On November 12, 2015, the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 700 hosted a workshop titled “Engaging Armed Groups: Options and Limitations of Mediating Brokerage.”

The event was organized jointly by MISEREOR and the SFB’s transfer project T3, which focuses on the implications of the SFB 700’s research for German foreign policy and cooperates closely with the German Federal Foreign Office. Guests included representatives of state and non-state organizations from the Philippines and Myanmar, who talked about their experiences negotiating peace agreements and involving external mediators. Discussants included numerous scholars from various research projects at the SFB 700, as well as representatives of the Federal Foreign Office.

Among other things, the participants discussed the potentials and limitations of increasing the legitimacy of negotiation processes by involving non-state, military actors. Other topics included the role of civil society in peace building, federal reforms as an answer to limited statehood, and conditions that support negotiating a sustainably effective and legitimate peace agreement.

The workshop was moderated by Prof. Thomas Risse, coordinator of the SFB 700, and Dr. Gregor Walter-Drop, director of the transfer project T3.