CL2-2026-01-DEMOCRACY-07 : Rebuilding peace from the bottom-up

The EU seeks to play a role in international peace and security, but sometimes fail to properly account for local and national needs—leading to inefficient interventions or reputational damage to the EU. This project seeks to prepare the ground for a structured, defined methodology to post-conflict reconstruction that would inform all EU efforts abroad—or at home, as could be the case with Ukraine. Its objective would be for such a methodology to integrate local factors in the early stages of reconstruction, such as planning physical interventions and designing future institutions. With a focus on social dynamics, the project would propose a method to define: (1) the factors that led to conflict; (2) the needs and desires of civilians once conflict has ended. The argument is that no effective reconstruction can take place without integrating these two elements, and that reconstruction processes are often not participatory enough.

In order to meet this goal, the project could do one or several case studies, based on past or ongoing conflicts. Ideally, desk research would be combined with outreach to civilians and other conflict stakeholders.