Professor Ron Levy of the ANU College of Law is leading an interdisciplinary and international deliberative peacemaking project. 

With co-organisers Professors Ian O’Flynn and Alison McCulloch, the project draws together deliberative democracy researchers with interests in conflict, and conflict researchers focusing on the deliberative aspects of peacemaking. 

The project also features contributions from 25 peace and conflict and deliberation scholars from around the word.

The overarching aim of the project is to understand the prospects of deliberative democratic institutions such as mini-publics as tools for armed conflict management.

In September 2024, Professor Levy will travel to Denmark and Sweden to further develop the project.

“We’re converging on Stockholm in particular. International IDEA – an NGO dedicated to democracy and constitution-building around the world – will be our hosts,” says Professor Levy.

The conference will include members of the global peacemaking NGO community, including from the Folke Bernadotte Academy and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The project has the potential to influence the directions of peacemaking research and practice globally. 

“The response to the project from NGOs and scholars around the world has really been heartening. We are drawing from a wide base of scholars and practitioners, from every inhabited continent. The strong interest we’ve encountered reflects the urgency of the subject, I think, and the prospects for addressing it in a new way.”