In the wake of “ethnic” violence and war, when and why do political elites and other key actors promote intergroup peacebuilding? Under what conditions do leaders compromise?
- Date(s)
- September 20, 2024 - September 21, 2024
- Location
- Various
- Time
- 13:00 - 16:00
- Price
- Free
What features of the polity, society or economy incentivize them to cooperate or facilitate efforts to promote improved intergroup relations?
This 2 day conference will bring together academics and practitioners to address these questions and to focus on specific topics related to the question of when influential leaders are incentivized or motivated to pursue peacebuilding.
Attendance can be in-person or online.
Please register via Eventbrite for either the OR the .
For those attending online, there will be one livestream meeting link for both days.
The meeting link will be sent in advance of the Conference.
Please note the different timings and venues for both days:
DAY 1
Friday 20 September
Start time: 1.00pm BST
Venue: Riddel Hall, 185 Stranmillis Road, Ƶ
DAY 2
Saturday 21 September
Start time: 9.00am BST
Venue: Canada Room and Council Chamber, Lanyon Building, Queen’s University Ƶ
All timings are local.
DAY 1
Friday 20 September 2024
VENUE: Riddel Hall Conference Room, 85 Stranmillis Rd, Ƶ BT9 5EE
1:00pm –1:30pm - Panel 1: Welcome and Introductions
(Queen’s University Ƶ)
(Harvard University)
1:30–3:00 pm - Panel 2: Leadership and leader motivations
What kinds of ethnic politicians and other types of communal elites seek intergroup compromise? What explains their conciliatory behavior? Does leadership matter on its own or do broader structural and institutional factors facilitate the emergence and explain the behavior of conciliatory ethnic leaders?
Panellists
Moderator: (Harvard University)
Ronit Berger-Hobson (Queen’s University Ƶ)
(Université Saint-Joseph)
(Stanford University)
(Queen’s University Ƶ)
3:00pm–3:30 pm: Break
3:30pm–5:00 pm - Panel 3: Formal institutions
A robust social science literature traces the impact of formal political institutions in incentivizing or deterring political elites from pursuing interethnic compromise. Why do institutions that promote conciliatory behavior emerge in the first place? Under what conditions do they incentivize improved intergroup relations and, conversely, how do ethnic politicians seek to evade or undermine these institutions?
Panellists
Moderator: (Queen’s University Ƶ)
(University of Birmingham)
(University of Sarajevo)
(Graduate Institute, Geneva)
(Quaid-i-Azam University)
5:00pm Reception
DAY 2
Saturday 21 September 224
VENUE: Canada Room and Council Chambers, Lanyon Building, Queen's University Ƶ
9:00am–10:30am - Panel 4: The economic environment
In what ways do economic factors shape elite incentives to compromise? What aspects of the business environment, labor markets, or other economic factors shape the behavior of influential elites to pursue compromise?
Panellists
Moderator: (Harvard University)
(The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
(Harvard University)
(University of Manchester)
10:30am–10:45am: Break
10:45am– 12:15pm - Panel 5: Civil society
When do the efforts of civil society groups and/or informal leaders to promote intergroup reconciliation succeed? What does “success” look like on the ground? When do their conciliatory efforts influence the behavior of ethnic political elites to seek compromise?
Panellists
Moderator: Marsha Henry (Queen’s University Ƶ)
(Permanent Peace Movement, Lebanon)
(Queen’s University Ƶ)
(Queen’s University Ƶ)
(IOM, Bosnia-Herzegovina)
(Queen’s University Ƶ)
12:15pm–1:15pm: Lunch
1:15pm–2:45pm - Panel 6: Transitional justice
When do political elites promote transitional justice initiatives? What types of initiatives do they champion, and which do they avoid? What lessons can we draw from transitional justice programs across diverse contexts?
Panellists
Moderator: (Queen’s University Ƶ)
(Georgetown University)
Michael Maguire (Queen’s University Ƶ)
(Queen’s University Ƶ)
2:45pm–3:00pm: Break
3:00pm–4:00pm - Panel 7: Key takeaways and conclusion
(Queen’s University Ƶ)
(Harvard University)
REGISTER
The Conference organizers are grateful for the financial support provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and by the Queen's University Ƶ North America Partnership Fund.

- Department
- The Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice
- Add to calendar
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