Securing Protections for Civil Society: Evidence from Peace Agreements

The inclusion of civil society voices is a fundamental tenet of peace processes. But does it lead to improved protections for civil society after conflict?

In a recent study, Risa Kitagawa, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Northeastern University, and Sam R. Bell introduce original data on the level and nature of civil society participation in the universe of peace processes after internal armed conflicts from 1990-2013. To demonstrate the data’s utility, they show how participation is a better predictor of civil society protection provisions in the resulting peace agreement when compared to either the state-level presence of civil society—the conventional measure used to study civil society activity—or third-party enforcers. This relationship is strongest in states with moderate pre-conflict levels of restrictions on civil society, suggesting a minimal threshold of freedoms for effective lobbying and diminishing returns on such advocacy. Kitagawa and Bell’s data on an understudied mode of civil society activities suggests new directions for research on civil society’s role in societies emerging from conflict.

Join Risa Kitagawa on Wednesday, November 9 for an in-person research seminar on the effects of civil society participation in peace processes after conflict. This event is part of the Fall 2022 Human Capital Initiative Seminar Series.