Distilling Roots of Disagreement
SAVE THE DATE (time TBC)
On Monday, June 23rd, KPSRL will be presenting and discussing its final paper in the distilling series on ‘Roots of Disagreement’.
In increasingly polarised debates on development cooperation and the state–rule of law nexus, it is crucial to move beyond dominant narratives that often overlook complexity and context. This requires greater attention to locally founded and locally grounded perspectives that challenge prevailing assumptions and offer meaningful alternatives rooted in lived realities.
The final paper in the KPSRL distilling series, “Distilling Roots of Disagreement” looks back on contributions of the KPSRL network (events, research, podcast) relating to that theme and aims to provide some answers on how to reconcile the polarised debates defining development cooperation and SRoL. The paper specifically investigates three ‘case study’ debates relating to feminist foreign policy, (the merits of) liberalism, and sovereignist ideologies in development cooperation. To that end, the paper identifies:
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The arguments (about what is real and what is right) underpin the opposing positions within the debates;
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Where those arguments may come from and why we (or a party to a polarized debate) have accepted them as right and true; and
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What, if any, are the points of common ground between the arguments of the parties.
In the launch event, the authors of different Knowledge Management Fund (KMF) publications will present and discuss their work as it was interpreted in relation to the distilling paper. This panel discussion will bring together speakers from KMF recipient organisations, including Vimbai Kapurura, Idris Nassery, Salma Nasser and Jean Bossuyt. They will reflect on the distilling paper from the standpoint of their own work and contexts, exploring alternatives to dominant frameworks in the debates around feminism, liberalism and globalist politics. The discussants will address the intersections between Western and non-Western approaches, and the practical implications of recognising local, informal and culturally grounded forms of knowledge and action. There will be an opportunity to reflect and engage.
As this will be the last event hosted by KPSRL The Hague, we are looking forward to an especially engaging discussion with our international partner organisations. The distilling paper will be published in advance of the event.
The registration link will be provided once the time is confirmed.