International Intervention against sexualised violence in conflict regions: Intended and unintended consequences

• Applicant: Dr. Alex Veit
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: from 2015 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 281454229

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in conflict zones has been recognized in recent years as a political and social problem. International actors intervene now in armed conflicts to reduce SGBV and alleviate its consequences. These projects engage in social transformations of gender-and-violence-norms, which have not been in the focus of humanitarian-military interventions. The challenge for intervention and conflict studies is to understand international impact not only on physical warfare, but also on local social norms. However, research on the causes of SGBV has so far yielded insufficient data and contradictory results. Without sound knowledge of the causes of problems, however, intervention practices can easily produce undesirable results. Additionly, interventions bring new resources in conflicts that may benefit civilian and military elites. Therefore, there is a danger that - as frequently observed in civil war interventions - unintended consequences may follow.The central question of the project is therefore: Which intended and unintended consequences are generated by international SGBV-interventions in conflict contexts, and how can these be explained?The investigation is based on a comparison of two case regions within the Democratic Republic of Congo. A mixed-methods approach is to explain intervention consequences. The project investigates on the one hand, whether interventions reach self-defined aims. For this purpose, quantitative data is collected, and relationships between intervention intensity and the number of registered SGBV offenses examined. Qualitative methods are employed to observe specific international practices and explain their effects. These practices include projects for norm change (framing) with respect to SGBV as well as the (re)distribution of resources between local actors. Is SGBV delegitimized in local actor contexts? Are endangered groups actually economically and normatively empowered, do they receive protection? On the other hand, the project asks questions on unintended and hybrid consequences. Are international aims achieved only in distorted forms? How do local actors make use of international resources? How do potential offenders respond to threats of persecution?The project aims to enhance political science research on intervention and conflict by taking efforts to change gender-and-violence-norms into account. It builds on previous results in the field to analyze processes leading to intended and unintended effects of interventions in the area of SGBV.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants