Challenges for Building Peace in Syria post-2011 Conflict : Evaluation as Research and Monitoring in Conflict Zones

Abstract: This research is the product of a qualitative research design in the field of Peace and Conflict Studies Research. The design of this study is Evaluation as Research and Monitoring of the Theory and Practice of Research in Conflict Zones. Syria as a multiple case study post-2011 conflict.  The objectives underlying this explorative research are three-fold. First, it seeks, from applied research, to produce and contribute to building better-suited methodological self-conscious and evidence-based approaches to building peace in conflict zones (Bush and Duggan, 2013; 2015); that also, can serve to propose new approaches and research practices within the state-of-the-art of Peace and Conflict Studies Research. Second, it proposes pertinent knowledge for researchers and practitioners in all spheres of humanitarianism, development, and peacebuilding that can influence policy-making and designing processes aid in the humanitarian crisis in extreme contexts of conflict conditions. By utilising Syria as a multiple case study post-2011 conflict, the overall goal of this study is to generate new knowledge for a better understanding and systematically reinforcing the political, economic and social infrastructures considered by the author as requisites to enable locally-oriented paths to a prosperous and dignified life, peace-reinforcing dynamics and a just future (Ibid., 2013, p.20; 2015). The findings and analysis are based on the conceptual framework built and developed by the author in this thesis, adopted and employed theories, specific methodology, and the author grounded experience in humanitarian action.