Policy Briefs

This is the second of two policy briefs on polarisation in relation to digital media. It describes interventions currently being attempted by NGOs and other peacebuilders using digital platforms as their medium, and interventions that the platforms themselves have tested and/or put into action, including in some cases how the impacts are measured. Many organisations and individuals are working on digital peacebuilding, while a larger number explore broad societal impacts of digital media and the research questions identified in the first brief. The conclusion of this brief categorises interventions according to the degree of invasiveness felt by their subjects, discusses their costs and benefits, and provides recommendations for digital media platforms.

This policy brief is one of two which examines the issue of polarisation and the extent to which it is driven by digital media. Even if polarisation is not driven by digital media, severe conflicts playing out on the digital stage are in themselves an urgent problem. It is plausible that some forms of digital media drive polarisation and others do not, and also possible that digital media impacts vary by culture. No matter “who is to blame,” new opportunities to build peace are blossoming on digital media. Many people are working hard to build peace using the Internet, and we can learn a lot from their approaches. This first brief is a research overview about polarisation and policy issues related to digital media. After summarising a range of studies in this area, the policy brief closes with a series of questions highlighting where further research is most needed.

Throughout this policy brief, we vet the use of social media in a major Middle Eastern country - Egypt - where the youth took to the streets to express frustrations that lasted almost a lifetime. While social media helped topple autocratic dictator, Hosni Mubarak, it played the role of Pandora’s box, unwittingly showing the strengths and weaknesses of the society’s fabric. The brief follows a string of events that changed the face of the Egyptian state and with it came conflict. We also discuss how extremism infiltrated potentially every home with access to internet and offer solutions that can aid this creeping disease that lures sympathisers. Finally we list a number of recommendations that could help civil society groups sustain a dialogue and a have a strong impact on the general public.

Throughout this policy brief, we vet the use of social media in a major Middle Eastern country - Egypt - where the youth took to the streets to express frustrations that lasted almost a lifetime. While social media helped topple autocratic dictator, Hosni Mubarak, it played the role of Pandora’s box, unwittingly showing the strengths and weaknesses of the society’s fabric. The brief follows a string of events that changed the face of the Egyptian state and with it came conflict. We also discuss how extremism infiltrated potentially every home with access to internet and offer solutions that can aid this creeping disease that lures sympathisers. Finally we list a number of recommendations that could help civil society groups sustain a dialogue and a have a strong impact on the general public.

A Declaration on Climate Change, Conflict and Peace specific to Oceania is an important outcome of the Toda Peace Institute’s workshop “Climate Change and Conflict in the Pacific: Prevention, Management and the Enhancement of Community Resilience” which was held in September 2018. The workshop brought together international experts on climate change and security, policymakers, local peacebuilding practitioners and civil society actors from Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Countries. The key goal of the workshop was to set a framework for research that informs policy and produces real-world initiatives to address the linkages between the effects of climate change, conflict, security and peace, through dialogue between researchers, governments, civil society and communities in Oceania. Please download and view the draft Declaration which was endorsed by the Steering Committee formed after the workshop. We invite you to submit comments and suggestions for changes to this draft. After extensive consultation we shall revise the text in the light of those submissions. Please send your suggestions before 30 June 2019 to v.boege@icloud.com After the consultation process, we shall invite institutions and individuals from civil society, academia, governments and other stakeholders to endorse the final Declaration.