Abstract
This chapter advances understanding of the complex relationship between Kosovo’s local researchers and international policy-makers working on the frontline of SSR design and implementation. It explores the structural disadvantages that local researchers face in their mission to push local expertise into the international SSR agenda. The chapter asks what international structures and organisational procedures impact on practitioner-researcher engagements. Processes such as recruitment and staff turnover, or the political nature of international objectives, combined with the busy day-to-day of policy and programmes work, means that there is little direction, incentive and time for practitioners to seek out and engage with local researchers, let alone appreciate and understand local contextual insights. At the same time, Kosovo’s local research community has emerged in a complex post-conflict context, bringing a range of practical and political constraints.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Autesserre, S. (2014). Peaceland: Conflict resolution and the everyday politics of international intervention. Cambridge University Press.
Brosig, M. (2011). The interplay of international institutions in Kosovo between convergence, confusion and niche capabilities. European Security, 20(2), 185–204.
Bueger, C. (2015). Making things known: Epistemic practices, the United Nations, and the translation of piracy. International Political Sociology, 9(1), 1–18.
Conflict Prevention Forum (2014) Begging in Kosovo and its impact on peoples safety. Mitrovica: Conflict Prevention Forum [online] available from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwiJt47RqdneAhVJBMAKHS1QCyUQFjAAegQICBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.saferworld.org.uk%2Fdownloads%2Fpubdocs%2Fbegging-in-kosovo-and-its-impact-on-peoples-safety.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2n37MUxby4bisq6ZXp3GMw. June 2017.
Dursun-Ozkanca, O., & Crossley-Frolick, K. (2012). Security sector reform in Kosovo: The complex division of labour between the EU and other multilateral institutions in building Kosovo’s police force. European Security, 21(2), 236–256.
Evans, T. (2010). Professional discretion in welfare services: Beyond street level bureaucracy. Routledge.
Evans, T., & Harris, J. (2004). Street level bureaucracy, social work and the (exaggerated) death of discretion. British Journal of Social Work, 34(6), 871–895.
Forum for Security. (2010). Integrated border management in Kosovo. Pristina: Forum for Security [online] available from http://www.qkss.org/repository/docs/Integrated_border_management_in_Kosovo_625591.pdf. August 2017.
Hehir, A. (2018). Hollow norms and the responsibility to protect. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hupe, P., Hill, M., & Buffat, A. (Eds.). (2015). Understanding Street-Level Bureaucracy. Policy Press.
ISSR. (2006). Internal security sector review in Kosovo. Pristina: ISSR
Jackson, D. (2018). Explaining municipal governance in Kosovo: Local agency, credibility and party patronage. Southeast Europe and Black Sea Studies, 18(2), 165–184.
Jenkins-Smith, H. C., Nohrstedt, D., Weible, C. M., & Ingold, K. (2018). The advocacy coalition framework: An overview of the research program. In C. M. Weible & P. A. Sabatier (Eds.), Theories of the policy process [Online: EBSCOhost Ebooks] (4th edn., pp. 138–170). New York: Westview Press.
Jones, H., Jones, N., Shaxson, L., & Walker, D. (2012). Knowledge, policy and power in international development: A practical guide. Policy Press.
Jones, H., Jones, N., Shaxson, L., & Walker, D. (2013). Knowledge, policy and power in international development: A practical framework for improving policy [online] available from https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/8201.pdf. February 2016.
Jones, N., Datta, A., & Jones, H. with EBPDN partners. (2009). Knowledge, policy and power: Six dimensions of the knowledge-development policy interface [online] available from https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/4919.pdf. February 2016.
KIPRED. (2016a) The Kosovo security sector observer 1(4). KIPRED [online] available from http://www.kipred.org/repository/docs/The_Kosovo_Security_Sector_Observer_-_Volume_I,_No._4_766196.pdf. July 2017.
KIPRED. (2016b). The Kosovo security sector observer 1(5). KIPRED [online] available from http://www.kipred.org/repository/docs/The_Kosovo_Security_Observer,_Volume_I,_No._5_478593.pdf. July 2017.
KIPRED. (2017) The Kosovo security sector observer 1(6). KIPRED [online] available from http://www.kipred.org/repository/docs/The_Kosovo_Security_Observer,_Volume_I,_No._6_577579.pdf. July 2017.
Lotta, G. S., & Cavalcante, P. L. C. (2015). Conclusion—Profiles, trajectories and relations: In a pursuit of a comprehensive analysis of middle-level bureaucrats of the federal government. In P. L. C. Cavalcante & G. S. Lotta (Eds.), Middle level bureaucrats: Profile, trajectory and performance (pp. 291–303). National School of Public Administration.
Mac Ginty, R. (2011). International peacebuilding and local resistance: Hybrid forms of peace. Palgrave Macmillan.
Mac Ginty, R., & Richmond, O. (2016). The fallacy of constructing hybrid political orders: A reappraisal of the hybrid turn in peacebuilding. International Peacekeeping, 23(2), 219–239.
Maynard-Moody, S., & Musheno, M. (2000). State agent or citizen agent: Two narratives of discretion. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 10(2), 329–358.
Paris, P., & Sisk, T. (2008). Conclusion: Confronting the contradictions. In R. Paris & T. D. Sisk (Eds.) The dilemmas of statebuilding: Confronting the contradictions of post-war peace operations (pp. 304–316). Routledge.
Phillipps, J. (2018). The role of epistemic communities: Local think tanks, international practitioners and security sector reform in Kosovo. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 18(2), 281–299.
Qehaja, F. (2016). Security sector development and the problem of local ownership: the case of Kosovo (PhD thesis). University of Ljubljana.
Qehaja, F., & Prezelj, I. (2017). Issues of local ownership in Kosovo’s security sector. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 17(3), 403–419.
Richmond, O. (2005). The transformation of peace. Palgrave Macmillan.
Richmond, O. P., & Pogodda, S. (2016). Introduction: The contradictions of peace, international architecture, the state, and local agency. In O. P. Richmond & S. Pogodda (Eds.), Post-liberal peace transitions: Between peace formation and state formation (pp. 1–27). Edinburgh University Press.
Rushiti, V. (2013). The new Kosovo security strategy formulation process: Inclusiveness and transparency. Forum for Security
Selenica, E. (2016). New states challenged: Education, peacebuilding and statebuilding in post-conflict Kosovo and East Timor (PhD thesis). University of Trento
Sending, O. J. (Ed.). (2010). Learning to build a sustainable peace: Ownership and everyday peacebuilding no. 4 [online] available from https://www.cmi.no/publications/file/3732-learning-to-build-a-sustainable-peace.pdf. February 2016.
Stone, D. (2002). Using knowledge: The dilemmas of ‘bridging research and policy. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 32(3), 285–296
Tadic, K., & Elbasani, A. (2018). State building and patronage networks: How political parties embezzled the bureaucracy in post-war Kosovo. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 18(2), 185–202.
Waldman, T., Barakat, S., & Varisco, A. (2014). Understanding influence: The use of statebuilding research in British policy. Ashgate.
Weiss, C. H. (1979). The many meanings of research utilisation. Public Administration Review, 39(5), 426–231.
Welch, A. C. (2011). Security sector reform and the confusion and competition nexus: the case of Kosovo (PhD Thesis). University of Portsmouth
Young, J., & Court, J. (2004). Bridging research and policy in international development: An analytical and practical framework. ODI [online] available from https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/198.pdf. February 2016.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Phillipps, J. (2022). International Barriers, Instability and Obstructing Local Research. In: Local Researchers and International Practitioners . Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82661-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82661-1_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-82660-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-82661-1
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)