New name, new website!
For us, 2010 will begin with some changes.
From now on we will go by the more compact name of
BERGHOF CONFLICT RESEARCH (BCR)
and will launch a new web address on 3 February
http://www.berghof-conflictresearch.org
The Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation, our flagship publication, will also have its website re-launched, while keeping its old address.
Each of the Berghof institutions, including Berghof Conflict Research, is shortly to launch its own harmonised homepage and logo. This new corporate identity will help to make our similarities and differences more distinct (see also Berghof Foundation and Berghof Peace Support (BPS).
Although were updating our image at Berghof Conflict Research (BCR), our research and publication activities will continue with just the same focus as before. We will also keep to our proven methods of working, which includes maintaining close collaboration with our partners. So we look forward to hearing from you in 2010!
The Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management was set up in 1993 by the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies in order to explore constructive procedures and models for dealing with ethnopolitical conflicts.
The Center aims to occupy the middle-ground between theory and practice in the study of ethnopolitical conflict. Thus we produce research that can generate ideas, tools and resources for the practice of conflict transformation, and we draw on practical experience to generate innovative research and conceptual approaches. Our goal is to contribute not only to an increased understanding of peacemaking and peacebuilding processes, but also actively to support such work.
Our interest centers on the nature of social change how it takes place, and especially how it might be directed towards certain outcomes and in particular change within the transition from violence to peace. What are the social processes and dynamics involved in such transitions? What does such transition require of key actors, both to support such change and in responding to the effects of such change? What are the shifting experiences of the various stakeholders during such transition political elites, civil society groups, non-state actors, external actors, etc.? Above all, what can we learn from these experiences, in order more effectively to support such activities and to increase understanding of this complex subject area?
We achieve our aims by a range of methods: our own original action research and conceptual work; commissioning related research by others; actively supporting the work of practitioner partners in the field; and offering policy advice and networking at the bilateral and multilateral levels.