IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/gigawp/189.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Finding the Cases that Fit: Methodological Challenges in Peace Research

Author

Listed:
  • Simons, Claudia
  • Zanker, Franzisca

Abstract

Subnational comparative research has received increasing attention as a method that is academically rigorous and offers in-depth knowledge about specific cases. However, the practical difficulties surrounding the selection of cases to be researched and compared are seldom discussed in a meaningful way in academic circles. Even though a research design may itself be very elaborate, we need significant information on the cases before we can actually decide on useful comparisons. Based on our experiences in studying how powersharing peace agreements affect the local level and why conflict dynamics often continue, we consider the following basic question: How do we actually know that a specific case suits a particular research design? The challenges we experienced in our research were twofold: first, how to conceptualize peace and identify indicators to measure the level of peacefulness; and second, how to obtain comprehensive and reliable disaggregated data on these indicators. By detailing our own experiences we hope to encourage a more open approach to the discussion of methodological challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Simons, Claudia & Zanker, Franzisca, 2012. "Finding the Cases that Fit: Methodological Challenges in Peace Research," GIGA Working Papers 189, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:gigawp:189
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/56380/1/68905792X.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee Ann Fujii, 2010. "Shades of truth and lies: Interpreting testimonies of war and violence," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 47(2), pages 231-241, March.
    2. Mark Knight & Alpaslan O÷zerdem, 2004. "Guns, Camps and Cash: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reinsertion of Former Combatants in Transitions from War to Peace," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 41(4), pages 499-516, July.
    3. Nissim Cohen & Tamar Arieli, 2011. "Field Research in Conflict Environments: Methodological Challenges and Snowball Sampling," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 48(4), pages 423-435, July.
    4. Paul Collier & Anke Hoeffler, 2002. "AID, Policy and Peace: Reducing the risks of civil conflict," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(6), pages 435-450.
    5. Autesserre, Séverine, 2009. "Hobbes and the Congo: Frames, Local Violence, and International Intervention," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(2), pages 249-280, April.
    6. Clionadh Raleigh & rew Linke & HÃ¥vard Hegre & Joakim Karlsen, 2010. "Introducing ACLED: An Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 47(5), pages 651-660, September.
    7. Lijphart, Arend, 1971. "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 682-693, September.
    8. Jason Lyall, 2009. "Does Indiscriminate Violence Incite Insurgent Attacks?," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 53(3), pages 331-362, June.
    9. Johan Galtung, 1965. "On the Meaning of Nonviolence," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 2(3), pages 228-256, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adedokun, Ayokunu, 2017. "Post-conflict peacebuilding: A critical survey of the literature and avenues for future research," MERIT Working Papers 2017-016, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Checkel, Jeffrey T., 2014. "Mechanisms, process and the study of international institutions," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Global Governance SP IV 2014-104, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    2. Yuri M. Zhukov, 2014. "Theory of Indiscriminate Violence," Working Paper 365551, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    3. Christopher Blattman & Edward Miguel, 2010. "Civil War," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 3-57, March.
    4. Karell, Daniel & Schutte, Sebastian, 2018. "Aid, Exclusion, and the Local Dynamics of Insurgency in Afghanistan," SocArXiv 6ea2r, Center for Open Science.
    5. Christopher Blattman, 2009. "Civil War: A Review of Fifty Years of Research," Working Papers id:2231, eSocialSciences.
    6. David Fielding & Anja Shortland, 2010. "What Explains Changes in the Level of Abuse Against Civilians during the Peruvian Civil War?," Working Papers 1003, University of Otago, Department of Economics, revised May 2010.
    7. Adedokun, Ayokunu, 2017. "Post-conflict peacebuilding: A critical survey of the literature and avenues for future research," MERIT Working Papers 2017-016, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    8. Petteri Repo & Kaisa Matschoss, 2019. "Social Innovation for Sustainability Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Dorussen Han, 2014. "Peacekeeping Works, or Does It?," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(4), pages 527-537, December.
    10. Jie Cai & Lian An, 2014. "Is Protectionism Rational Under the Financial Crisis? Analysis from the Perspective of International Political Relations," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 4(3), pages 278-299, March.
    11. Laia Balcells, 2012. "Violence and displacement. Evidence from the Spanish civil war (1936-1939)," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 896.12, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    12. Carlos Bozzoli & Tilman Brueck & Tony Muhumuza, 2016. "Activity Choices Of Internally Displaced Persons And Returnees: Quantitative Survey Evidence From Post-War Northern Uganda," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(4), pages 329-347, October.
    13. Marion Mercier & Rama Lionel Ngenzebuke & Philip Verwimp, 2016. "Violence exposure and welfare over time: Evidence from the Burundi civil war," HiCN Working Papers 198 updated, Households in Conflict Network.
    14. Jennifer Robinson, 2011. "Cities in a World of Cities: The Comparative Gesture," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 1-23, January.
    15. Gustav Lidén, 2013. "What about theory? The consequences on a widened perspective of social theory," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 213-225, January.
    16. Gisselquist, Rachel M., 2020. "How the cases you choose affect the answers you get, revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    17. Andrew M. Linke & Frank D. W. Witmer & John O'Loughlin, 2012. "Space-Time Granger Analysis of the War in Iraq: A Study of Coalition and Insurgent Action-Reaction," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 402-425, September.
    18. Ivan Ligardo-Herrera & Tomás Gómez-Navarro & Edurne A. Inigo & Vincent Blok, 2018. "Addressing Climate Change in Responsible Research and Innovation: Recommendations for Its Operationalization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    19. International Monetary Fund, 2006. "Sierra Leone: Request for a Three–Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility," IMF Staff Country Reports 2006/183, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Dishil Shrimankar, 2023. "Comparative Assessments of Indian Democracy," Studies in Indian Politics, , vol. 11(1), pages 134-139, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:gigawp:189. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dueiide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.