Dr Michael Aeby

Honorary Research Affiliate, IDCPPA

Dr Michael Aeby is an academic and policy researcher, who specialises in Peace & Conflict Studies and African politics. His research publications and teaching focus on the African Peace & Security Architecture, international mediation, peace agreement implementation, civil society inclusion, transitional governance, power-sharing, conflict early warning, electoral conflicts, coups d’états, and violent conflicts in Africa.

Michael joined UCT’s IDCPPA as an Honorary Research Associate in 2019. He completed postdocs at the Universities of Edinburgh and Basel, where he lectured at the Department of Social Sciences, and worked for the Geneva Graduate Institute. As a research consultant, he completed policy studies for the Institute for Justice & Reconciliation, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Nordic Africa Institute, Peace Research Institute Oslo, PeaceRep, Search for Common Ground and Swisspeace, and in partnership with the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, European External Action Service, German Corporation for Development Cooperation, United Nations Development Programme and UN Women.

Michael obtained a doctorate in African History form the University of Basel with a thesis on Zimbabwe’s transitional governance process and was a visiting PhD fellow at the Universities of the Witwatersrand, Western Cape and Zimbabwe. He studied African History, Political Sociology and Media Studies at the Universities of Basel and Fribourg and interned at the South African Human Science Research Council.

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 Selected publications

Journal articles

  • Aeby, Michael. 2024. High expectations: Civil society participation in conflict early warning and response systems of the AU, ECOWAS and IGAD, South African Journal of International Affairs, 31/2, 167-190. https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2024.2385935

  • Aeby, Michael and Jamie Pring. 2023. ‘Development Trajectories of Mediation Support Structures in the AU, ECOWAS, IGAD and SADC’. South African Journal of International Affairs 30/1, 97-120. https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2023.2203689

  • Aeby, Michael. 2021. ‘Building Peace among Monitors? The Monitoring and Implementation of Zimbabwe’s Global Political Agreement’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 47/4, 683-702. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2021.1875644

  • 2018. ‘Inside the Inclusive Government’, Interparty Dynamics in Zimbabwe’s Power-Sharing Executive, The Journal of Southern African Studies, 44/5, 855-877. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2018.1497122

- 2016. ‘Making an Impact from the Margins? Civil Society Groups in Zimbabwe’s Interim Power-Sharing Process’, The Journal of Modern African Studies, 54/4, pp 703-28. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X16000616

Monograph

  • 2019. SADC – The Southern Arrested Development Community? Enduring Challenges to Peace and Security in Southern Africa. Policy Dialogue 14, Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-7106-854-5. Download

Policy reports

  • 2022. How African Organisations Support Peace Agreement Implementation: AU, IGAD and SADC Mediation, Guarantees and Monitoring Practices in Kenya, South Sudan and Zimbabwe, PeaceRep, Edinburgh. Download

  • 2021. Civil Society Participation in Peace-Making and Mediation Support in the APSA: Insights on the AU, ECOWAS and SADC. Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, Cape Town. Download

Policy briefs

  • 2025. ‘Untangling Africa’s World War: Mediation in Regionalised Intrastate Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (1998 – 2003)’. Peace Research Institute Olso, Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies, XCEPT. Oslo. Download

  • 2023. ‘CEWARN’s Strategy Framework and Civil Society Partnership: Lessons for early warning and response systems’. Conflict Trends 2023/2. Umshlanga Rocks: ACCORD Download