Violence, Participation and Citizenship

Drama on Accountability in Nigerian Village, February 2006

Many of the assumptions about how and where democratic participation occurs include within them an assumption about a minimal level of security and safety which it requires. Yet increasingly around the world, the issue of security of poor people, as well as others, is being called into question by mounting levels of violence and severe conflict - whether at the household, community, state or international level. More and more, those concerned with issues of peace, security and reconstruction are seeking to move beyond institutional ‘design’ approaches to peace-building and conflict resolution to understand how citizens themselves can participate in the construction of these processes.

The overarching theme of this research programme is to understand how people move from violence, through participation, to substantive citizenship. The proposed research will track the mechanisms, theorise the processes, and engage with research participants to generate new responses to violence and new approaches to policy and practice.

This research programme is lead by Jenny Pearce. The local settings for the research include the partner countries of Brazil and Nigeria, with additional work in Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica and Uganda.

Key questions

• How do people move from violence to citizenship through participatory social action?
• How do/can people begin processes of participatory social action in contexts of violence?

This will be explored taking into account key thematic areas:

1. Social positioning, socialisation spaces and violence
2. Tradition, culture, beliefs, religion and violence
3. 'Parallel communities' and intersections with the state
4. Violence, powerlessness and labelling

List of projects by partner

Latest Publications

Forthcoming: Pearce, J., (2006), From violence to citizenship: participation in war and post-war contexts, IDS Working Paper, Brighton: IDS

News and Events

Violence, Participation and Citizenship Workshop

2-7 April 2006, Bradford and Hebden Bridge, UK

The aim of this workshop was to discuss and elaborate further the research proposals, and to plan future work.