• Fragility, Conflict and Displacement

Fragility, Conflict and Displacement

Fragility, conflict and displacement pose immense challenges to sustainable development. The number of violent conflicts has doubled in the last decade with every second post-conflict country experiencing renewed conflict and many getting trapped in repeated cycles of violence. At the same time, the number of those seeking protection increases: today we see the largest total number of forcibly displaced people since reporting started in 1950. Climate change, demographic pressures and rising inequality will exacerbate these trends.


To confront these problems, we need to understand better what makes for stable, cohesive and peaceful states and societies. The work in this research cluster aims at identifying institutions and policies that help overcome the challenges conflict, fragility and displacement pose, and what role external engagement can play in this.


We analyse what empirical patterns of state fragility exist and how countries transition between them. In post-conflict societies we examine the effects of international peacebuilding and democracy support as well as how social cohesion can be improved in these settings. In our research on displacement we focus on understanding what causes people to flee and how their arrival affects social cohesion within the host communities.

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