04: Confidence-building in the context of security and ethnic conflicts
Next to human suffering, the destruction of confidence is one of the key consequences of ethnic conflict and war. At the same time, confidence and renewed solidarity are essential aspects of post-conflict reconstruction and conflict prevention. The renewal of confidence does not only involve the reconciliation of different groups, but the reconstruction of confidence more broadly in society, which is often severely impaired through conflict. The seminar will focus on different forms of confidence-building after civil conflict. While debates often focus on institutions and tools of democracy and governance in post-conflict settings, the underpinning forms of social cohesion, solidarity and confidence are often not well understood.
In the context of confidence building, the discussions during the seminar will center on three aspects: mediation, reconciliation and consensus building.
These aspects are best understood not just as being group-centered, i.e. as focusing on relations between groups, but rather one needs to look at society more broadly to allow for a reduction of ‘groupness’ and the emergence of alternate forms of solidarity and societal confidence.
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Natasa KANDIC
Excecutive Director, The Humanitarian Law Center, Belgrade
| Natasa Kandic is the Founder and Executive Director of the Humanitarian Law Center, a Belgrade-based human rights NGO. Tirelessly campaigning for truth and justice for victims, she leads the Humanitarian Law Center in its mission to assist post-Yugoslav societies to re-establish the rule of law and come to terms with the legacy of massive and systematic violations of human rights. She advocates a regional approach to transitional justice and the official establishment of a regional commission to investigate and disclose the facts about war crimes in the former Yugoslavia |
Mag. MA Ph.D. Florian BIEBER
Lecturer in East European Politics, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Kent, Canterbury
| 1998-1999 | Assistant for International Affairs, Rector s Office, Central European University, Budapest |
| 1999-2000 | Instructor, International Relations and European Studies Department, Central European University, Budapest |
| 2001-2002 | Regional Representative, European Center for Minority Issues, Belgrade (2001/2002); Sarajevo (2001) |
| 2002-2006 | Project Advisor, European Center for Minority Issues, Belgrade |
| since 2002 | Senior Non-Resident Research Associate, European Center for Minority Issues, Belgrade |
| 2002 | Visiting Professor, Central European University, Nationalism Studies, Budapest |
| 2005-2008 | Visiting Professor, Interdisciplinary Master in East European Researches and Studies, University of Bologna, Forli |
| since 2006 | Lecturer in East European Politics, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Kent, Canterbury |
| 2009 | Luigi Einaudi Chair in European and International Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca (1-5/2009) |
MA Ph.D. Luis PERAL
Research Fellow, European Union Institute for Security Studies, Paris
| Ph.D. in Law, MA in Law of the European Union, MA in Law, BA in Political Sciences, with specialisation in International Relations | |
| Diploma in English Law, University of Kent, Canterbury | |
| 1992-2004 | Lecturer in International Law, Law Faculty, University Carlos III of Madrid |
| 2004-2006 | Senior Fellow at FRIDE (Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior), Madrid |
| 2004-2008 | Ramon y Cajal Researcher, Ministry of the Presidency of the Spanish Government, Madrid |
| 2006-2008 | Director of the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Programme at the Toledo International Centre for Peace, CITpax, Madrid |
| since 2008 | Research Fellow, European Union Institute for Security Studies, Paris |
| Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan Law School, Lecturer at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (Sanremo, Italy), Lecturer at the European Masters Course on Democratisation and Human Rights of the European Inter-University Centre (Venice) | |
| His research and publications, particularly, Éxodos masivos, supervivencia y mantenimiento de la paz (Trotta, 2001), are focused on International Refugee Law, Humanitarian Law, European Human Rights Law, and Peacekeeping |
