Forum: Justice, Politics, and Security: Understanding Transitions across Colombia’s Margins

CONPEACE held its first collaborative workshop with colleagues from the Institute of Latin American Studies (LAI), Freie Universität Berlin, at Nuffield College on 7 and 8 November 2019. The workshop was the first contribution to a joint research activity between the two partners in the context of the Oxford Berlin Research Partnership. A year earlier, the initiative had won a grant from the seed funding of the partnership.

During the two days, we held a keynote panel discussion and a collaborative research workshop with presentations on the most cutting-edge research from both sides. During the panel discussion, CONPEACE’s Annette Idler discussed questions from Sérgio Costa with Deputy Head of the Colombian mission to the UK, Vicente Echandía. During the workshop on the following day Prof. Sérgio Costa, together with Edna Martinez, Manuel Góngora, and Sergio Coronoda from Berlin discussed their research on Ex-FARC women combatants, the effects of human rights and constitutional courts on the transitional justice process, and land disputes in post-accord Colombia, respectively. From Oxford, Dr Jan Boesten, Dr Annette Idler, Dr Daire McGill, and Dr Katerina Tkacova presented their work on institutional trajectories in the course of transitions, borderland struggles in Colombia, marginality and participation in Colombia, and a new research paradigm to quantitatively study Colombia’s conflict, respectively. The event was not only successful because the discussions generated various new research leads to be united in a report and followed up with future research, but also because the keynote discussion attracted numerous visitors, including former Colombian President, and Peace Nobel Prize laureate, Juan Manuel Santos.