IFIT is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a research grant as part of the 2023 United States Institute of Peace (USIP) grant competition. 

IFIT’s research aims to build on key concepts developed in our agenda-setting publication on The Scope for Dialogue with Security Forces in Hybrid Regimes. A central finding of that paper was that, in hybrid regime contexts, civic actors interested in constructive dialogue with state security actors tend to encounter major roadblocks in their efforts at outreach and engagement. 

Our new research will analyse multiple country case studies and translate findings into dialogue tools and strategies that can be used by human rights practitioners. The research will focus on 1) hybrid regimes and how they operate; 2) the conditions and causes of dialogue and engagement opportunities between state security and civic actors; 3) comparative outcomes of engagement (short, mid and long-term); and 4) how existing global democracy and human rights training programmes might be improved to address structural features of hybrid regimes.

To learn more about IFIT’s research on hybrid regimes, please contact [email protected]