Call for Papers: Lisbon Meeting on Institutions and Political Economy 2016

The third edition of the Lisbon Meeting on Institutions and Political Economy will take place in Lisbon, the 19th and 20th of February 2016. This meeting consists of sessions where contributed papers are presented, and two keynote public addresses by Toke Aidt (University of Cambridge) and Georg Vanberg (Duke University). We welcome submissions of complete papers on the following topics:

• Coalition Theory and Governance (session chaired by Georg Vanberg)
• Local government finance and political economy
• Political accountability
• Political institutions (session chaired by Toke Aidt)
• Conflict and fragility (session chaired by Tilman Brück)

Submissions should take the form of a complete paper, and be sent to: [email protected]. Submissions should be sent no later than January 3th 2016. See more information here.

Call for Applications for Doctoral Study in Berlin

The Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences (BGSS) is calling for applications to its International Doctoral Program and to its European PhD in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies (SESS) starting in October 2016. Please submit your application from November 30, 2015 to January 10, 2016 via theBGSS online platforms. See more information here.

New Study by ISDC: Costs of Conflict Comparable to Costs of Climate Change

Call for Papers – Deadline Extended: Measuring the Social and Economic Impact of Conflicts and Political Instability on Agriculture (Session at ICAS VII, 26-28 October 2016, Rome)

Relatively little is known about how households struggling to survive protracted violence and displacement get by economically, what shapes their (agricultural) livelihoods and what determines their food security. This is true both of socio-economic determinants and of the natural science of smallholder agriculture in conflict and fragile settings. Standard agricultural surveys in conflict-affected countries only sporadically feature questions related to the causes and consequences of violence, leaving treatments ad-hoc and incomparable across different settings. This makes it hard to build a systematic and comparable understanding of how violence has affected different people, communities and population groups, and constitutes a key gap in agricultural policies in conflict-affected settings. Building on these insights, one session at the Seventh International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS VII) will review recent efforts to measure violence, conflict, instability and fragility at the micro-level in the agricultural sector in low, middle and high income countries. Particular preference will be given to papers developing and testing new methodologies for data collection on conflict dynamics or individual behaviour and welfare outcomes in rural settings and to papers using such data analytically to understand the performance of agriculture and rural development in times of violent conflict. The deadline for the submission of abstracts has been extended till 15 November 2015. For more information, see here and here.

New Training Course on Measuring Conflict in Household Surveys

ISDC and the LSMS team of the World Bank are co-organizing a new training course on measuring violent conflict in micro-level surveys. The training course aims to promote the collection of data on conflict through the implementation of household surveys in conflict-affected areas, in order to improve the quality of survey data on the effects of violent conflict exposure, enhance the overall understanding of socioeconomic change, and inform policy making. The workshop will equip practitioners, mostly national experts working in conflict-affected countries collecting micro-level survey data, with an appreciation for the importance of collecting data on conflict at the micro-level and with practical knowledge and hands-on training in data collection methods. The course will take place in Berlin, Germany, from 23 till 27 November 2015, and funding is available. The deadline for applications is 27 August 2015. Further information is available here.

Call for Papers: 11th Annual “Households in Conflict Network” (HiCN) Workshop, Toronto

The Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto and the Households in Conflict Network (HiCN) are organizing an international workshop to bring together researchers from different social sciences and countries sharing a common interest in studying the connections among institutions, development, armed conflict and political violence. Keynote speakers are Professor Eliana La Ferrara (Bocconi University) and Professor Elisabeth Wood (Yale University). Please send your completed paper and a short CV (maximum two pages) in PDF format by email to [email protected] by 4 September 2015, indicating if you require financial assistance to attend the workshop. We expect acceptances to be communicated by 30 September 2015. The conference language will be English. Submitted papers may be considered for publication in a journal special issue or edited volume; further details will be shared at a later date. More information can be found here.

Call for Papers: “Life in Kyrgyzstan” Conference, Bishkek, October 2015

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), ISDC – International Security and Development Center, and the University of Central Asia (UCA) are pleased to announce the first annual ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan’ Conference to take place in Bishkek on 1-2 October 2015. The two-day conference will bring together national and international experts from government and the public sector, development agencies, non-governmental organizations, academia and research institutions, and media to exchange knowledge and experiences on recent socio-economic developments in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia, and to promote evidence-based policy making. Those interested in submitting sessions or papers to the conference are welcome to submit their applications by 30 June 2015 at [email protected]. Further details can be found here.

“Life in Kyrgyzstan” Summer School

ISDC,  the Institute of Public Policy and Administration of the University of Central Asia (UCA), SIPRI, the United Nations University Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT) and 3ie will offer a Summer School in Kyrgyzstan in June 2015 entitled ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan International Summer School on Impact Evaluation Methods in Central Asia ’. The Summer School will teach the theory and practice of theory-based impact evaluations and related state-of-the-art quantitative and qualitative techniques. Participants will gain a high-level understanding of the importance of these instruments and their role in the design and assessment of public policies and development interventions. Applications are invited from practitioners, professionals and academics commissioning, conducting or interpreting impact evaluations at national or international organisations, non-governmental organisations, agencies, ministries, universities and think tanks based in or working with Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). Applicants residing and working outside Central Asia will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The application deadline is 15 March 2015. Further information can be accessed here.

10th Households in Conflict Network (HiCN) Annual Workshop in February 2015

The tenth annual workshop of the Households in Conflict Network (HiCN) was held on 10 February 2015 in collaboration with the World Bank in Washington, DC.  The theme of the workshop was “Micro-foundations of conflict and violence: economic analysis and impact evaluation”. The call for papers can be found here and the programme here.

Paper on Local Budget Transparency and Participation in Kyrgyzstan

Damir Esenaliev co-authored a paper investigating the determinants of civic participation in local budget processes in rural areas in the Kyrgyz Republic by using data from the Life in Kyrgyzstan survey, conducted in 2012. The analysis of the data suggests that although civic awareness and interest in local budget processes is relatively high, the participation rate in local budgeting processes is low. The paper also shows that interest, awareness, and participation are positively associated with the age, education, employment, risk-taking attitudes, trust, and social capital of respondents. The paper documents that unawareness and lack of participation are largely related to being female, of non-Kyrgyz ethnic origin, inactive in the labor market, recent internal migrants, and residents of communities with poor infrastructure.
Esenaliev, Damir & Kisunko, Gregory. 2015. “Local budget transparency and participation : evidence from the Kyrgyz Republic.” Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 7154. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. The full paper can be found here.

Why and How to Conduct Impact Evaluations in Humanitarian Emergencies

Anastasia Aladysheva and Tilman Brück contributed to a working paper published by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) on theory-based impact evaluations in the context of humanitarian emergencies. Despite the widespread occurrence of humanitarian emergencies such as epidemics, earthquakes, droughts, floods and violent conflict and despite the significant financial resources devoted to humanitarian assistance, systematic learning from such interventions using rigorous theory-based impact evaluations are very rare. The objective of this paper is therefore to examine the extent to which scientific impact evaluation methods can provide evidence to help improve the effectiveness and efficiency in humanitarian action. This paper explores the methodological options and challenges associated with collecting and generating high quality evidence needed to answer key questions about the performance of humanitarian assistance, including whether assistance is reaching the right people, at the right time, is bringing about the desired changes in their lives (effectiveness) and is being delivered in the right doses, ways and with manageable costs (efficiency). With the help of six case studies and drawing on real-life examples from the small but growing academic literature, we demonstrate how impact evaluation methods be used successfully and in an ethical manner to learn about how to improve humanitarian assistance. A key lesson from our review is that it pays to be prepared. Much information is being collected these days about the risks of various emergencies unfolding, be they sudden onset or slow onset emergencies. Hence national actors and international donors can prepare for these events and for conducting meaningful impact evaluations. Given the overwhelming needs and the lack of funds, doing more with limited resources is a key challenge for humanitarian assistance and impact evaluation is one way of achieving this.
Puri, J., A. Aladysheva, V. Iversen, Y. Ghorpade and T. Brück (2014). “What Methods May Be Used in Impact Evaluations of Humanitarian Assistance?”. 3ie Working Paper, Nr. 22. The full paper can be found here.

Money Can’t Buy Love but Can it Buy Peace? Evidence from Northern Ireland

Tilman Brück and Neil Ferguson published a working paper on the effectiveness of a large-scale peace-building programme in Northern Ireland. In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement concluded a period of violence in Northern Ireland yet the scars of the conflict remained prevalent in the political landscape. Rival communities remained divided, economic performance was poor and intercommunity tensions frequently manifested. In a bid to reinforce progress towards a peaceful and stable society, over €1bn of public money was spent between 2000 and 2006 on small-scale community and business ventures. Despite the scale of expenditure, however, little rigorous effort has been made to test the success of the programmes. Splitting Northern Ireland into 582 electoral wards, we merge individual-level on perceptions of neighbourhood quality from the British Household Panel Survey with detailed PEACE II accounts. Noting potential selection and omitted variables biases, we implement two-stage random effects models and show that neither level of spending, nor number of projects, in a region is associated with improvements in perceptions of neighbourhood quality.
Brück, T. and N. Ferguson (2014). “Money Can’t Buy Love but Can it Buy Peace? Evidence from the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation”. HiCN Working Papers, Nr. 177. The full paper can be found here.

Lecture on European Defence and Security Policy

„Die europäische Rüstungs- und Verteidigungspolitik:
Ist Europa eine Kriegsmacht?” 
with Tilman Brück
 on 22 September 2014 at 6pm at the Schwarzkopf-Stiftung, Sophienstraße 28 – 29, 10178 Berlin. Further details including a link to register can be found here.

Public Discussion on European Peace

“Der europäische Traum vom ewigen Frieden” will be discussed by Herfried Münkler, Markus Bentler, Tilman Brück, Oliver Diggelmann and Norbert Röttgen at the NZZ Podium Berlin on 15 September 2014 at 6:30pm at the BBAW in Berlin. Further details including a link to register can be found here.

Final Workshop of the Training and Mobility Network for the Economic Analysis of Conflict (TAMNEAC)

The workshop is co-organized by Université Libre de Bruxelles, ISDC – International Security and Development Center and Humboldt-University of Berlin and it is being held on 8 and 9 September 2014 in Brussels at Université Libre de Bruxelles. TAMNEAC provides training to a young generation of professionals and researchers in tackling the challenges associated with mass violent conflict in developing countries. Using robust empirical evidence, TAMNEAC researchers analyse the drivers, forms and socio-economic consequences of various types of mass violent conflict, including war, as well as the risk management strategies of individuals and households to cope with conflict. The research provides a better understanding of conflict and development issues for policy makers, security and development professionals. TAMNEAC’s evidence-based research offers a significant contribution to policies, program planning, implementation that can have a dramatic impact on the lives of people who have been affected by conflict. The workshop presents an opportunity to learn about TAMNEAC’s extensive research on conflict and to network with researchers and experts in this field. Further information can be found here.