Jonas Schaaf
Jonas Schaaf is a Research Associate at PRIF's Research Department Glocal Junctions. His research focuses on African regional organizations, their non-military conflict interventions as well as German engagement in the Sahel.
Press photo
CV
since 2022
Research Associate in the Competence Network “African Non-Military Conflict Intervention Practices” at PRIF
| 2021
Postgraduate Study Program “International Cooperation for Sustainable Development” at the Centre for Rural Development (SLE), Humboldt University Berlin
| 2017–2020
Research Associate at the Department of Geography, University of Giessen
| 2013–2017
Master of Science in Geography, University of Giessen
| 2013–2014
Internship at the Centre for Environmental Management, Potchefstroom, South Africa
| 2010–2013
Bachelor of Science in Geography, University of Giessen
PhD Project
The vision of the African Union (AU) – “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens [...]” – and the mission statement of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – “From an ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of Peoples” – suggest inclusive development processes and goals of the two organizations. This is interpreted as an intention to align their policies with the norm of “people-centric governance.” As central actors in the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), both organizations can intervene for purposes of crisis prevention, conflict management, and post-conflict reconstruction and development. Scholarly engagements with military components of African conflict interventions have dominated the generation of knowledge about African intervention politics to date. Besides, through the “local turn”, a strand of research has emerged that critically examines liberal peacebuilding and foregrounds the actions of local peacebuilding. The dissertation project addresses the intertwining of the local and the international in African non-military interventions by elaborating how and why civil society actors are included or excluded as collaborators in AU and ECOWAS conflict interventions. Using practice-theoretical approaches, the study reconstructs the practices of inclusion and exclusion of civil society actors on the basis of the two case studies Mali and Guinea and contributes to further opening the “black box” of African non-military intervention politics.
This will first be realized through guideline-based interviews with relevant AU and ECOWAS actors through field research visits to Addis Ababa and Abuja, and illustrated through the case studies. In the latter, guided interviews with civilian non-state actors and participatory approaches with focus groups will be conducted. In addition to experiential knowledge on inclusion and exclusion mechanisms in AU and ECOWAS interventions, information to reconstruct the actor landscape will be obtained through social network analyses and “communities of practice”, which form the conceptual framework of the project, will be identified in the field of African regional conflict interventions.
Publications
- Bringing Climate Justice into the European Green Deal
| 2021
Mallach, Konstantin; Neubert, Susanne; Schaaf, Jonas (2021): Bringing Climate Justice into the European Green Deal. Recommendations for new Energy Partnerships with Africa, SLE Briefing Paper Series, 2021: 1.
Publication
- Practicing Inclusion: Civil Society Actors in African Union Conflict Interventions
| 2025
Schaaf, Jonas (2025): Practicing Inclusion: Civil Society Actors in African Union Conflict Interventions, African Non-Military Conflict Intervention Practices (Routledge Studies in Peace, Conflict and Security in Africa): Taylor & Francis.
Publication
ISBN: 9781040651933 - Ursachen fragiler Staatlichkeit im westlichen Sahel
| 2021
Dittmann, Andreas; Schaaf, Jonas (2021): Ursachen fragiler Staatlichkeit im westlichen Sahel, in: Heß, Julius/Lutz, Karl-Heinz/Konopka, Torsten (eds), Wegweiser zur Geschichte. Mali und westlicher Sahel, Paderborn: Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 155–164.
Publication
- Mali’s Acute Security and Energy Crisis in Bamako and Beyond: Four Scenarios for the Road Ahead
| 2025
Schaaf, Jonas (2025): Mali’s Acute Security and Energy Crisis in Bamako and Beyond: Four Scenarios for the Road Ahead, PRIF Blog.
Publication - Bringing Civil Society Organizations into African Early Warning and Conflict Prevention
| 2025
Schaaf, Jonas; Abdulkadir, Taye; Engel, Ulf (2025): Bringing Civil Society Organizations into African Early Warning and Conflict Prevention, ANCIP Policy Brief.
Publication - The New US Administrations’ Africa Policies: What to Expect and Why it Matters
| 2024
Schaaf, Jonas (2024): The New US Administrations’ Africa Policies: What to Expect and Why it Matters, PRIF Blog.
Publication - Keine Freude über den Abzug
| 2023
Schaaf, Jonas (2023): Keine Freude über den Abzug, PRIF Blog.
Publication
- Understanding Civil Society Inclusion in AU and ECOWAS Non-Military Interventions
| 2025
Schaaf, Jonas (2025): Understanding Civil Society Inclusion in AU and ECOWAS Non-Military Interventions, ANCIP Working Papers, No. 5, Leipzig.
Publication
Further Activities
| 2022–2024
Co-Spokesperson of PRIF’s Doctoral Researchers
| since 2020
Active member of the Network German West Africa Policy
| 2018–2020
Spokesperson of Scientific Staff in the Directory of the Institute of Geography, Justus Liebig University Giessen
| 2018–2019
Public Relations Officer of the Giessen Geographic Society