Robert Forster

Chr. Michelsen Institute | CMI · U4

Email me for a copy. This paper looks at commitment problems, exclusion of key stakeholders and the issue of bias among mediators in Yemen's peace process. "In the Yemeni peace process, Resolution 2216 perpetuates a fundamental tension between the warring factions, and between them and third parties. Conflicts are dynamic processes wherein a prev...

READ THE UPDATED ARTICLE ON THE STC HERE: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339166189_'Independence_or_Front_Lines'_Securing_Southern_Representation_in_Yemen's_Peace_Talks

The article addresses the consolidation and rise of the Southern Transitional Council in South Yemen and their push for access to a seat at the table of Yemen’s peace talks. Through the case study of the STC, the article goes on to question how veto players are defined in violent conflict, and highlights the opposing narratives surrounding the STC...

We suggest that the boundary dilemmas of the term ‘local peace agreement’ point to: the ways in which nested conflict operates; the role that local agreements can play in unwinding it; and the need for a better account of peace processes as multi-level between local, national and international levels of conflict. We point to a paradoxically ‘global...

Despite the vital role of anti-corruption in sustaining peace, the scope and success of integrating anti-corruption provisions in peace agreements has never been examined. Our study finds that, in the last 34 years, anti-corruption provisions appeared in 36% of peace processes. The terms are stronger in substantive peace agreements, and less robust...

Taking arrival cities as their point of departure, Robert Forster and Are John Knudsen compare settlement choices and outcomes for Syrian refugees living in the poorest neighbourhoods in Beirut, Tripoli and Tyre. The latter two are secondary cities trailing the capital and suffer from economic divisions and rampant inequality. The chapter demonstra...

This paper examines Lebanon’s disaster response institutions and argues that the 2020 Beirut blast presents an opportunity to ‘build back better’ and overhaul contemporary institutional arrangements.

Based on an analysis of the religious language found in contemporary peace agreements, Robert Forster and Christine Bell argue that such language should not be dismissed as culturally specific rhetoric but serves important functions in the construction of peace agreements intended to provide pathways from conflict. They identify six functions which...

Living conditions among Syrians in Tripoli, Lebanon, have deteriorated since 2011. Syrian refugee households that achieved some degree of stability after self-settlement reported an upheaval in livelihoods amidst declining economic conditions that intensified after October 2019. The 2020 Global COVID-19 Pandemic and associated measures attempting t...

This report brings together the Political Settlements Research Programme’s comparative research on transitional government and accompanying processes into a ‘Quick Guide’ on the management of negotiated transitional arrangements as a mechanism for moving from conflict or social crisis to peace. The Guide aims to set out the basic modalities and pro...

Le présent rapport éclaire l’organisation et le fonctionnement des systèmes de gouvernance provisoire lors de transitions politiques majeures. Un système de gouvernance provisoire est un cadre institutionnel créé dans le but de jeter un « pont » entre un ancien régime, souvent autoritaire, interrompu dans sa gouvernance par une crise politique ou v...

یقدم ھذا التقریر فھماً لترتيبات الحكم المؤقتة خلال التحولات السیاسیة الجوھریة وطریقة عملها على مستوى الممارسة العملیة. ترتیبات الحكم المؤقتة ھي إطار مؤسسي أنشئ لیكون بمثابة 'الجسر' الذي ینقل بلداً ما من حالة الشلل الحكومي الناجم عن أزمة سیاسیة أو عنیفة تقع غالباً في الماضي السلطوي إلى حكومة أكثر سلاماً ودیمقراطیة وشمولاً لكل الأطراف. في كانون أول/د...

The large influx of Syrians displaced to into urban areas in Lebanon strained infrastructure and available services. Based on a survey of 450 displaced Syrians in Beirut, Tripoli, and Tyre, this CMI Insight sheds light on the challenges and opportunities of urban self-settlement and the benefits for instituting area-based solutions.

مذاکرات آتش بس در کدام زمان و چگونه صورت میگیرد وعناصربنیادی آن کدام ها اند؟ این رهنمود عناصر بنیادی ۲۶۷ موافقتنامه های آتش بس مندرج بانک اطلاعاتی که بین سال های ۱۹۹۰ و ۲۰۱۵ ، امضاء شده اند را به بررسی میگیرد .

This report provides an understanding of how temporary governance during major political transitions is structured and how it works in practice. Interim governance arrangements are the exercise of public power by an interim executive, and sometimes legislative authority, to conduct governance and reform processes in the context of political unrest...

Available from: https://tinyurl.com/yddghh2z This chapter provides a comprehensive global mapping and analysis of the type of legal instruments that have established transitional governance arrangements in peace and transition processes from 1990 to date.1 We use this mapping to address how transitions are “constitutionalized.” We suggest that deci...

PA-X Local is the first open-access database of written local peace agreements from across a global set of conflict-affected contexts. The local peace agreements included are publicly available written agreements between locally-based and other actors,which address local conflict-generating grievances only within a part of the wider conflict-affect...

Analysis of the Riyadh Agreement of November 2019 in context of other peace processes and the potential trade-offs and weaknesses inherent in the agreement. Published on the blogs of Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen, Norway and Political Settlements Research Programme, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Only the first page of the article is uploaded. pre-print available here: https://www.politicalsettlements.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Forster_Published_PeaceAgreements_Palgrave_Oct_2019.pdf . Peace agreements are the codification of the terms of settlement between some or all conflict parties for the purpose of ending conflict between them. Bet...

Full text (pre-print) here: http://www.politicalsettlements.org/publications-database/ceasefires/ A review of the practice and content of ceasefire agreements and provisions in peace agreements. The article include a discussion on the definition of ‘ceasefire’ and related terms, such as cessation of hostilities, truce, and armistice. The article...

منطقة نزاع مختلفة على الأقل مفاوضات حاولت إعادة التفاوض بشأن 21، شهدت 2015 و1990فيما بين عامي ترتيبات الحكم الانتقالي التي كانت قد وضعت لتنفيذ انتقال من النزاع والحكم السلطوي إلى السلام. إلا أن كيفية إدماج المرأة كجزء إما من المفاوضات المؤدية إلى ترتيبات انتقالية جديدة أو من المؤسسات السياسية التي ظهرت، لم تحظ إلا بقدر محدود من الاهتمام.على الرغم م...

من اتفاقات السلام والانتقال الموقعة في ليبيا ما بين عامي ً اتفاقا26في هذه الحلقة من سلسلة إلقاء الضوء، نستعرض هناك مفاهيم مختلفة فيما يتعلق بكيفية تحليل 1 لتقييم كيفية تضمينها لإدماج النساء والنوع الاجتماعي.2018 و2011 ونستعرض هنا متى وكيف ورد ذكر النساء 2.)1النوع الاجتماعي في اتفاقات السالم وعمليات السلام (انظر المربع في الاتفاقات، وكيف جرى التعامل...

02إعادة تنشيط مفاوضات السلام المتوقفة: التحديات والفرص لإدماج النساء // تواجه مفاوضات السلام والانتقال الرسمية في العادة صعوبة في التوصل إلى اتفاق سلام وطني، كما تبين عمليات السلام في سوريا وليبيا واليمن. إذ تعطلت المفاوضات الرسمية هنا أو تقدمت ببطء شديد دون اتفاق واضح على تسوية سياسية على الصعيد الوطني. تتناول هذه الحلقة من سلسلة إلقاء الضوء الطرق...

شخصيات رفيعة ً على المستوى الوطني، وتشارك فيها عادةًعلى الرغم من أن عمليات السلام تتم بصورة أكثر بروزاالمستوى من الحكومة والجيش والشخصيات الدولية، إلا أنها ليست المنتدى الوحيد الذي تتم فيه عمليات السلام. في الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا، وبخاصة في اليمن وسوريا وليبيا، وبرغم الجهود الدولية، لم تحظ عمليات السلام والانتقال على المستوى الوطني، إلا بقدرة م...

تتناول هذه الحلقة من سلسلة إلقاء الضوء السؤال المتعلق بما إذا كانت اتفاقات وقف إطلاق النار في النزاعات المسلحة تتناول الاحتياجات والمصالح المحددة للنساء، وكيفية تناولها. كما تقدم أمثلة لاتفاقات أدمجت قضايا المساواة بين الجنسين وتناولت مشاركة المرأة. تهدف هذه الحلقة من سلسلة إلقاء الضوء إلى توفير بيانات وأمثلة من الممارسات الماضية لكي يستند إليها من...

This Spotlight addresses the questions: When and how have ceasefire agreements in armed conflict addressed women? Why should ceasefires include gender-specific provisions? Finally, what are the potential strategies for including women in ceasefire monitoring and implementation modalities?

This Spotlight addresses the questions: When formal peace negotiations stall or break down, how do international mediators and other diplomatic efforts attempt to reinvigorate them? What challenges and opportunities do these efforts create for women and gender equality advocates?

This Spotlight addresses the questions: When negotiated transitions have failed to move forward, how have attempts to reconfigure them been used to include provisions relating to participation of women in the transitional governance arrangements, in particular the executive and legislative political institutions established to run the country duri...

This Spotlight addresses the questions: How did peace agreements and transition documents signed in Libya between 2011 and 2018 provide for the inclusion of women and gender? When and how are women and gender explicitly mentioned in the agreements, and how are some key areas relevant to gender equality dealt with?

Database of 1700+ peace and transition agreements and documents from 1 Jan 1990 to 31 Dec 2018, includes data on peace process, conflict level, agreement status, country, date, and is coded over 225 categories, providing for over 300,000 individual data points. Data is compatible with Uppsala Conflict Data Program and Correlates of War.

Mine action is essential for long-term peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. Using new data, this article explores the nexus between mine action and peace processes, providing an analysis of trends in the inclusion of mine action provisions in peace agreements. Initial findings indicate that the inclusion of mine action provisions within...

This Spotlight asks: When and how are cease res negotiated, and what are their critical elements? The Spotlight reviews core elements included in the 267 cease re agreements signed between 1990 and 2015 listed on the PA-X Peace Agreement Database (www.peaceagreements.org).

Blog post for Oxford Research Group analysing the dilemmas facing the Southern Transitional Council and participation in Yemen's peace talks (September 2018). PDF print version does not including embedded reference links. Original blog: https://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/blog/yemens-peace-process-dilemmas-facing-the-southern-transitional-co...

The core overarching intention of military power-sharing provisions negotiated in peace and transition processes, is to ensure proportionate representation of opposing parties and factions, ethno-national groups, and other former combatants in the armed forces so as to stabilise the move from violent armed conflict to a post-conflict setting. Def...

EPSA Conference Paper

Report on human trafficking and modern slavery (HTMS) in Scotland based on the proceedings from the 'See me, Free me' conference on human trafficking held at the Scottish Parliament on March 23, 2018. Report includes: Scope of the Problem and areas of advancement of multi-sectoral (public/private/third sector) engagement on HTMS policy focused on...

The Peace Agreements Database and Access Tool is a new and novel dataset developed at the University of Edinburgh, covering all available formal, signed peace agreements from 1990 to the end of 2016. It comprises more than 1500 peace agreements, has a global scope, and organizes data at the agreement, agreement type, country, conflict, and peace pr...

Bell, C. lead author (2017) Sections of this report were co-authored with Rachel Anderson, Robert Forster, Max Jaede, Astrid Jamar, Sean Molloy, Jan Pospisil, Asanga Welikala, and Laura Wise, all of whom are researchers associated with the Political Settlements Research Programme. Policy points: • The need for joint analysis between internationa...

A comparative analysis of the formation of Egypt's constituent assemblies from 2012 and 2013.

Input for the British Academy Roundtable: Negotiating Inclusion in Times of Transition, February 2017.

Sporadic attacks across Kenya left over 310 dead between January and November 2014. This violence peaked in November when the Somali insurgent group, al-Shabaab, conducted a series of cross-border raids into Kenya’s North East Province. The situation further deteriorated in late 2014 following a flair-up of tribal conflicts and general banditry in...

https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/elections-aspirations-failed-syrian-state

An analysis of the politicisation of religion in Egypt during the presidency of Muhammad Mursi from July 3, 2012 to July 3, 2013.