Tandem Project

LGBTQI+ People and the ‘Triple Nexus’ of Humanitarian Action, Development Cooperation and Peacebuilding

For decades, scholars and practitioners have been debating how to integrate better the fields of short-term humanitarian assistance with longer-term foreign aid/development cooperation, along with, more recently, parallel efforts in conflict resolution/peacebuilding, often known as the “triple nexus”. Simultaneously, scholarship and practice in each of those three areas have begun to address the particular needs and rights of LGBTQI+ people, whose marginalisation and exclusion have been well documented. For instance, the specific concerns of sexual and gender minorities in emergency situations and refugee camps are being increasingly recognised. Similarly, the relevance of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in foreign aid is slowly emerging in the academic literature and aid donor policies. Finally, research and tailored policies concerning LGBTQI+ people in conflict and peace processes are still in their infancy. What is lacking, however, is research that analyses the place of sexual and gender minorities not just in one of those areas, but in the intersection of all three.

  • How does integrating LGBTQI+ concerns contribute to the latest thinking about how humanitarian assistance, foreign aid and peacebuilding are intrinsically connected in both theory and practice?
  • What is the potential of the “triple nexus” to integrate those concerns?
  • What are the limitations and barriers to doing so?

To answer those questions, we bring together different strands of cutting-edge thinking to launch a new research agenda. The project will contribute to:

  1. advancing understandings on the integration of LGBTQI+ people into the intersection of humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts, and
  2. enriching theory and practice concerning the “triple nexus” and the specificities of marginalised people.

Prof. Stephen Brown

University of Ottawa (Canada) | Political Science

Stephen Brown is a professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, where he is also affiliated with the School of International Development and Global Studies. His research focuses mainly on the intersection of domestic and international politics. He has published on democratisation, political violence, peacebuilding and transitional justice/rule of law in Angola, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Rwanda. He has conducted research on foreign aid in Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mongolia, and Peru, as well as on global COVID-19 vaccine inequities. He is now primarily carrying out research on international LGBTQI+ rights. He is completing a research project on international actors’ efforts to defend the rights of sexual and gender minorities in the Global South. His latest project is on how people in some African countries, such as Botswana, Mauritius, and Kenya, use domestic courts to try to force their governments to decriminalise homosexuality. He has been a visiting scholar at universities and research institutes in Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Project description

Website

https://stephenbrown.xyz

Tandem Partner

Prof. Dennis Dijkzeul

Ruhr University Bochum, Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) | Conflict and Organisation Research

E-mail:

Prof. Dennis Dijkzeul

Ruhr University Bochum, Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) | Conflict and Organisation Research

E-mail:

Dennis Dijkzeul is professor of conflict and organiation research at the School of Social Sciences and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict at Ruhr University Bochum. He was the founding director of the Humanitarian Affairs Program at the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University in New York. He has conducted research projects on international and local organisations in the DRC, Uganda, South Sudan, and Afghanistan, and has worked as a consultant for UN organisations and NGOs in Africa, Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America. His main research interests concern humanitarian crises, the management of international organisations (UN, NGOs, and diaspora organisations) and their interaction with local actors.

Website

https://www.ifhv.de/team/Prof-Dr-Dennis-Dijkzeul