Winter School on Crisis Prevention and Peace Support

(NOVEMBER 10 - 22, 2002)

The Winter School on Crisis Prevention and Peace Support is a novel initiative by the Research Unit of Wars, Armament and Development at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Since 1978, the Hamburg conflict researchers have been devoted to both empirical analyses of wars and the elaboration of a general theory to the study of war, the so-called Hamburg Approach to the Causes of War.

The Winter School focuses on enhancing competencies in dealing with the challenges of post-conflict reconstruction. Broader civilian know-how on the challenges of the transition from war to peace and particularly on the organisation of civil-military relations, is essential to the stabilisation of peace. The Winter School therefore emphasises capacity-building of civil-society actors from countries in transition.

The Winter School is generally aimed at a broad group of international participants, including civil servants, officers, journalists, representatives of political parties and NGO-representatives in countries in transition. For this year's Winter School, however, a mixed group of participants from Afghanistan and the Balkans has already been selected. The Winter School 2002 is a pilot project funded by the German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ). In the long-term the Winter School will be open also for participants from other countries in transition.

To read more about the background of the project, the program of this year's Winter School and future plans, please explore the information on our website.