This research project started with a workshop in December 2002 organised jointly by PRIO and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the MacArthur Foundation. The aim of the workshop was to investigate the inter-relationship between terrorism and armed conflict and to identify promising topics for further research (click here for further information about the workshop).
Taking this workshop as a point of departure, a research coalition between PRIO and SIPRI was formed to address jointly a series of research topics, including such conceptual problems as the impact of transnational terrorism on the global state system; the issues involving prediction and prevention (particularly comparative regional case studies); and post-conflict topics (for instance, analysis of spoiler problems in peace negotiations). The coalition aims at exploiting all possible synergies in mature cooperation, including contributions to each other’s work across the full range of topics aiming primarily at publishing articles in refereed journals. Cooperative efforts will extend from joint filed-work to follow-up workshops, with the expectation that these activities will contribute to filling gaps in the study of interfaces between terrorism and violent conflict on various phases of crisis management. On the PRIO side, the cooperative work will be linked initially with the research projects in the FSP program, and eventually with Working Group 1 of the Centre for the Study of Civil War. Other partners may join the research coalition later.
Sub-project: Norway's Approach to Terrorism (Tønnesson, Tunander, Burgess)