Project manager and field research supervisor for the VW Foundation-funded programme "Accounting for State-Building, Stability and Violent Conflict in Central Asia and the Caucasus" (CSCCA), hosted at the Freie Universität Berlin. This was ARC's first major research programme and the direct predecessor to the successive "Conflict & Development" and "ICCS" programmes (2010–2019).

Tasks included:

• Setup of research partnerships with partner institutions across the Caucasus and Central Asia
• Methods development for institution-centred conflict analysis
• Field research in transitional societies
• Publication of results

Results: Foundation of the CSCCA research network; methods development for institution-centred conflict analysis (basis for subsequent VW programmes and doctoral dissertation); publications including Koehler/Zürcher (eds.) Potentials of Disorder (Manchester University Press, 2003) and Koehler/Zürcher "Der Staat und sein Schatten" (WeltTrends, 2004). Budget: €642,100.