At the event of the first meeting of IDOS’ newly appointed International Scientific Advisory Board, Prof Dr Anke Hoeffler held a lecture on “Violence - A Critical Issue for Development?”. Prof Hoeffler is Professor of Development Research, Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz.

While the study of civil war has received considerable attention in the international development debate, interpersonal violence (chiefly homicides and assaults) has been understudied. This is in contrast to the field of public health, where scholars have been arguing for some time to put interpersonal violence higher on domestic and international policy agendas.

Prof Hoeffler reflected in this lecture especially on the question of how violence can be prevented and reduced. The evidence is overwhelming: Violence is not something that we have to bear, but interventions at the international, national and local level can bring about changes that result in a reduction of violence. Thus, our data collection effort and review of the intervention literature can assist policy shapers to guide efforts in preventing and reducing violence in all its forms, as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 16.1.

Prof Dr Jörg Faust, Director of DEval, and Dr Julia Leininger, Head of the Research programme: Transformation of Political (Dis-)order, reflected on the lecture as discussants.