heidelberg |
| Areas of expertise: | Conflict research |
| Basic funding: | Membership fees, donations |
| Management: | The board consists of Ronja Gottschling, Mayely Müller, Michael Hebeisen, Marit Braunschweig, Anna Feiereisen, Ruben Ilyas |
| Employee: | approx. 200 |
| Homepage: | hiik.de |
The Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research ( HIIK ) is an independent and interdisciplinary association at the Institute for Political Science at Heidelberg University . It is dedicated to researching, documenting and evaluating internal, inter-, trans- and sub-state political conflicts .
General
HIIK eV - the association
The HIIK emerged in 1991 from the research project KOSIMO (conflict simulation model), financially supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and led by Frank R. Pfetsch (University of Heidelberg). Since then, the HIIK has been committed to promoting and disseminating knowledge about the emergence, course and resolution of internal, inter-, trans- and sub-state political conflicts.
The latest research results are published in the conflict barometer, which is published annually. In addition, the HIIK continuously updates and maintains its CONTRA database.
With no more than twenty employees at the beginning, the HIIK has grown to around 200 predominantly student conflict handlers. The scientific expertise of the HIIK is also ensured by its close institutional and personal ties to the Institute for Political Science at Heidelberg University.
Conflict barometer
The conflict barometer, which has been published since 1992, is an annual analysis of global conflicts and the central publication of the HIIK. Nonviolent and violent crises, wars , coups d'états and peace negotiations are the focus of the study. In the summary of the course of the worldwide conflicts, the HIIK clearly presents the developments of the respective year, which are explained graphically and in the form of texts. The global conflict panorama describes the general development. The individual regional sections then provide an insight into the conflict in Asia and Oceania, Europe, the Americas, in sub-Saharan Africa as well as in the Middle East and the Maghreb in the form of descriptive texts.
The Heidelberg method
Methodical approach since 2011
Until 2010, the recorded conflict measures and, in individual cases, other indicators such as fatalities and refugee numbers were used to a large extent for the evaluation of conflicts. With the revised Heidelberg methodology, the conflict science process will be further differentiated and systematized from the observation year 2011. On the one hand, the intensity of a conflict is no longer determined only at the level of the nation states and calendar years, but also for the individual political units at the sub-national level and on the basis of the calendar months. On the other hand, the determination of the conflict intensity is now carried out through an analysis using clearly designed indicators to assess the means and consequences of the conflict resolution, which, however, is still based on the actions and communication of the conflict actors.
The basic concept of political conflict
According to the Heidelberg conflict methodology, a political conflict is a position difference with regard to goods that are relevant to society as a whole - the objects of conflict - between at least two relevant directly involved actors, which is carried out by means of observable and interrelated conflict measures that lie outside of established regulatory procedures and threaten a core state function or the international legal order or promise such a threat. The three elements conflict actors, conflict measures and conflict objects form the constitutive attributes of a political conflict.
Conflict intensity
Another essential characteristic of political conflicts is the intensity with which they are carried out. The conflict intensity results from the interplay of the conflict measures implemented in a geographical area over a certain period of time. The HIIK has been using a five-level intensity scale since 2005. The revised methodology now names the intensity levels as dispute, nonviolent crisis, violent crisis, limited war and war. The violent crisis, the limited war and the war together make up the category of violent conflict, as distinct from non-violent conflicts (dispute and non-violent crisis).
| Violence level | Old name | Designation since 2011 |
|---|---|---|
| non-violent conflict | Latent conflict | dispute |
| Manifest conflict | Nonviolent Crisis | |
| Violent conflict | crisis | Violent crisis |
| Serious crisis | Limited war | |
| war | war |
Violent conflicts very often arise from non-violent conflicts. It is also true that violent conflicts are not ended by a sudden peace , but rather that tensions are gradually reduced with fluctuations. The conflict barometer tracks a conflict even if it is no longer violently carried out and checks whether the end of a violent conflict is actually the end of the conflict. Limiting the investigation to violent conflicts alone would obscure those conflicts that were resolved peacefully. But only the recording and analysis of those cases in which crisis management was able to prevent the outbreak of violence enables a comprehensive and understanding view of the world and its conflicts.
Determination of the conflict intensity
Disputes are political conflicts that are resolved entirely without the use of physical force. In non-violent crises, violence is threatened or violence is used against property without the physical harm to people being accepted. In the three stages of violent conflict - violent crisis, limited war and war - physical violence is used against people (and often against things). While violence occurs comparatively sporadically in violent crises, in highly violent conflicts - the limited war and the war - it is massive in its use and serious in its consequences. To operationalize violent conflict intensities, the means and consequences of the use of force are considered. In the resource dimension, the type of weapons used and the number of personnel deployed (e.g. soldiers, rebels, demonstrators) are considered. In terms of the consequences of the use of force, the focus is on the number of fatalities and refugees , as well as the extent of the destruction.
The intensity of the conflict is determined for each calendar month and for each subnational unit (e.g. province) that is affected by the respective conflict. For representation in the conflict barometer and for graphic illustration, this information is aggregated to statements about the maximum conflict burden in a country in a calendar year. To further refine this aggregated assessment, the total number of fatalities and refugees in a conflict is also used in one year: Violent crises and limited wars are each upgraded by an intensity level if a particularly high number of fatalities or refugees were observed; limited wars and wars are downgraded by an intensity level if the numbers were low in that regard.
Range
For 2014, the HIIK was awarded the Peter Becker Prize for Peace and Conflict Research.
See also
- Asymmetrical conflict
- Peace research
- Conflict research
- War research
- Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research (PRIF)
Web links
Publications (selection)
- HIIK (2019): Conflict Barometer 2018. disputes - non violent crisis - violent crisis - limited wars - wars - No. 27, Heidelberg
- Nicolas Schwank, Thomas Wencker, Christoph Trinn (2013): The Heidelberg Approach to Conflict Data Collection. Journal for Peace and Conflict Research 2 (1), pp. 32–63
- Nicolas Schwank, Christoph Trinn (2010): Patterns and development trends of political conflicts as reflected in the Conflict Information System (CONIS) Heidelberg, in: Feichtinger, Walter / Dengg, Anton (Ed.): No enemy in sight. Conflict images and threats of the future (Vienna: Böhlau), pp. 65–87.
- Aurel Croissant , Uwe Wagschal , Nicolas Schwank, Christoph Trinn (2009): Cultural conflicts since 1945. The cultural dimensions of global conflict (Baden-Baden: Nomos), 296 pp.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Institute for Political Science at Heidelberg University , HIIK
- ^ Staff of the HIIK , HIIK
- ^ Current conflict barometer, HIIK
- ↑ Methodological Approach , HIIK