Research Jorg Kustermans

Abstract

The ability of humanitarian organisations to obtain space from political authorities for the performance of their function being directly linked to their power, the project seeks to come to a nuanced appreciation of how they seek to boost that power by using the tools of humanitarian diplomacy (HD). HD is 'the activity of specialised organisations to obtain space from political and military authorities for negotiations and the conscientious performance of their functions, based on the principles of independence, neutrality and fairness' (Minear and Smith 2007). It aims to broker space for the implementation of emergency response essentials such as negotiating for the presence of international humanitarian organisations (IHOs), brokering access to civilian populations, allowing for the provision of relief aid, promoting respect for international norms (Turunen 2022). HD stems from the concept of state diplomacy as 'the infrastructure of global governance' (Sending, Pouliot and Neuman 2015) while shedding light on the growing role of INGOs and non-state actors such as the Red Cross (Constantinou 2023), UN agencies and INGOs (Minear and Smith 2007).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Kustermans Jorg
• Fellow: Facon Clothilde

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The purpose of A Genealogy of Peace: Change and Continuity in a Ritual Practice is to trace the evolving understanding of peace and its associated practices, and to develop an explanation for that evolution. It identifies three key moments in which the Western understanding of peace was articulated: during the early Middle Ages, in early modernity and during the early nineteenth century. The project hypothesizes a shift from "peace as care" via "peace as restraint" to "peace as intimacy". It seeks to document that evolution through a detailed account, for each period, of the ritual gestures associated with peacemaking, of the conceptualization of peace in the work of the major thinkers, and of how the doing of peace was practically enacted and by whom. The project also seeks to develop an empirically grounded, theoretical interpretation of the doing of peace which draws out the implications of its highly ritualized character.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Kustermans Jorg

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to examine how states make use of humanitarian diplomacy to achieve a position of authority in the international community. The Marshall plan – a American program of aid, offered to European countries after the devastation of the Second World War, which contributed strongly to the legitimation of American power – constitutes a well-known early example. Grateful for the generous gift, the recipient countries endowed the United States with political authority in the form of international leadership. More recently, other states have developed a similar strategy, with Norway being a well-known example of a country investing heavily in humanitarian aid and reaping the benefit of above average moral authority in world politics. Other contemporary examples are China, with its Belt and Road Initiative being supported by significant humanitarian programs, and also a number of regional powers in the Islamic world that appear sometimes to be involved a humanitarian bidding competition.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Kustermans Jorg
• Co-promoter: Melissen Jan
• Fellow: Facon Clothilde

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Beyond Contractualism tackles the problem of how to sustain an international order when power is redistributing itself and when a normative consensus among states can no longer simply be assumed. Recourse to violence cannot solve the problem of order durably and neither can recourse to reasoned persuasion or contractual pacts. Between violence and reason lies the concept of authority and deference to authority has indeed often been presented as the solution to the problem of order, including of international order. But if authority is the solution, it nonetheless begs the question: how does international authority become established and how is it maintained. This project addresses these questions through a comparison of how the Achaemenid Empire, Medieval Christendom, and today's Global International Society have each grappled with their 'problem of international authority.'

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Kustermans Jorg

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

That democracies do not fight large scale wars among each other has largely become established as an empirical fact. It would also appear that their shared democratic nature is at least part of the reason why democracies do not engage in mutual war. Much less is known about just how a shared democratic nature leads to war avoidance and, more particularly, about just how democracies actively maintain – imagine and perform – peace among each other. The little that is known about these processes suggests that the 'democratic peace' did not and does not result mechanistically from a favourable concatenation of factors, but that it is always a work-in-progress and the outcome of political efforts; that it must be imagined and maintained and will often become compromised indeed. The 'democratic peace' is at once more meaningful and more fragile than accounts which interpret it as a 'brute fact' can fathom. This research furthers our understanding of its meaning and fragility by means of a historicizing analysis of the 'democratic peace' as a particular way of doing peace.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Kustermans Jorg

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project seeks to reflect on the meaning of peace, and on the role of peace education in bringing about international peace. We will suggest an understanding of peace as 'disciplined order' as opposed to its conventional definition (in IR theory) as the 'absence of war.' Inspiration is drawn from classical political theory, strands of which have highlighted the role of education in shaping virtuous citizens, and consequently in bringing about a peaceful society. The empirical validity of the model will be tested in the case of the reigning North-Atlantic peace.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Sauer Tom
• Fellow: Kustermans Jorg

Research team(s)

• International Politics

Project type(s)

• Research Project