In the aftermath of the Cold War the hope for a more stable and just international order rapidly dissolved underneath the pressure of internecine conflicts raging on all continents.The Rwanda and ...Srebrenica genocides especially proved that promoting peace is a particularly fraught challenge in the face of intra-state conflict and sub-national groups that boldy confront nation-states.
This book outlines challenges to the effective operation of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) with regards to peacebuilding in Africa. Critically examining these issues from an interdisciplinary ...perspective, with a focus on comparative analysis of the status, role, and performances of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), it examines particular constraints to their effective participation in regional initiatives. Focussing on inadequate technical capabilities, the complicity of state and non-state actors in conflicts within a region, the domestic politics of member states, it additionally pans out to address related theories and practices of peacekeeping, security, development, and the peacebuilding nexus. It also engages provisioning, regionalism and regional peacekeeping interventions, the legal and institutional framework of RECs, and civil society and peacebuilding. Fundamentally, the book asks how effective the alliances and partnerships are in promoting regional peace and security and how much they are compromised by the intervention of external powers and actors, exploring new ideas and actions that may strengthen capacities to address the peacebuilding challenges on the continent effectively. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of African politics and studies, peace and security studies, regionalism studies, policy practitioners in the field of African peacebuilding, and more broadly to international relations.
Referendums have become an undeniably important, and perhaps inescapable, peacemaking tool in contemporary peace processes. As such, understanding the ways in which referendum outcomes are shaped by ...peace negotiations is vital. Drawing upon two case studies, Amaral presents an empirically rich comparative analysis of the Annan Plan in Cyprus and the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. She examines the negotiations, offering new interview material with key political and civil figures involved in the peace negotiations and referendum campaigns in both cases. Amaral argues that referendums are unsuitable for traditional secretive and exclusionist peace negotiations that fail to engage and educate the public. They rather require inclusive negotiations that involve a broad spectrum of political stakeholders and civil society at the early stages of the process. This peacemaking approach can allow referendums to positively shape societies in conflict and be a crucial step toward lasting peace.
To what extent does postliberal peace represent a substantive cultural paradigm shift relative to the liberal peace paradigm? We offer an empirical examination of the question through the Israeli ...case. An analysis of sixteen peace associations shows that peace activism has changed in the last twenty years in Israel in terms of organization, orientation, and action. Such change is clearly based on reflexivity, i.e. on the attempt by the activists to overcome the weakness of the liberal peace approach that has failed repeatedly in the Israeli-Palestinian context. The Israeli case reveals a cultural change that is creating a new, concrete, micro-level, "bottom-up" model of peacebuilding grounded, first and foremost, in everyday life. It is based on creating bridges on the social and cultural levels through practices, meetings, and networks. Although the peace process is not visible in the near future in Israel, and precisely because of that, the article presents the formation of a new cultural perception, which might be useful, and even necessary in time.
How wars end Reiter, Dan
2009., 20090817, 2009, 2009-08-17, 20090101
eBook
Why do some countries choose to end wars short of total victory while others fight on, sometimes in the face of appalling odds? How Wars End argues that two central factors shape war-termination ...decision making: information about the balance of power and the resolve of one's enemy, and fears that the other side's commitment to abide by a war-ending peace settlement may not be credible.
Almost invisibly, numerous activists are presently engaged in ongoing, nonviolent efforts to build peace and bring about an end to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Beginning in 2004, after the ...mainstream peace movement collapsed, Maia Hallward spent most of a year observing the work of seven such groups on both sides of the conflict. She returned in 2008 to examine the progress they had made in working for a just and lasting peace. Although small, these grassroots organizations provide valuable lessons regarding how peacebuilding takes place in times of ongoing animosity and violence.
By raising awareness of these groups’ existence, Hallward provides a much richer investigation of available options for peacemaking in Israel, which is otherwise dominated by violence and armed strategies. Challenging the official diplomatic presumption that peace is about working out lines on a map, she relocates the question into social, cultural, political, and geographic contexts that affect people’s daily lives.
In the end, Struggling for a Just Peace offers a critical look at the realities on the ground, focusing on what has been successful for groups engaged in working for peace in times of conflict and how they have adapted to changing circumstances.
Armed conflicts, 1946–2014 Pettersson, Therése; Wallensteen, Peter
Journal of peace research,
07/2015, Volume:
52, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
In 2014, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) recorded 40 armed conflicts with a minimum of 25 battle-related deaths, up by six from 2013. This is the highest number of conflicts reported since ...1999, and 11 of these conflicts were defined as wars, that is, conflicts generating 1,000 or more battle-related deaths in one calendar year. Further, an escalation of several conflicts, coupled with the extreme violence in Syria, resulted in the highest number of battle-related deaths in the post-1989 period. Yet, compared to the large-scale interstate wars of the 20th century, the number of fatalities caused by armed conflicts in 2014 was relatively low. Additionally, seven conflicts identified in 2013 were no longer active in 2014. However, four new conflicts erupted in 2014, all of them in Ukraine, and three previously registered conflicts were restarted by new actors. Furthermore, six conflicts reoccurred with previously registered actors. A positive development, however, is the increase to ten of the number of peace agreements concluded and signed in 2014, which represents a further four compared with 2013. And although this increase is part of a positive trend since 2011, it is worth noting that several peace processes remained fragile by the end of the year.
Post-conflict economic reconstruction is a critical part of the political economy of peacetime and one of the most important challenges in any peace-building or state-building strategy. After wars ...end, countries must negotiate a multi-pronged transition to peace: Violence must give way to public security; lawlessness, political exclusion, and violation of human rights must give way to the rule of law and participatory government; ethnic, religious, ideological, or class/caste confrontation must give way to national reconciliation; and ravaged and mismanaged war economies must be reconstructed and transformed into functioning market economies that enable people to earn a decent living. Yet, how can these vitally important tasks each be successfully managed? How should we go about rehabilitating basic services and physical and human infrastructure? Which policies and institutions are necessary to reactivate the economy in the short run and ensure sustainable development in the long run? What steps should countries take to bring about national reconciliation and the consolidation of peace? In all of these cases, unless the political objectives of peacetime prevail at all times, peace will be ephemeral, while policies that pursue purely economic objectives can have tragic consequences. This book argues that any strategy for post-conflict economic reconstruction must be based on five premises and examines specific post-conflict reconstruction experiences to identify not only where these premises have been disregarded, but also where policies have worked, and the specific conditions that have influenced their success and failure. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/9780199237739/toc.html
Positive psychology has been largely distant from the substantial science of peace studies. This is unfortunate as the mutual synergy between these fields holds vast opportunity. Misconceptions and ...obstacles underlying this gap are highlighted, alongside counterpoints for each. The purpose is to lay a foundation for the integration of the science of character strengths and peace psychology, across levels of peace, namely personal/inner peace and relational peace with ramifications for intragroup and intergroup peace. To enhance the understanding of this integration, a convenience sample of 25,302 people was examined. Percentages of the participants' perceived highest strengths used for building inner peace and relational peace and for managing political/religious conflict were calculated. Examples of respondents' strategies for using strengths across levels of peace are offered. Among the various findings, perspective, kindness, and honesty were in the top 10 across all three levels. Limitations and future directions for this integration are discussed.
The relationship between religion and conflict has generated considerable academic and political debate. Although the majority of religions and spiritual traditions are replete with wisdom that ...propagates a broader unity among human beings, these same examples have been used to legitimize hatred and fear. While some studies claim that religion facilitates peacebuilding, reconciliation, and healing, others argue that religion exacerbates hostility, instigates vengeance-seeking behaviors, and heightens conflict. But religion does not act by itself, human beings are responsible for acts of peace or conflict, of division or reconciliation, in the name of religion. This book addresses these rather complex issues from the perspective of reconciliation, or atonement, to advance both the frontiers of knowledge and the global search for alternative paths to peace. The contributions in the volume focus in three areas: (1) Reconciling Religious Conflicts, (2) Reconciling Conflict through Religion, and (3) Religious Reconciliations. In each of these sections scholars, practitioners, and religious leaders address specific examples that highlight the complex intersections of religious practices with global conflict and reconciliation efforts. This informative and provocative book is relevant for students and faculty in peace and conflict studies, religious studies, humanities, social sciences, and provides insights useful to practitioners and professionals working in peacebuilding and international development seeking to promote effective resolution and reconciliation efforts.
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