CDE4Peace

The CDE4Peace project seeks to explore the potential of Concept Development and Experimentation (CD&E) for the EU’s conflict prevention and peace-building policy. CD&E is seen as a promising tool for the transformation of complex security systems, especially in NATO context, but its potential for EU policies is under-explored. To great extent the proposed novel concepts and approaches in the area of EU peace-building remain unverified political and academic speculations. The project’s hypothesis is that CD&E could serve as a tool for politically independent, unbiassed and safe experimentation of novel concepts.

One of the major challenges for the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in an increasingly volatile security environment over the last years has been the design and implementation of research-based conflict prevention and peace-building missions and operations. To address this challenge the CDE4Peace project will assess the applicability and compatibility of the CD&E methodology and tools with strategic and operational concepts in the area of EU conflict prevention and peace-building. The project will explore three strategic-level EU concepts (resilience, ‘conflict sensitivity’ and ‘the whole-of-society concept’) as well as the operational concepts of three EU CSDP missions (EULEX Kosovo, EUTM Mali and EUBAM Libya). The project will introduce and adapt the CD&E methodology to EU conflict prevention and peace-building by defining the requirements for an innovative CDE tool tailored for this specific policy area. CD&E will also define actionable policy recommendations for implementing the CD&E methodology and tools in the complex EU policy-making process. 

The project’s research and innovation objectives are both very timely and relevant for the current developments in the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy which forms the political framework of EU conflict prevention and peace-building. The project will contribute to the European Research Area by linking the academic and policy analysis on EU conflict prevention and peace-building with experimental research and CD&E in particular.

CDE4Peace is a Marie Curie project funded by the European Commission under the EU’s Research and Innovation Programme “Horizon 2020”. The project starts in September 2020 and will run until August 2022. CDE4Peace is implemented in collaboration between SYNYO GmbH as a host organization and an experienced researcher from the Republic of Bulgaria. The mobility under the CDE4Peace project is carefully designed to achieve a two-way transfer of knowledge between the researcher and the host. 

Project objectives

The principal research objective of CDE4Peace is to explore the potential of concept development and experimentation for the EU’s conflict prevention and peace-building policy. The project has three specific research objectives, as follows: 

• To review and assess the applicability and compatibility of the CD&E methodology and tools with strategic and operational concepts in the area of EU conflict prevention and peace-building; 
• To introduce and adapt CD&E to EU conflict prevention and peace-building by defining the requirements for an innovative CD&E tool tailored for this specific policy area; 
• To define actionable policy recommendations for implementing the CD&E methodology and tools in the EU policy-making process.  

About the researcher 

Dr. Nikolay Pavlov is a Marie Curie Fellow at SYNYO GmbH within the frameworks of the CDE4Peace project. He has a strong background in the social sciences with MA degrees in International Relations (from Sofia University) and Law (from New Bulgarian University). He earned his PhD degree on management of security and defence research in the public sector from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia. He worked previously for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ Centre for National Security and Defence Research and as Bulgaria’s NCP (National contact person) for the Security theme under FP7. He has also acted as an independent evaluator and reviewer of security research projects for European institutions. He has published 2 books and more than 40 scholarly articles in the fields of geopolitics and regional studies, security research management, crisis management, disaster risk management, and the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). 

Links

CDE4Peace website:

https://www.cde4peace.eu/ 

Keywords

Concept development and experimentation, EU conflict prevention and peace-building, Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)