Thematic Areas

Community engagement refers to the practice of engaging with different communities across a range of cultural, ethnic, religious and gender backgrounds in order to identify and support local solutions for peace and stability.  Community engagement can be applied to a range of conflict and stabilisation activity; the approaches applied will differ depending on the activity, needs, culture, context, and the operating environment.  See also sections on gender and peacebuilding.

Comprehensive/integrated approach refers to people from different institutions (with particular reference to civilian and military institutions) working together at several levels to achieve common aims. An integrated approach recognises that no one government department has a monopoly over responses to the challenges of stabilisation contexts and that by making best use of the broad range of knowledge, skills and assets of government departments, integrated efforts should be mutually reinforcing.  See also section on planning.

Conflict exists in all societies at all times.  Non-violent resolution is possible when individuals and groups have trust in their governing structures, society and institutions to manage incompatible interests. Conflict becomes a problem when this trust and respective conflict management capacities are absent and conflicting parties choose instead to resort to the use of force to secure their goals.  Addressing the causes and effects of conflict are critical to the stabilisation process.  See also section on peacebuilding.

Counterinsurgency (COIN) refers to a set of activities aimed at supporting a legitimate government's efforts to eliminate - or reduce the impact of - an armed insurgency.  COIN activities aim to influence the real and very practical calculations on the part of the people about which side to support.  COIN activities may also contribute to the stabilisation process.  See also section on stabilisation.

Ideology refers to certain beliefs or narratives. These tend to concern the cause, nature and purpose of life or the universe, and are often regarded as holy, sacred, spiritual or divine. Ideology encompasses religion which includes narratives, symbols and traditions that are intended to give meaning to life, from which morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle can be derived. Religion also has a public aspect reflected in organised behaviours which is important to understand in stabilisation and conflict contexts. Culture is a term with multiple meanings and definitions. At its most simple, it can refer to human behaviour and to the way things are done in a country or part of a country. Culture often encompasses belief systems, values, attitudes, relationships and practices. Cultural analysis can contribute to an understanding of politics and conflict. This, in turn, can help to align stabilisation activities to the locally appropriate context.

DDR aims primarily to deal with the post-conflict security problem that arises when ex-combatants are left without livelihoods or support networks, other than their former comrades. DDR disarms and demilitarises combatants, and importantly supports the process of integrating them socially and economically into communities and civil society as part of a wider stabilisation and peacebuilding process. 

Education can refer to both the experience of life long learning and the technical process through which information is deliberately accumulated and cascaded through society.While the term education is often used to refer to primary, secondary and tertiary systems, the vast majority of learning takes place outside formal institutions. Education can therefore be better understood as a combination of knowledge, skills and values that can encompass religious teachings or learning through radio programmes for instance. In numerous conflict environments education has become a contested resource and source of conflict, fought over for its infrastructure, access to and influence over the population and curriculum.

Governance refers to the conventions which determine how citizens, authorities and public institutions relate to each other through informal and formal means and processes.

Health actors can play a significant role in conflict contexts: from involvement in negotiating access to health care for particular communities to providing holistic, rehabilitative treatment for victims.  In stabilisation environments, the provision of effective health services by the state can also contribute to the political goal of strengthening the relationship between the government and local communities.

Violations of human rights are often a driver of violent conflict (discrimination in access to resources etc), which in turn lead to further human rights violations (torture, disappearances etc).  Implementation of human rights principles and standards is critical to reducing or preventing conflict and laying the foundation for sustainable peace.  See also section on protection of civilians.

Infrastructure refers to the provision and existence of transport and utility services that are required for social and economic growth.  Infrastructure development in conflict and stabilisation environments can strengthen the relationship between the state and local communities, as well as between local communities.              

Multinational/international institutions refers to those institutions at the international, regional or sub-regional level engaged either in the promotion and maintenance of peace and security or in the provision of assistance (security, technical or financial) to countries recovering from conflict. 

Peacebuilding is a complex, long-term endogenous process.  It involves a range of measures targeted to both reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into violent conflict by addressing the deep-rooted, structural causes of conflict and strengthen national capacities at all levels for conflict management, with the aim of laying the foundation for sustainable peace.  See also sections on peacekeeping, peace processes and conflict.

Peacekeeping has evolved from a primarily military model of observing cease-fires and the separation of forces after inter-state wars, to incorporate a complex model of many elements - military, police and civilian - working together to assist in implementing political agreements to help lay the foundations for sustainable peace.  See also sections on peacebuilding and peace processes.

Peace process refers to a political process in which violent conflict is resolved by peaceful means through using a mixture of politics, diplomacy, changing relationships, negotiation, mediation, and dialogue.  See also sections on peacebuilding, peacekeeping and political settlement.

Political settlement refers to the formal and informal process of bargaining between elites as well as between the state and organised groups in society regarding the organising of power. Political settlement underpins state and state-society relations and forms the relationship between formal and informal institutions and the distribution of power in society. See also sections on peace processes.

During armed conflict civilians face daily threats of violence and death as they find themselves caught up in the middle of a conflict. Despite being protected under international humanitarian and human rights law, civilians may be deliberately targeted by belligerents. These deliberate attacks can include campaigns of sexual violence or deliberate killings to instil fear and coerce compliance from the local population. Protection of civilians refers to activities that may be diplomatic, military, or humanitarian in nature to protect civilians from the effects of conflict.  See also section on human rights.

Security and justice refers to all aspects of a country's ability to meet the range of security and justice needs within its society, including both state and non-state mechanisms.   

Stabilisation is the process of establishing early peace and security in countries affected by conflict and instability.  Central to the stabilisation process is the promotion of a peaceful political settlement to support a legitimate indigenous government, which can better respond to its people. Stabilisation often requires external support to indigenous efforts and is best undertaken through an integrated approach.  See also section on counterinsurgency and comprehensive/integrated approach.

Strategic communication (Strat Comms) refers to the way in which policies and actions are communicated to the public (local and international), in order to build up an alliance of people willing to support desired outcomes. Successful strategic communication is an integral and transformational part of delivery; a two-way process, and key to bringing about change in attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in the people upon whom stabilisation success depends.