Psychological dimensions of conflicts

Research at the Department related to the topic of psychological dimensions of conflicts.

gender, war trauma and peacebuilding

Project leader: Karen Brounéus

In this project, we seek to investigate the challenges of post-conflict peace-building processes by studying the complex (and possibly gendered) relationships between war-related trauma and attitudes towards peace-building, trust and co-existence after war. More specifically, the project investigates whether gendered differences in war trauma may have a direct link to the prevalence of psychological health problems such as PTSD and depression, which – in turn – may become significant hurdles to peacebuilding in the post-conflict phase.

Intergroup Trust After War: The Effects of Migration

Project leader: Ashok Swain

This project will examine a key assumption in the literature: that migrants from war torn countries harbour more conflictive attitudes than the local population back home. Going beyond the single country approach of previous studies, we will conduct simultaneous surveys and fieldwork among Iraqis in two settlement countries – Sweden and Jordan. To analyse the multi-sited data, we will apply a novel social-psychological framework that explains how settlement country conditions shape societal beliefs that arise in the context of ethnic mobilisation and war.