Charlotte Fiedler receives German Thesis Award

Charlotte Fiedler, researcher in the programme Transformation of Political (Dis-) Order, has been awarded second place at the Deutsche Studienpreis (German Thesis Award) of the Körber-Foundation. Every year, the award recognizes outstanding junior researchers of all disciplines. The prizes are awarded for excellent dissertations with particularly high policy relevance. Charlotte Fiedler received the prize in the social sciences section for her competition entry „Why political participation in post-conflict societies can make an important contribution to peace“.

The dissertation takes a new look at the question of how peace can be strengthened in post-conflict countries by systematically examining the relationship between political participation and the recurrence of conflict. Based on statistical analyses, Charlotte Fiedler demonstrates that two understudied political factors can significantly increase countries’ chances to remain peaceful: post-conflict constitution-writing processes and local elections. The dissertation thereby contributes to the academic discourse on which formal institutions are important for peace. At the same time, it provides concrete insights on how peace can be strengthened, and is thus relevant for post-conflict governments seeking to create sustainable peace as well as for peacebuilding efforts by the international donor community.

Charlotte Fiedler pursued her doctorate at DIE within the BMZ-funded project „Supporting Sustainable Peace“ and was supervised by Kristian Gleditsch at the University of Essex. A central paper of the dissertation is summarized by Charlotte Fiedler in her recently published Briefing Paper.