Anna Jarstad

Anna Jarstad leder det internationella forskarnätverket Varieties of Peace (varietiesofpeace.net). Hon forskar om fred och demokratisering i multietniska stater samt stater som nyligen genomlevt inbördeskrig.

Aktuell forskning handlar om olika typer av fred, såsom territoriell fred, fred mellan etniska grupper, olika fredssnormer – enhet och mångfald – om hur man kan leva tillsammans i fred i multietniska stater. Jarstad forskar även om visuella uttryck för fred, så som fredsymboler, fotografier och illustrationer av hur människor interagerar i relationell fred, samt den konceptuella uttunning av begreppet fred som uppstått i dagens forskning. Tidigare har hon främst forskat om powersharing/consociationalism samt demokratisering efter inbördeskrig i länder såsom Sydafrika, Afghanistan, Bosnien, Kosovo, Makedonien, Cypern, Nya Zeland.

Living in Contested Land

There remains a glaring lack of attention on the existing peace that coexists alongside unresolved territorial disputes. To analyze peace beyond the mere absence of war, I focus on the various actors and their interrelations, aiming to discern the different facets of peaceful coexistence. The concept of Relational Peace (Jarstad et al., 2023; Söderström et al., 2021) offers a framework that places actors at the forefront, elucidating the diverse manifestations of both peaceful and antagonistic relationships. The overarching research objective is to explore the phenomenon of peace amid adversity: How does the issue of contested land manifest in Cyprus and Kosovo?

Varieties of Peace

Today’s headlines show that peace in South Africa is very different from peace in Cambodia or Sri Lanka. However, research thus far has not managed to analyze and explain the different varieties of peace that evolve after civil war. In the project Varieties of peace: a relational peace, we suggest that taking a relational approach to peace seriously is a fruitful avenue for expanding current theoretical frameworks surrounding peace as a concept as well as providing more theoretically grounded empirical work. This project focuses on describing and explaining the varieties of peace from a relational approach in countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar/Burma, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The project is funded by RJ 2020-2022. The project includes the following researchers: project leader Anna Jarstad, Elisabeth Olivius, Nilanjana Premaratna, Johanna Söderström, and Malin Åkebo. An open access book came out 2023: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526168955/

Why do we study peace? Watch at https://www.varietiesofpeace.net/single-post/new-vop-film