Abstract:
The conflict-affected tribal areas previously known as Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) were merged with the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KP) in 2018. To acknowledge the need for innovative approaches to rebuilding
state-society relations whilst mainstreaming the merged districts; this research
proposes the idea of behavioral change and ‘nudging’ to enhance civic
participation and engagement with state institutions. The theoretical
underpinnings of nudging approach as proposed by Thaler and Sunstein posit the
idea of influencing individual behavior and self-consciously attempt to move
people in the direction of better choices for the individual and society. While,
behavioral science and nudges have been extensively integrated with various
public policy domains, research regarding behavioral change in conflict-affected
and post-conflict society is inadequate and requires further exploration. For this,
qualitative research has been carried out through semi-structured interviews of
experts in the field of peace and conflict studies and behavioral science. The
factors affecting the applicability of nudges are outlined as lack of political
consciousness about the state systems and access to courts and official records
which has affected individuals’ propensity to engage with the state institutions.
With that, the challenge faced in provision of security and creating state
infrastructure are recognized as pre-requisites for nudging civic participation.
These findings integrated with lessons from behavioral science in other postconflict
contexts have been leveraged to outline how nudges can be
operationalized to increase civic participation and adherence to government
processes through operational transparency. For this, mediums of outreach in the
context of ex-FATA have been explored whilst outlining innovative methods of
research in post-conflict settings and ethical considerations therein.
