How research travels to policy: The case of Nordic peace research
(2023) In International Affairs 99(5).- Abstract
- How is peace research connected to practice? Observers have argued that peace research has gone from activist, political ideals about changing the world to being a methods-driven field of research that has lost all criticality. This article adds empirical substance to the debate by investigating the case of Nordic peace research and its relationship to practice. Through interview data with more than 60 individuals, including prominent peace and conflict scholars as well as practitioners working with peace and conflict resolution, we conceptualize the practice-research relationship through four 'travelers' connecting peace research and practice: 1) researchers, 2) students, 3) theories and concepts and 4) empirical findings. We describe... (More)
- How is peace research connected to practice? Observers have argued that peace research has gone from activist, political ideals about changing the world to being a methods-driven field of research that has lost all criticality. This article adds empirical substance to the debate by investigating the case of Nordic peace research and its relationship to practice. Through interview data with more than 60 individuals, including prominent peace and conflict scholars as well as practitioners working with peace and conflict resolution, we conceptualize the practice-research relationship through four 'travelers' connecting peace research and practice: 1) researchers, 2) students, 3) theories and concepts and 4) empirical findings. We describe distinct characteristics of the four travelers and discuss the changing impact of peace research over time; from researchers acting as mediators and peace activists to an increasing professionalization that has disentangled peace research and practice, shrinking the space for reflexivity in practice as well as the ability to integrate practical experience into research. We discuss the paths forward in terms of co-creation and suggest that peace research need not necessarily influence policy in terms of concrete policy advice but more so by asking big and difficult questions such as 'how peace?' and 'why war?' (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c26ceba9-99ab-45ae-abbc-d5af7a52ba89
- author
- Bramsen, Isabel LU and Hagemann, Anine
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- impact, peace, Peace Research, practice-research divide, the Nordic region, theory
- in
- International Affairs
- volume
- 99
- issue
- 5
- publisher
- Oxford University Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85172662252
- ISSN
- 0020-5850
- DOI
- 10.1093/ia/iiad175
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- c26ceba9-99ab-45ae-abbc-d5af7a52ba89
- date added to LUP
- 2024-01-28 16:43:17
- date last changed
- 2024-01-30 10:07:49
@article{c26ceba9-99ab-45ae-abbc-d5af7a52ba89, abstract = {{How is peace research connected to practice? Observers have argued that peace research has gone from activist, political ideals about changing the world to being a methods-driven field of research that has lost all criticality. This article adds empirical substance to the debate by investigating the case of Nordic peace research and its relationship to practice. Through interview data with more than 60 individuals, including prominent peace and conflict scholars as well as practitioners working with peace and conflict resolution, we conceptualize the practice-research relationship through four 'travelers' connecting peace research and practice: 1) researchers, 2) students, 3) theories and concepts and 4) empirical findings. We describe distinct characteristics of the four travelers and discuss the changing impact of peace research over time; from researchers acting as mediators and peace activists to an increasing professionalization that has disentangled peace research and practice, shrinking the space for reflexivity in practice as well as the ability to integrate practical experience into research. We discuss the paths forward in terms of co-creation and suggest that peace research need not necessarily influence policy in terms of concrete policy advice but more so by asking big and difficult questions such as 'how peace?' and 'why war?'}}, author = {{Bramsen, Isabel and Hagemann, Anine}}, issn = {{0020-5850}}, keywords = {{impact; peace; Peace Research; practice-research divide; the Nordic region; theory}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{5}}, publisher = {{Oxford University Press}}, series = {{International Affairs}}, title = {{How research travels to policy: The case of Nordic peace research}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiad175}}, doi = {{10.1093/ia/iiad175}}, volume = {{99}}, year = {{2023}}, }