The Integrated Network for Societal Conflict Research (INSCR) was founded in 1998 as an organizational framework to better integrate and coordinate quantitative research initiatives investigating various aspects of complex societal conflicts and as a network platform for establishing closer contact and collaboration with similar research enterprises in other locations around the world. The INSCR program builds upon the well-established research foundations developed by Ted Robert Gurr including the Polity, Minorities at Risk, and State Failure research projects.

CIDCM researchers have completed a USAID-funded research project entitled, "The Impact of Fragile Environments on NGO Networks: A Comparative Analysis of Four West African Countries." The project's goal was to learn more about how NGO networks are affected by features of fragile environments such as outbreaks of armed conflict, governmental crises, or dislocated populations.

The project developed an extensive survey instrument that was administered to 101 individuals working in 37 different peace-building organizations across three countries (Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Nigeria). The organizations are all part of the West African Network for Peace-Building (WANEP). Overall the survey yielded a rich database of information. The full research report presents results from many analyses that track how different aspects of state fragility (armed conflict, dislocated populations, weakened security, governmental crises, and economic shocks) affect specific activities carried out by organizations and also how they influence network dynamics.

With analyses of survey data now completed, the results demonstrate that the elements of state fragility do have an observable adverse impact on the operations of peace-building organizations and the network within which they interact. These findings are, perhaps, unsurprising. What is surprising, however, is that fragility’s impact is varied. Some aspects of fragility are less disruptive than others. Many of the activities performed by organizations are significantly impeded by the challenges posed by fragility, but many are not. While coordination between organizations can often be more difficult, survey respondents reported modest improvements in some aspects of the WANEP network with the onset of fragility. Notably, some desirable features of the WANEP network showed modest signs of strengthening during fragility.

Dr. Andrew Blum and Dr. Joseph Hewitt were the principal investigators on the project. The full research report is available here.