Enabling civil society in conflict resolution

The document examines the failure of high-level peace talks in Cyprus, which it claims are instrumentalized by national elites to maintain power. It highlights the existence of a 'third space'—a peace-oriented inter-communal movement between Greek and Turkish Cypriots—that has successfully maintained communication and cooperation. However, the authors argue that international donors have marginalized this movement by imposing strict funding conditionalities and favoring institutionalized, 'compliant' partners, thereby isolating peace activists from the wider population. The brief recommends that donors provide core financing and symbolic legitimacy to these grassroots movements rather than attempting to manage them.

• High-level peace negotiations in Cyprus are viewed as self-sustaining mechanisms that allow national elites to preserve their power, resources, and alliances rather than achieving a genuine resolution.
• Cyprus possesses a long-standing, bottom-up inter-communal peace movement that has maintained communication between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, often operating outside official channels or in the Buffer Zone.
• International donors, including UNDP and USAID, have adopted a 'strategic approach' that favors a few 'compliant' partners who meet international standards, which often ignores local needs and suppresses the diversity of peacebuilding efforts.
• Peace-related civil society in Cyprus has been pushed into an isolated 'third space'—an internationally financed public area that is disconnected from the broader population due to donor conditionality, social stigma, and government restrictions.
• To effectively support a sustainable peace, donors should move from managing civil society to guarding it by providing core financing, validating inclusive philosophies, and offering rhetoric that legitimizes peace activists against ethno-nationalist narratives.

APA

Vogel, B., & Richmond, O. P. (2013). Enabling civil society in conflict resolution. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/30528819-a0c4-49bc-a248-8f901c2daa76/CORE Policy Brief 2-2013.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Vogel, Birte, and Oliver P. Richmond. Enabling civil society in conflict resolution. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2013. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/30528819-a0c4-49bc-a248-8f901c2daa76/CORE Policy Brief 2-2013.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Vogel |first1=Birte |last2=Richmond |first2=Oliver P. |title=Enabling civil society in conflict resolution |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2013 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/30528819-a0c4-49bc-a248-8f901c2daa76/CORE Policy Brief 2-2013.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vogel2013enabling, author = {Vogel, Birte and Richmond, Oliver P.}, title = {{Enabling civil society in conflict resolution}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2013}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/30528819-a0c4-49bc-a248-8f901c2daa76/CORE Policy Brief 2-2013.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }