ABI Researcher Tim Glawion in Ghana

How can we (better) compare conflicts qualitatively?
 

ABI Senior Researcher, Tim Glawion, is at the Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) at the University of Ghana from August to December 2025 to meet up with colleagues from numerous countries and disciplines to discuss this question. 
 

As part of the Interdisciplinary Fellow Group on ‘The Global School – Globally Comparative Peace and Security Studies (GCPSS)‘, they aim to initiate a new approach, or “school”, on how to study peace, security, and conflict. Their angle is to take qualitative research on the ground as a starting point, and to understand how these grounded understandings can be compared to others. In other words, how local concepts “travel” from one case to another. This approach is meant to provide clarity on how to conduct qualitative comparisons, put researchers on the ground front and centre, and even lead to new ways how we can learn from each others’ peacebuilding experiences.