Prevention Research
Research cluster
Prevention research focuses on perpetrators of torture and
organised violence (TOV) and sites and networks of perpetration.
The research is organised thematically round two axes. Along the
first axis, perpetrative institutions and networks (prisons,
police, gangs, youth networks etc.) are analysed and along the
second axis descriptions and analyses are made of interventions
aimed at preventing TOV (e.g. human rights training, justice sector
reform, rights-based development interventions). Studies feature
the juxtaposition of empirical analyses of the practices of state
officials and non-state actors with the interventions they are
subject to in the name of development.
Ongoing
research projects
Over the last decade, there has been a justifiable increased
focus on the prevention of TOV in development and health-related
international relief work and in the realm of the promotion of good
governance and human security. This work is typically based on the
assumption that TOV is a deviation from normal situations marked by
peace. However, in many developing countries, transitional
societies and even in democratic states TOV are everyday, chronic
occurences framing human lives. The dynamics of TOV and their
implications for people and communities as well as on political and
social structures is often very complex and demands to be examined
locally and globally.
Since 9/11 and until early 2009 the rhetorics of the American
administration in particular have functioned in particular ways to
legitimate and justify what may be 'new' forms of state violence.
The 'war on' discourses have played an important role in these
developments and attention to these marks an expansion and new
direction for the research work on prevention to include the
broader conditions under which TOV proliferates. We also seek to
work more comparatively and more historically without compromising
local context.
Research on perpetration seeks to unpack the complex dynamics
and relations which form the basis for TOV taking as its point of
departure the violent practices of particular actors and the sites,
networks and logics which frame these practices. Researchers are
involved not only in conducting studies but also adopt consultancy
roles vis à vis RCT's international partners and
internally within RCT. Where partners are working directly with the
sites or populations of which we have expertise we seek to engage
with them to facilitate best use of available knowledge. The
development of methods and capacity building is central to this
work both in support of the actual intervention work being carried
out and to develop better methods for the study of torture and
organised violence.
The prevention research is centred round the following three
areas:
- Understanding state and non-state violent practices and
actors
- Analysing interventions that are being implemented in
developing countries and post-conflict societies.
- Developing comparative methods for understanding the
proliferation of TOV as well as methods for evaluating forms of
intervention.