Activities and projects

In close cooperation with the Austrian Centre for Peace, the Department of Global Governance has developed the university-wide MA Study Plus module on peacebuilding (24 ECTS) and launched it in the summer semester 2023. The module is part of the university-wide MA Study Plus programme, which gives MA students the opportunity to specialise in greater depth. As part of the M+ module International Peacebuilding and Conflict Transition, students critically examine processes, strategies and measures in (post-)conflict areas that are intended to prevent the (re-)outbreak of armed conflict in the long term. This concerns issues of armed and unarmed intervention, external state and social influence on the part of the international community of states and civil society, as well as peace processes in the broadest sense. The module imparts scientifically sound legal, political and social science skills for working in (post-)conflict societies.

Two events have already taken place as part of the international online conference format: on 27 October 2022 and 27 April 2023, focusing on the relevance of local actors and strategies in peacebuilding. With this format, the Varna Institute for Peace Research (VIPR), the Department of Global Governance at the University of Graz and the CPD Cluster want to give various actors a platform to articulate their visions of peace, solidarity, freedom and autonomy. Speakers from academia, practice and activism came together from the United Kingdom, Rojava (Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria), the Philippines, Iraq, Lebanon, Bosnia, South Sudan, Germany, Bulgaria and Austria to discuss local peace initiatives and their ideas for shaping just social systems. A continuation of the conference format is planned.

Created in 2017, the blog actively seeks to publish articles on a wide range of socio-political topics. The texts published on the blog are aimed in particular at political decision-makers (from civil society to state and international organisations) and aim to provide recommendations for action in a low-threshold manner. Recently, the blog has been publishing articles on current topics such as 2022 and 2023 on anti-feminism and the elections in Lebanon, 2024 on the future of peacekeeping following the termination of the mission in Mali.
https://policyblog.empowermentforpeace.org/