What is the primary focus of the ICCRDG?

The conference focuses on the interconnected themes of conflict resolution, democracy, and governance, exploring their dynamics and implications for global stability.

International Conference on Conflict Resolution, Democracy, and Governance (ICCRDG)

Name: International Conference on Conflict Resolution, Democracy, and Governance (ICCRDG)
Start: 2026-07-13T00:00:00Z
End: 2026-07-13T00:00:00Z
Location: Kowloon City

Jul 13, 2026Kowloon City, Hong KongIn-person

Registration open

The International Conference on Conflict Resolution, Democracy, and Governance (ICCRDG) convenes in Kowloon City, Hong Kong, to address the intricate relationships between these three critical pillars of global stability. This event serves as a platform for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to dissect contemporary challenges and explore innovative solutions in fostering peaceful societies and effective governance structures. Participants will engage in discussions ranging from theoretical frameworks of conflict resolution to practical applications of democratic principles in diverse geopolitical landscapes. The conference aims to bridge academic research with real-world policy implications, offering a comprehensive understanding of how robust governance can mitigate conflict and strengthen democratic institutions.

Committees & topics

Topics
Democracy Promotion and Conflict Resolution · Governance Challenges in Conflict-Affected Areas · The Role of Civil Society in Democratic Governance · Political Dialogue and Conflict Prevention · The Impact of Electoral Processes on Peace · Decentralization and Local Governance in Conflicts · Human Rights and Democratic Transitions · The Role of Media in Democracy and Conflict

Why it matters

In an era marked by persistent global instability and evolving political landscapes, understanding the dynamics of conflict, democracy, and governance is paramount. The ICCRDG provides a crucial forum for examining how these elements intersect and influence global peace and security. Effective conflict resolution mechanisms are essential for de-escalating tensions and preventing violence, while democratic governance offers a framework for inclusive decision-making and the protection of human rights.

The conference's focus on these interconnected themes highlights their collective importance in building resilient societies. Weak governance often exacerbates existing conflicts and hinders democratic development, leading to cycles of instability. Conversely, strong, democratic institutions can provide legitimate channels for addressing grievances, thereby reducing the likelihood of violent conflict. The discussions at ICCRDG will contribute to a deeper understanding of these complex interdependencies, fostering strategies that promote sustainable peace and equitable development.

By bringing together diverse perspectives, the ICCRDG facilitates a holistic approach to these global challenges. It encourages the sharing of best practices and lessons learned from various regional contexts, promoting cross-cultural dialogue and collaboration. This collaborative environment is vital for developing comprehensive strategies that can be adapted to different national and international settings, ultimately contributing to a more stable and just world order.

How to prepare

Participants preparing for the ICCRDG should focus on developing a nuanced understanding of the interplay between conflict resolution, democratic processes, and governance structures. A key area of preparation involves analyzing the various types of stakeholders involved in these processes, including both visible and hidden stakeholders, as detailed in the Model Diplomat lesson on this topic. Understanding their motivations and influence is crucial for effective engagement.

Furthermore, delegates should familiarize themselves with different engagement strategies, considering how various actors can be brought to the table in conflict resolution and democratic transitions. This includes examining how to conduct a stakeholder mapping workshop to identify key players and their relationships, as discussed in relevant Model Diplomat lessons. A dynamic analysis of conflict situations and governance challenges will also be beneficial, allowing for an adaptive approach to problem-solving.

Finally, it is important to consider the role of gender dynamics across cultures in conflict resolution and democratic governance. Understanding how gender influences participation, vulnerability, and leadership in these contexts is essential for developing inclusive and equitable solutions. This comprehensive preparation will enable participants to contribute meaningfully to the conference's discussions and debates.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

China

Advocates for a state-centric approach to governance and conflict resolution, emphasizing sovereignty and non-interference.

Role in topic

As a major global power, CHN's approach to international relations heavily influences discussions on governance and conflict. Its emphasis on internal stability and economic development as prerequisites for peace shapes its engagement in multilateral forums and its bilateral relationships. CHN's perspective on democracy often differs from Western models, focusing more on state capacity and social harmony.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Democracy Promotion and Conflict Resolution

Democracy promotion emerged as a central pillar of post-Cold War international policy, premised on the 'democratic peace' thesis that consolidated democracies rarely fight one another and tend to resolve internal disputes through institutional channels. The 1990s saw a wave of democratization across Eastern Europe, Latin America, and parts of Africa, often accompanied by UN-led peacebuilding missions in places like Cambodia, El Salvador, and Mozambique that tied ceasefire arrangements to electoral transitions. Western donors, the EU, and bodies such as the OSCE, the Community of Democracies, and the UN Democracy Fund institutionalized this agenda through election observation, party assistance, and rule-of-law programming. The agenda has since come under strain. Coercive 'democracy promotion' associated with the 2003 Iraq War and later interventions in Libya damaged its legitimacy, while authoritarian resilience in Russia, China, and parts of the Sahel has produced a counter-narrative framing democracy assistance as foreign interference. Freedom House and V-Dem have documented nearly two decades of democratic backsliding, including in states once considered consolidating democracies. Today the debate centers on whether external actors can credibly support democratic transitions in fragile or post-conflict states without exacerbating polarization, and how to reconcile democracy promotion with sovereignty norms and locally driven peace processes.

Key players

Governance Challenges in Conflict-Affected Areas

Roughly two billion people live in countries affected by fragility, conflict, or violence, according to World Bank estimates, and the share of global poverty concentrated in these settings continues to rise. Governance in such areas is shaped by contested authority: states often share territorial control with armed groups, traditional authorities, or transnational criminal networks, producing 'hybrid' or 'rebel' governance arrangements documented in places like eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Mali, Yemen, Myanmar, and parts of Syria. Service delivery, taxation, and justice frequently operate outside formal state institutions, complicating both humanitarian access and statebuilding efforts. International responses have evolved from the liberal peacebuilding template of the 1990s — which emphasized rapid elections, market reforms, and Western-style institutions — toward an 'adapted' approach reflected in the UN-World Bank 'Pathways for Peace' report (2018) and the UN Sustaining Peace agenda. These frameworks emphasize legitimacy, inclusion, and addressing grievances over institutional templates. Yet implementation remains difficult: donor coordination is weak, security and development actors often work at cross-purposes, and the withdrawal of UN missions from Mali (MINUSMA) and DRC (MONUSCO) has highlighted the limits of externally supported governance. Current debates focus on how to engage non-state authorities pragmatically without legitimizing predatory actors, and how to build state capacity in environments where the state itself is a party to conflict.

Key players

The Role of Civil Society in Democratic Governance

Civil society organizations — independent associations, NGOs, trade unions, religious bodies, and grassroots movements — have long been recognized as essential to democratic governance, serving as channels for citizen participation, oversight of state power, and aggregation of interests. The 'third wave' of democratization showcased their transformative potential, from Solidarity in Poland to civic movements in South Korea, South Africa, and across Latin America. International instruments including the ICCPR (Articles 19, 21, 22) and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (1998) codify the freedoms of expression, assembly, and association that underpin civic space. Since roughly 2012, however, the global trend has been one of closing civic space. CIVICUS Monitor classifies a majority of the world's population as living in countries with 'repressed' or 'closed' civic environments. Restrictive NGO laws in Russia, India, Egypt, Hungary, and elsewhere have constrained foreign funding, registration, and advocacy. Digital surveillance and SLAPP litigation add new pressures. At the same time, civil society remains central to democratic resilience: monitoring elections, documenting human rights violations, and mobilizing transitional movements as seen in Sudan (2019) and Armenia (2018). The contemporary debate concerns how international actors can protect civic space without exposing local organizations to charges of foreign agency, and how to support civil society in increasingly hybrid and authoritarian contexts.

Key players

Political Dialogue and Conflict Prevention

Conflict prevention has been a stated UN priority since the Charter's Article 33, which obliges parties to seek peaceful settlement through negotiation, mediation, and other means. The concept gained renewed prominence with Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali's 1992 'Agenda for Peace,' which formalized preventive diplomacy, and again under Secretary-General Guterres, whose 'surge in diplomacy for peace' and the Sustaining Peace resolutions (A/RES/70/262 and S/RES/2282 of 2016) reframed prevention as integral to the UN's mandate. National dialogues — inclusive political processes bringing together state and non-state actors — have become a signature tool, with mixed records in Yemen (2013-14), Tunisia (2013), Sudan, and Libya. Despite normative consensus, prevention remains chronically underfunded relative to crisis response, and Security Council deadlock has limited collective action on emerging crises in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan. Regional organizations — the AU, ECOWAS, ASEAN, the OSCE — have taken on larger mediation roles, though with uneven capacity. The current debate focuses on early warning-early action gaps, the role of Track II and Track III diplomacy, the inclusion of women and youth as required by UNSCR 1325 and 2250, and how to sustain dialogue processes when one or more parties prefer a military path. The proliferation of mediators, including non-Western actors such as Qatar, Turkey, and the UAE, has also reshaped the mediation landscape.

Key players

The Impact of Electoral Processes on Peace

Elections in post-conflict and divided societies are double-edged: they can confer legitimacy on transitional arrangements and channel competition into peaceful institutions, but they can also entrench wartime cleavages, trigger violence, and consolidate winners' power. The literature, building on work by Roland Paris, Benjamin Reilly, and others, documents that elections held too soon after conflict — without functioning institutions, demobilized armed groups, or credible electoral administration — tend to produce instability, as seen in Angola (1992), Bosnia (1996), and Burundi (2015). Conversely, well-sequenced electoral processes, as in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, can anchor democratic consolidation. Election-related violence remains a significant global concern: ACLED and IFES data show that roughly one in five elections worldwide involves significant violence, often peaking in highly polarized contexts (Kenya 2007-08, Côte d'Ivoire 2010, Zimbabwe). Disinformation, foreign interference, and AI-generated content have introduced new risks, while observation missions by the EU, OSCE/ODIHR, the AU, and Carter Center face pushback from incumbents seeking to delegitimize external scrutiny. Current debates concern electoral system design (majoritarian vs. proportional in divided societies), the role of power-sharing arrangements, the timing and sequencing of post-conflict elections, and how to safeguard electoral integrity in the digital information environment.

Key players

Decentralization and Local Governance in Conflicts

Decentralization — the transfer of authority, resources, and responsibilities from central to subnational governments — has frequently been proposed as a mechanism to manage diversity, accommodate regional grievances, and prevent or resolve conflict. Federal and devolutionary arrangements feature in peace agreements from Bosnia (Dayton, 1995) to Sudan (CPA, 2005), the Philippines (Bangsamoro, 2014), and Colombia (2016). Proponents argue that bringing governance closer to citizens enhances legitimacy and defuses secessionist pressures; critics warn that poorly designed decentralization can entrench ethnic enclaves, create captured local elites, or — as in South Sudan — accelerate state fragmentation. Evidence is mixed. Studies by the World Bank, OECD, and academics including Dawn Brancati show that decentralization's peace-promoting effects depend heavily on design: fiscal arrangements, the territorial basis of units (ethnic vs. mixed), and the strength of central institutions. In active conflicts, local governance often becomes a frontline issue, with rebel administrations, traditional authorities, and parallel state structures competing for legitimacy in Syria, Myanmar, and eastern Ukraine. The contemporary debate centers on hybrid governance, the role of mayors and municipalities as peace actors (the 'cities for peace' agenda), and whether asymmetric or symmetric decentralization better serves divided societies.

Key players

Human Rights and Democratic Transitions

Democratic transitions — from authoritarian rule, civil war, or occupation toward representative government — invariably raise the question of how to deal with past human rights abuses while building new institutions. The transitional justice toolkit, developed since the Latin American transitions of the 1980s and the post-apartheid South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1995), encompasses prosecutions, truth commissions, reparations, vetting, and institutional reform. UN guidance, including the 2010 Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on transitional justice, treats these as complementary rather than alternative measures, and the Rome Statute (1998) established the ICC as a backstop against impunity. The relationship between human rights accountability and political transition is contested. 'Peace vs. justice' debates have surfaced in cases from Uganda and Colombia to Sri Lanka and Myanmar, where amnesty offers have been weighed against survivors' demands for accountability. Recent transitions in Tunisia, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Armenia have shown that stalled accountability tends to fuel renewed instability, while overly aggressive transitional justice can trigger backlash from entrenched security elites. Current debates address the role of universal jurisdiction (notably Syrian cases in Germany), reparations for colonial-era abuses, and the integration of economic and social rights into transitional justice, traditionally focused on civil and political violations.

Key players

The Role of Media in Democracy and Conflict

Free and pluralistic media are widely regarded as essential infrastructure for democratic governance — informing citizens, scrutinizing power, and providing forums for public deliberation. Article 19 of the ICCPR protects freedom of expression and access to information, and UNESCO's mandate includes media development and journalist safety. Yet media can also amplify conflict: Radio Mille Collines' role in the Rwandan genocide (1994) and the use of broadcast media in the former Yugoslavia demonstrated how state-aligned outlets can mobilize violence. The 'CNN effect' debate of the 1990s and subsequent research have examined how media coverage shapes both public opinion and policy responses to crises. The digital transformation has reshaped this terrain. Social media platforms have enabled citizen journalism and democratic mobilization (from the 2011 Arab uprisings to Belarus 2020 and Iran 2022) while also serving as vectors for disinformation, hate speech, and foreign influence operations, as documented in Myanmar (Facebook and anti-Rohingya violence), Ethiopia, and election interference cases worldwide. Press freedom indicators from RSF and CPJ show record numbers of journalists killed and imprisoned in recent years, while traditional media business models have collapsed in many democracies, hollowing out local news. The contemporary debate centers on platform regulation (the EU Digital Services Act, online safety laws), protecting journalists in conflict zones, addressing AI-generated disinformation, and supporting public-interest media in fragile contexts.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for International Conference on Conflict Resolution, Democracy, and Governance (ICCRDG).

Recent reporting to ground your prep

West Bengal Voter Deletion Crisis 2026

West Bengal Voter Deletion Crisis

Delimitation Based on 2011 Census

Supreme Court Upholds Election Commission Dis

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Conflict Resolution

Media & Press Relations

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Hong Kong July 2026

By committee

Frequently asked questions

International Conference on Conflict Resolution, Democracy, and Governance (ICCRDG)

Jul 13, 2026Kowloon City, Hong KongIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Topics
Democracy Promotion and Conflict Resolution · Governance Challenges in Conflict-Affected Areas · The Role of Civil Society in Democratic Governance · Political Dialogue and Conflict Prevention · The Impact of Electoral Processes on Peace · Decentralization and Local Governance in Conflicts · Human Rights and Democratic Transitions · The Role of Media in Democracy and Conflict

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

China

Advocates for a state-centric approach to governance and conflict resolution, emphasizing sovereignty and non-interference.

Role in topic

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Democracy Promotion and Conflict Resolution

Key players

Governance Challenges in Conflict-Affected Areas

Key players

The Role of Civil Society in Democratic Governance

Key players

Political Dialogue and Conflict Prevention

Key players

The Impact of Electoral Processes on Peace

Key players

Decentralization and Local Governance in Conflicts

Key players

Human Rights and Democratic Transitions

Key players

The Role of Media in Democracy and Conflict

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for International Conference on Conflict Resolution, Democracy, and Governance (ICCRDG).

Recent reporting to ground your prep

West Bengal Voter Deletion Crisis 2026

West Bengal Voter Deletion Crisis

Delimitation Based on 2011 Census

Supreme Court Upholds Election Commission Dis

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Conflict Resolution

Media & Press Relations

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Hong Kong July 2026

By committee

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

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Frequently asked questions

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

Related conferences

PolyU Thematic Seminar – “Navigating the Current Global Landscape: Insights into the Practice of China’s Diplomacy”

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Frequently asked questions