{"id":1244,"date":"2025-10-02T04:04:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/the-peacebuilding-pracademic\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T04:04:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:04:47","slug":"the-peacebuilding-pracademic","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/theory-vs-policy\/the-peacebuilding-pracademic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Peacebuilding Pracademic"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"middle content\">\n<div class=\"column left\" id=\"columnleft\">\n<section class=\"block article author\">\n<div class=\"headline\">\n<h3>About the author<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"inline-content\">\n<div class=\"about-author\">\n<div class=\"tleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/var\/broker\/storage\/images\/authors\/hounjet-marieke\/150274-2-eng-gb\/hounjet-marieke_author.jpg\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"tright\">\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/hounjet-marieke\/\">Marieke Hounjet<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMarieke Hounjet is the Co-ordinator for theConsortium of British Humanitarian Agencies,based in L&#8230;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/hounjet-marieke\/\">full profile<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"block article author\">\n<div class=\"headline\">\n<h3>Tags<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"inline-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<section class=\"content column wide left blog_post content view\" id=\"content\">\n<article class=\"fader\">\n<header class=\"contents\">\n<div class=\"share\">\n\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    var addthis_config = {\n        ui_language = 'en'\n    }\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis sharing\">\n\t<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style\" addthis:title=\"The Peacebuilding Pracademic \">\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_twitter\" tw:via=\"thebrokeronline\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_facebook\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_pinterest_share\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_4\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_compact\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_counter addthis_bubble_style\"><\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">var addthis_config = data_track_addressbar;<\/script><br \/>\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/js\/300\/addthis_widget.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n\t<!-- AddThis Button END -->\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"addthis article_options\">\n\t\t<!-- \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/mandrill\/subscription\/add\/6006\/6042\">Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t -->\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Peacebuilding Pracademic<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/hounjet-marieke\/\">Marieke Hounjet<\/a>\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t17 February 2025<br \/>\n\t<\/header>\n<div class=\"body contents\">\n\t<!-- body --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">The panels that I attended so far confirm that the debate on theory vs policy is definitely on academics\u2019 minds, perhaps much more so than many of us use to think. People from different sub-fields of international studies are all trying to address the debate. One forum for such a discussion was the roundtable on bridging research, policy and practice at the intersections of peacebuilding and development. This field of study is \u201cdriven by policy,\u201d as Necla Tschirgi (University of Ottawa\/United Nations) expressed it; and Craig Zelizer (Georgetown University) another speaker on this roundtable confirmed this, claiming to more of a \u2018pracademic\u2019 instead of an academic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">The speakers were very much concerned with not only the gap between theory and practice, but also what \u2018we\u2019 teach the next generation of \u2018peacebuilders\u2019; whether they are equipped with the skills to promote better practice; and how there is still a far way to go in terms of the incorporation of Southern perspectives and local success stories into Northern scholarship. However, the impression with which I left this panel, which resonates with other panels on similar topics is that there is still a lot to learn about how policy-making institutions actually work. For example, Erin L. McCandless\u2019 (New School University) revealed that in UN programmes in Liberia, general conflict analysis has not been guiding field operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Similarly, Necla Tschirgi shared experiences from a career spent trying to institutionalise some form of knowledge sharing between academics and practitioners. Tschirgi relates to policymakers\u2019 resistance to academic research for reasons that academic research seems to be \u2018too contested\u2019 and \u2018too complex\u2019; \u201cthey rather would like academics to do the work for them\u201d. Hence she places the burden with the academics, as policy decisions will be made regardless and it\u2019s about whether academics want to contribute to their improvements. Tschirgi\u2019s talk illustrated that a lot comes down to the academic\u2019s ability to navigate policy-making institutions and encouraged policy-makers to invite academics to their advisory committees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">This conclusion was also made in another panel where Marla Karlin (former US Pentagon\/John Hopkins University) shaped a clear picture of the policy-making environment. Her arguments about how policy-making comes down to a lot of individual stories, and how policy-makers personalities play a large role add another level of complexity to the debate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Hence, a clear conception of how academics can influence the mysterious world of policy-making remains absent. A point that is recurrently made here is that academic insights need to be re-packaged and translated for policy-makers use. This is not a new message at all, but one strongly resisted by academia, which according to Karlin seems to come out of a \u201cdiscomfort with writing very short papers\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">A new angle to the discussion is that most policy-makers have gone through the institution of the university, and the emphasis on theory in degree studies arguably disadvantage fresh graduates in the competitive job market. Employers search for individuals with field and programme management experience, according to Zelizer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Does this therefore mean academia is failing to link with the world out there in multiple ways? Hopefully, some other panels during this conference will contradict this statement.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p>\t\t<!-- body -->\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<section class=\"commentform content column wide left\">\n<div class=\"disqus_content\">\n\t\t<a name=\"comments\" id=\"comments\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"disqus_thread\"><\/div>\n<p>        <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n            \/* * * CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT BEFORE PASTING INTO YOUR WEBPAGE * * *\/\n            var disqus_shortname = 'broker'; \/\/ required: replace example with your forum shortname\n            var disqus_identifier = '4697';\n            \/* * * DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE * * *\/\n\t\t\tfunction trackComment(comment)\n            {\n                console.log(comment);\n            }\n\t\t\tfunction disqus_config() {\n                this.callbacks.onNewComment = [function() { \n                console.log(comment);\n                }];\n            }\n\t\t\t(function() {\n                var dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text\/javascript'; dsq.async = true;\n                dsq.src = '\/\/' + disqus_shortname + 'https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/blogs\/theory-vs-policy\/.disqus.com\/embed.js';\n                (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq);\n            })();\n        <\/script><br \/>\n        <!--\n        <noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href=\"http:\/\/disqus.com\/?ref_noscript\">comments powered by Disqus.<\/a><\/noscript>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/disqus.com\" class=\"dsq-brlink\">comments powered by <span class=\"logo-disqus\">Disqus<\/span><\/a>\n        -->\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false,"raw":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About the author Marieke Hounjet Marieke Hounjet is the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_3.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1244","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Peacebuilding Pracademic \/ Theory vs policy \/ Blogs - The Broker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The panels that I attended so far confirm that the debate on theory vs policy is definitely on academics\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 minds, perhaps much more so than many of us use to think. 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