New NWO-WOTRO Science for Global Development call launched on May 7

May 7 this year, NWO-WOTRO Science for Global Development will launch the sixth call for applied research proposals of the Security and Rule of Law research programme, a subsidy scheme of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The theme of the call will be ’The political dilemma of legitimate stability’. Preliminary proposals can be submitted for a period of 5 weeks. Projects will have a duration of up to nine months, with an anticipated start date in December 2018, and a budget of € 100,000.

Th call is developed for the Security and Rule of Law (SRL) Applied Research Fund (ARF). The SRL research programme aims to contribute to enhancing the knowledge-base of security and rule of law policies and intervention programs in fragile and conflict-affected settings, in order to improve their effectiveness. The ARF specifically focuses on strengthening policy and implementation in the fields of security and rule of law.

‘Legitimacy’ is central to the language of state building, institution building, security sector reform and good governance interventions. Many such interventions are based on the idea that durable stability requires functioning institutions to maintain public order; promote justice; safeguard the integrity of territory, person and property; and ensure peacefully-contested politics and impartial public services. An implicit assumption is that capable and inclusive state performance in these arenas forges a social contract, builds trust, and reduces people’s recourse to violence in pursuit of their economic and political aspirations or basic needs. But how does this play out in reality?

The call aims to interrogate this premise, and generate empirical insights into processes of legitimation and the role of security and rule of law interventions therein. The results of the research projects need to directly feed into Security & Rule of Law policies and/or programmes.