Living in contested land

Time period:

1 February – 15 August 2024

Project leader:

Anna Jarstad

Funder:

Riksbankens Jubileumsfond

Type of award:

Project grant

Total funding:

801,966 SEK

Some wars end without resolving the issue of contested land. This means a risk of resumption of war and have devastating consequences for people living in the area..

Using the Relational Peace framework, the project applies a levels-of-analysis logic, from the international to the grassroot level, in order to analyze webs of relationships concerning the territorial conflicts in Cyprus and Kosovo. Both Kosovo and Cyprus are deeply divided societies, where people of different ethnicities have lived mixed. While this is still the case in northern Kosovo, in Cyprus Greek Cypriots now live in the southern part of the island, while Turkish Cypriots live in the northern part. Despite the existing territorial incompatibility, some actors have developed various degrees of peaceful relationships.

Jarstad will complete three already drafted articles. The material includes interviews, newspaper articles, political statements, court cases, photos of contested areas, and secondary sources. A particular type of land contestation is in focus in two of the articles: 1) conflict over borders, and 2) practical and material issues connected to the territorial conflict. In the last article 3) I explain the variation of peace across dyads (pairs of actors): Why are some relationships peaceful while others are antagonistic? The overarching research aim is thus to investigate degrees of local peace against the odds: peace despite existing territorial incompatibility after war.