Christoph Zürcher
Biographic Data
| ID | 3046692 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christoph Zürcher |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christoph |
| FAMILY NAME | Zürcher |
| SIGNATURE | ZÜRCHER C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Ottawa |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2610-4310 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 143 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Aid, Attitudes, and Insurgency
Prevalent counterinsurgency theories posit that small development aid projects can help stabilize regions in conflict. A widely assumed mechanism runs through citizen attitudes, often called “winning hearts and minds,” where aid brings economic benefits and sways public perceptions, leading to more cooperation and, eventually, less violence. Following a preregistered research design, we test this claim using difference‐in‐differences, leveraging …
Costly Democracy
China as a peacekeeper-Past, present, and future
Over the last 30 years, the People's Republic of China (China) has evolved from a skeptic to a champion of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping. During that same period, UN peacekeeping has greatly changed. This paper traces how China has reacted to the various practical and doctrinal innovations of UN peacekeeping, such as the turn to more robust peacekeeping, the protection of civilians, the responsibility to protect, the call for better force prot…
The folly of “aid for stabilisation”
Over the last two decades, billions in aid money has been spent in highly insecure regions of conflict affected states in the hope that aid would lead to less violence and more stability. A recent wave of academic work on the impact of aid on violence has now amassed convincing empirical evidence that this hope is futile. Aid injected in highly insecure regions, where violence is a reality and insurgents retain some capacities, will increase, not…
Potentials of disorder
Introduction - potentials of (dis)order in the Caucasus and Yugoslavia, Jan Koehler and Christoph Z rcher discourses, actors, violence - the organization of war-escalation in the Krajina region of Croatia 1990/1991, Hannes Grandits and Carolin Leutloff non-existent states with strange institutions, Kristof Gosztonyi a neglected dimension of conflict - the Albanian mafia, Xavier Raufer land reforms and ethnic tensions - scenarios in South East Eur…
Potentials of Disorder
A theory of democratisation through peace-building
This contribution presents a theory of democratisation through peace-building. Peace-building is seen as an interactive process between external peace-builders and domestic elites; whether a post-war state develops into a democracy or not depends to a large extent on the outcome of the bargaining process between domestic elites and peace-builders. It is argued that domestic elites typically face many constraints which make adopting democratic ref…
What Do We (Not) Know About Development Aid and Violence? A Systematic Review
State formation as it happens
This paper contributes to an empirical understanding of state formation. Based on an original household-level data set, we provide a detailed picture of the process of state formation in Afghanistan over the last decade. State formation happens when state and society engage in reciprocal relations. Central to this relationship is an exchange of services for the acceptance of authority and increased legitimacy. Our data allows us to assess state-s…
Compromised Peacebuilding
There is considerable evidence that peacebuilding operations are more likely to reproduce important elements of the status quo than they are to propel post-conflict states toward a liberal democracy. In contrast to existing theories that focus on the resources available to peacebuilders or the degree of damage caused by the war to explain the outcome, we highlight the interaction between international and domestic actors. Specifically, we conceiv…
How Wartime Violence Affects Social Cohesion
Local communities such as villages are commonly assumed to be vital partners in counterinsurgency and post-conflict reconstruction. However, the success of all policies based on this assumption depends on the level of social cohesion at the community level: communities with internal cleavages and fissures will be less effective in making external efforts a success. In this article, we study how exposure to violence during civil war affects the in…
Aid, minds and hearts
It is widely assumed that development aid can help to stabilize regions in or after conflict. However, we lack empirical evidence for this assumption, and the assumed causal mechanisms are poorly specified. We conducted a micro-level longitudinal study of 80 communities in northeast Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009 and investigated the impact of aid on (perceived) security. We also investigated two possible causal mechanisms that may link aid to…
How Canadian practitioners see their engagement in fragile states. A research note
Northern donors, Canada among them, have increasingly engaged with fragile states – but with limited effectiveness. While some scholars attribute this to a fundamental lack of capacity in recipient countries, others suspect that aid effectiveness is also hampered by strategic interaction between donors and reform-averse local actors, who often gain the upper hand. We analyse 44 semi-structured interviews of Canadian practitioners and find that th…
Rebel Rulers
Rebel groups are often portrayed as mere predators. Yet some groups establish governance systems that deliver public services to the population. Why would they do this? This is the question that Rebel Rulers addresses. The empirical basis for this innovative study consists of three case studies. The author looks at the governance systems set up by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) in…
Conflict, state fragility and aid effectiveness
Aid is rarely an effective development tool in fragile states. This is particularly true of states that are at war, or have recently emerged from violent conflict. Based on research in Afghanistan, this paper examines three possible reasons for this ineffectiveness. First, in fragile states, the interests of donor-peace-builders and recipient governments are seldom aligned: recipients often lack the political will to implement reform, while donor…
Building Democracy While Building Peace
Peacebuilding is successful in ending wars, but rarely leads to democratic postwar regimes. The peacebuilding literature typically explains this outcome by cooperation problems between the warring parties, by a lack of capacity within postwar society, or by underfunded and poorly coordinated missions. This paper provides an alternative explanation. It argues that the single most important factor explaining a democratic outcome is local demand for…
Interventionskultur
The Origins of Social Capital
This article investigates the determinants of social capital by analyzing an original survey of post-Soviet Central Asia. It tests hypotheses derived from two related questions: whether networks, norms, and trust are empirically related and the extent to which four factors—culture, regime type, perceptions of government responsiveness, and development interventions—predict levels of social capital. The results show that trust and norms diverge fr…
Potentials of disorder
Until recently, the study of conflict and conflict resolution remained comparatively immune to broad developments in social and political theory.When the changing nature and locus of large-scale conflict in the post-Cold War era is also taken into account, the case for a reconsideration of the fundamentals of conflict analysis and conflict resolution becomes all the more stark.New Approaches to Conflict Analysis promotes the development of new th…
Aid, minds and hearts
It is widely assumed that development aid can help to stabilize regions in or after conflict. However, we lack empirical evidence for this assumption, and the assumed causal mechanisms are poorly specified. We conducted a micro-level longitudinal study of 80 communities in northeast Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009 and investigated the impact of aid on (perceived) security. We also investigated two possible causal mechanisms that may link aid to…
Compromised Peacebuilding
There is considerable evidence that peacebuilding operations are more likely to reproduce important elements of the status quo than they are to propel post-conflict states toward a liberal democracy. In contrast to existing theories that focus on the resources available to peacebuilders or the degree of damage caused by the war to explain the outcome, we highlight the interaction between international and domestic actors. Specifically, we conceiv…
Building Democracy While Building Peace
Peacebuilding is successful in ending wars, but rarely leads to democratic postwar regimes. The peacebuilding literature typically explains this outcome by cooperation problems between the warring parties, by a lack of capacity within postwar society, or by underfunded and poorly coordinated missions. This paper provides an alternative explanation. It argues that the single most important factor explaining a democratic outcome is local demand for…
The Origins of Social Capital
This article investigates the determinants of social capital by analyzing an original survey of post-Soviet Central Asia. It tests hypotheses derived from two related questions: whether networks, norms, and trust are empirically related and the extent to which four factors—culture, regime type, perceptions of government responsiveness, and development interventions—predict levels of social capital. The results show that trust and norms diverge fr…
Aid, Attitudes, and Insurgency
Prevalent counterinsurgency theories posit that small development aid projects can help stabilize regions in conflict. A widely assumed mechanism runs through citizen attitudes, often called “winning hearts and minds,” where aid brings economic benefits and sways public perceptions, leading to more cooperation and, eventually, less violence. Following a preregistered research design, we test this claim using difference‐in‐differences, leveraging …
Rebel Rulers
Rebel groups are often portrayed as mere predators. Yet some groups establish governance systems that deliver public services to the population. Why would they do this? This is the question that Rebel Rulers addresses. The empirical basis for this innovative study consists of three case studies. The author looks at the governance systems set up by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) in…
Potentials of disorder
Until recently, the study of conflict and conflict resolution remained comparatively immune to broad developments in social and political theory.When the changing nature and locus of large-scale conflict in the post-Cold War era is also taken into account, the case for a reconsideration of the fundamentals of conflict analysis and conflict resolution becomes all the more stark.New Approaches to Conflict Analysis promotes the development of new th…
How Wartime Violence Affects Social Cohesion
Local communities such as villages are commonly assumed to be vital partners in counterinsurgency and post-conflict reconstruction. However, the success of all policies based on this assumption depends on the level of social cohesion at the community level: communities with internal cleavages and fissures will be less effective in making external efforts a success. In this article, we study how exposure to violence during civil war affects the in…
China as a peacekeeper-Past, present, and future
Over the last 30 years, the People's Republic of China (China) has evolved from a skeptic to a champion of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping. During that same period, UN peacekeeping has greatly changed. This paper traces how China has reacted to the various practical and doctrinal innovations of UN peacekeeping, such as the turn to more robust peacekeeping, the protection of civilians, the responsibility to protect, the call for better force prot…
State formation as it happens
This paper contributes to an empirical understanding of state formation. Based on an original household-level data set, we provide a detailed picture of the process of state formation in Afghanistan over the last decade. State formation happens when state and society engage in reciprocal relations. Central to this relationship is an exchange of services for the acceptance of authority and increased legitimacy. Our data allows us to assess state-s…
Conflict, state fragility and aid effectiveness
Aid is rarely an effective development tool in fragile states. This is particularly true of states that are at war, or have recently emerged from violent conflict. Based on research in Afghanistan, this paper examines three possible reasons for this ineffectiveness. First, in fragile states, the interests of donor-peace-builders and recipient governments are seldom aligned: recipients often lack the political will to implement reform, while donor…
The folly of “aid for stabilisation”
Over the last two decades, billions in aid money has been spent in highly insecure regions of conflict affected states in the hope that aid would lead to less violence and more stability. A recent wave of academic work on the impact of aid on violence has now amassed convincing empirical evidence that this hope is futile. Aid injected in highly insecure regions, where violence is a reality and insurgents retain some capacities, will increase, not…
A theory of democratisation through peace-building
This contribution presents a theory of democratisation through peace-building. Peace-building is seen as an interactive process between external peace-builders and domestic elites; whether a post-war state develops into a democracy or not depends to a large extent on the outcome of the bargaining process between domestic elites and peace-builders. It is argued that domestic elites typically face many constraints which make adopting democratic ref…
Potentials of disorder
Until recently, the study of conflict and conflict resolution remained comparatively immune to broad developments in social and political theory.When the changing nature and locus of large-scale conflict in the post-Cold War era is also taken into account, the case for a reconsideration of the fundamentals of conflict analysis and conflict resolution becomes all the more stark.New Approaches to Conflict Analysis promotes the development of new th…
The Origins of Social Capital
This article investigates the determinants of social capital by analyzing an original survey of post-Soviet Central Asia. It tests hypotheses derived from two related questions: whether networks, norms, and trust are empirically related and the extent to which four factors—culture, regime type, perceptions of government responsiveness, and development interventions—predict levels of social capital. The results show that trust and norms diverge fr…
Interventionskultur
Building Democracy While Building Peace
Peacebuilding is successful in ending wars, but rarely leads to democratic postwar regimes. The peacebuilding literature typically explains this outcome by cooperation problems between the warring parties, by a lack of capacity within postwar society, or by underfunded and poorly coordinated missions. This paper provides an alternative explanation. It argues that the single most important factor explaining a democratic outcome is local demand for…
Conflict, state fragility and aid effectiveness
Aid is rarely an effective development tool in fragile states. This is particularly true of states that are at war, or have recently emerged from violent conflict. Based on research in Afghanistan, this paper examines three possible reasons for this ineffectiveness. First, in fragile states, the interests of donor-peace-builders and recipient governments are seldom aligned: recipients often lack the political will to implement reform, while donor…
How Wartime Violence Affects Social Cohesion
Local communities such as villages are commonly assumed to be vital partners in counterinsurgency and post-conflict reconstruction. However, the success of all policies based on this assumption depends on the level of social cohesion at the community level: communities with internal cleavages and fissures will be less effective in making external efforts a success. In this article, we study how exposure to violence during civil war affects the in…
Aid, minds and hearts
It is widely assumed that development aid can help to stabilize regions in or after conflict. However, we lack empirical evidence for this assumption, and the assumed causal mechanisms are poorly specified. We conducted a micro-level longitudinal study of 80 communities in northeast Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009 and investigated the impact of aid on (perceived) security. We also investigated two possible causal mechanisms that may link aid to…
How Canadian practitioners see their engagement in fragile states. A research note
Northern donors, Canada among them, have increasingly engaged with fragile states – but with limited effectiveness. While some scholars attribute this to a fundamental lack of capacity in recipient countries, others suspect that aid effectiveness is also hampered by strategic interaction between donors and reform-averse local actors, who often gain the upper hand. We analyse 44 semi-structured interviews of Canadian practitioners and find that th…
Rebel Rulers
Rebel groups are often portrayed as mere predators. Yet some groups establish governance systems that deliver public services to the population. Why would they do this? This is the question that Rebel Rulers addresses. The empirical basis for this innovative study consists of three case studies. The author looks at the governance systems set up by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) in…
Compromised Peacebuilding
There is considerable evidence that peacebuilding operations are more likely to reproduce important elements of the status quo than they are to propel post-conflict states toward a liberal democracy. In contrast to existing theories that focus on the resources available to peacebuilders or the degree of damage caused by the war to explain the outcome, we highlight the interaction between international and domestic actors. Specifically, we conceiv…
What Do We (Not) Know About Development Aid and Violence? A Systematic Review
State formation as it happens
This paper contributes to an empirical understanding of state formation. Based on an original household-level data set, we provide a detailed picture of the process of state formation in Afghanistan over the last decade. State formation happens when state and society engage in reciprocal relations. Central to this relationship is an exchange of services for the acceptance of authority and increased legitimacy. Our data allows us to assess state-s…
Potentials of disorder
Introduction - potentials of (dis)order in the Caucasus and Yugoslavia, Jan Koehler and Christoph Z rcher discourses, actors, violence - the organization of war-escalation in the Krajina region of Croatia 1990/1991, Hannes Grandits and Carolin Leutloff non-existent states with strange institutions, Kristof Gosztonyi a neglected dimension of conflict - the Albanian mafia, Xavier Raufer land reforms and ethnic tensions - scenarios in South East Eur…
Potentials of Disorder
A theory of democratisation through peace-building
This contribution presents a theory of democratisation through peace-building. Peace-building is seen as an interactive process between external peace-builders and domestic elites; whether a post-war state develops into a democracy or not depends to a large extent on the outcome of the bargaining process between domestic elites and peace-builders. It is argued that domestic elites typically face many constraints which make adopting democratic ref…
The folly of “aid for stabilisation”
Over the last two decades, billions in aid money has been spent in highly insecure regions of conflict affected states in the hope that aid would lead to less violence and more stability. A recent wave of academic work on the impact of aid on violence has now amassed convincing empirical evidence that this hope is futile. Aid injected in highly insecure regions, where violence is a reality and insurgents retain some capacities, will increase, not…
Costly Democracy
China as a peacekeeper-Past, present, and future
Over the last 30 years, the People's Republic of China (China) has evolved from a skeptic to a champion of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping. During that same period, UN peacekeeping has greatly changed. This paper traces how China has reacted to the various practical and doctrinal innovations of UN peacekeeping, such as the turn to more robust peacekeeping, the protection of civilians, the responsibility to protect, the call for better force prot…
Aid, Attitudes, and Insurgency
Prevalent counterinsurgency theories posit that small development aid projects can help stabilize regions in conflict. A widely assumed mechanism runs through citizen attitudes, often called “winning hearts and minds,” where aid brings economic benefits and sways public perceptions, leading to more cooperation and, eventually, less violence. Following a preregistered research design, we test this claim using difference‐in‐differences, leveraging …
Political science (16 works) · Economics (12 works) · Law (12 works) · International Development and Aid (10 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (10 works) · Political economy (10 works) · Politics (10 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Development economics (7 works) · Law (7 works)