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81. Will International Institutions Fail Again? International power shifts and the future of global cooperation

Author:
Matthew D. Stephen
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
Abstract:
International institutions thrive when they are utilized, their rules are respected, and they are important in shaping international outcomes. They fail when they fall into disuse, their rules are violated, or they otherwise become peripheral to the events of world politics. In order to function effectively, international institutions require a minimum level of agreement amongst their most powerful members. In many institutions today, the level of agreement is shrinking. While geopolitical tensions are real, the biggest risk to international institutions comes from the unravelling of domestic and transnational social coalitions in favour of economic openness and ideals of internationalism. To rescue international institutions, it will be necessary to take action at the national level. This means using the policy tools available to national governments to create economic security, reduce inequality, and foster inclusive community identities. This may come at the expense of deeper international integration, but it will be better for international cooperation in the long run.
Topic:
Security, Inequality, Institutionalism, Community, and International Institutions
Political Geography:
Global Focus

82. Local Networks for Peace: Lessons from Community-Led Peacebuilding

Author:
Lesley Connolly, Laura Powers, Senzwesihle Ngubane, Patrick Kanyangara, Kessy Ekomo-Soignet, Nicolas Chamat Matallana, Stephen Kirimi, Hasini Haputhanthri, Masana Ndinga-Kanga, and Webster Zambara
Publication Date:
09-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute (IPI)
Abstract:
In recent years, there have been increasing calls to ensure local ownership of peacebuilding design and practice, to take local knowledge fully into account in designing peacebuilding programs and assessing conflicts, and to strive for the meaningful participation of local peacebuilding actors. In the search for new approaches to connect local-level initiatives to international programs and to move local knowledge from the bottom up, community-led peacebuilding networks may have a key role to play. This volume includes case studies of community-led peacebuilding networks in Burundi, the Central African Republic, Colombia, Kenya, Liberia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe to identify approaches for more inclusive and integrated peacebuilding. These case studies, written by local peacebuilders working in each of the countries, underscore the organizational, political, and financial advantages and risks to operating as part of a broader network. The aim of this report is to enhance understanding among international peacebuilding practitioners and policymakers of peacebuilding network structures, including their comparative advantages and challenges. In doing so, it aims to guide efforts not only to incorporate local knowledge and expertise into international initiatives but also to identify how these efforts can support and magnify local efforts. By better understanding how local peacebuilding networks operate in their communities, the international community can begin to better understand the challenges local organizations face, how to support and strengthen peacebuilding work on the ground, and how such initiatives contribute to building and sustaining peace.
Topic:
Civil Society, Women, Youth, Networks, Peace, and Community
Political Geography:
Kenya, Africa, South Asia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Burundi, and Central African Republic

83. Peacebuilding through Health in Kenya’s Urban Informal Settlements: Insights for Policy

Author:
Roseanne Nijru
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Social Science Research Council
Abstract:
This briefing note is based on exploratory research in two informal settlements in Nairobi: Mathare and Kibera. It makes recommendations for engaging health workers in peacebuilding processes in urban informal settlements in Kenya. The recommendations are based on study conclusions showing that health care sys- tems, especially community-centered primary health care services and workers, have great potential to promote peace and security in Kenya. Violent conflicts constitute a public health challenge because of their adverse effects on health, social, and economic systems, which lead to declines in population well-being. Thus, peace and health are mutually reinforcing, and development cannot take place without good health. Despite this health-peace nexus, Kenya’s National Policy for Peacebuilding and Conflict Management (2015) and National Cohesion 1 and Integration Commission (NCIC, 2008) , both formulated in a volatile political climate, have not recognized the contribution of the health system to peace- building. In 1998, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted “Health as a Bridge for Peace (HBP)” as a policy framework on the premise that the role of health care providers in promoting peace is significant for the attainment of “Health for All.”2 This study suggests that health care systems in Kenya can be part of the multifaceted peacebuilding effort in urban informal settlements that experience a range of violence—political, ethnic, extremist, resource-related, gender-based—and vicious cycles of retaliatory attacks.
Topic:
Health, Peacekeeping, Urban, and Community
Political Geography:
Kenya and Africa

84. Implementing the Ahafo Benefit Agreements: Seeking Meaningful Community Participation at Newmont’s Ahafo Gold Mine in Ghana

Author:
Benjamin Boakye, Maggie Cascadden, Jordon Kuschminder, Eric Werker, and Sam Szoke-Burke
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
In 2008, ten communities in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana entered into agreements with Newmont Ghana to govern company-community relations, ensure local job creation, and share the benefits of the company’s mining operations. Ten years later, this report, co-authored by Canadian International Resources and Development Institute (CIRDI), African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), CCSI, and ISP, looks at the communities’ experience of those agreements and suggests how the agreements might be improved. Though the agreements were celebrated for their attempts to include all stakeholders in decision-making, challenges remain around representation, consultation, and participation. New entities established to facilitate multi-stakeholder decision-making have led to the replication of existing power imbalances. And despite many improvements, the agreements have not fully stabilized company-community relations; tensions and grievances remain concerning employment, compensation, and resettlement, among other issues. The report makes research-informed recommendations for the communities, Newmont Ghana, and other stakeholders in the lead-up to the renegotiation of the agreements. While the negotiation of benefit agreements (sometimes called “Community Development Agreements”) have been the subject of wide-ranging research, academic literature on agreement implementation is still relatively sparse, and tends to focus on cases in Australia and Canada, with little information available from cases in low- or middle-income countries. This report therefore seeks to contribute to filling this gap, alongside other studies mentioned in the report.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Mining, Community, and Job Creation
Political Geography:
Africa, Canada, Australia, and Ghana

85. Minority Communities in Contemporary Tajikistan. An Overview

Author:
Aziz Berdiqulov
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
This paper aims to provide a brief overview of the legal framework for minority-related issues in Tajikistan and discuss international and national commitments the country has signed concerning protection of minority rights. An overview of some minority communities living in Tajikistan, namely Kyrgyzs, Pamiris, Russians, and Uzbeks will follow afterwards to illustrate how the Tajik minority-related legislation works in practice and what challenges communities usually face. In this section, demographic, linguistic, religious, and socio-economic profiles of selected minority communities will be discussed as well.
Topic:
Minorities, Ethnicity, Community, Identity, and Protected People
Political Geography:
Central Asia, Middle East, Asia, and Tajikistan

86. Citizens perception and community response on returned foreign fighters - Special Edition of Kosovo Security Barometer

Author:
Vesë Kelmendi
Publication Date:
05-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS)
Abstract:
The report is divided in three parts. The first part of the report consists of a general description of public perception on violent extremism based on the 2017 data-gathering efforts. This is categorized on ethnically-motivated threats, religiously-based violent extremism and politically motivated violent extremism. In addition, the report analyzes respondents’ attitudes toward national and religious causes.
Topic:
Public Opinion, Violent Extremism, Survey, Community, Foreign Fighters, and Repatriation
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe and Kosovo

87. Breaking the Links? A Case study of the Indian Diaspora in Thailand

Author:
Ruchi Agarwal
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Thailand has long been a destination for South Asian migrants as well as a second home for Indian Diaspora. Recent migrations such as the post-partition period have been relatively understudied, however. In this paper, I focus upon the migration of Indian community to Thailand in the late 1940s to understand how recent arrivals influenced and integrated into existing transnational communities. I am specifically interested in the trajectories of individual migrants and the public representation and organization of Thailand’s evolving Indian diasporic community. A historical linkage lies between South and Southeast Asia and as a result, the Indians moving to Southeast Asia are not entirely ‘foreigners’. This paper explores the trajectories of the more recent Indian diasporic community in an attempt to analyze the aspirations of the newer migrants and their social life outside of the homeland. The findings in this paper are based on past literature, personal observations, and interviews with Indians residing in Bangkok.
Topic:
Migration, Diaspora, Minorities, and Community
Political Geography:
India, Asia, and Thailand

88. Formation of Kurdish Nationalist Movement in Turkey: From Social Movement Theories Perspective

Author:
Rahman Dag
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Current politics in Turkey proves that the roots of the Kurdish question have to be taken under strict examination in order to diagnose the problem so that a permanent solution might be found. With this in mind, this paper tries to explain the emergence of the pro-Kurdish nationalist movement, the PKK, via social movement theories. What makes this paper significant is that it examines the process of emergence in three phases via three different social movement theories. For Turkey’s single party era (1923-1950), relative deprivation theory is applied. In the second phase, political opportunity theory is matched with the onset of the multi-party system under the rule of the Democrat Party (1950-1960). Finally resource mobilization theory is applied to the time period between 1960 and 1980. In general, the theoretical approaches chosen are selected in accordance with certain socio-political realities of Turkey. This helps to explain how an ethnic minority ended up with a socially – but not legally – representative organization when they are relatively deprived and obstructed politically. If not all, a certain amount of mobilization of the Kurdish people could result in a social movement, be it is legal or illegal.
Topic:
Nationalism, Social Movement, Minorities, and Community
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Asia

89. Dossier 11: The Homemade Politics of Abahlali baseMjondolo, South Africa’s Shack Dweller Movement

Author:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:
The shack-dwellers’ movement– Abahlali baseMjondolo, or AbM— is among the organizations of the world’s poor and dispossessed fighting for land reform and dignity. Despite waves of repression by the state, AbM membership now numbers over 50,000 in settlements across the country since their founding in 2006. In an interview with Tricontinental Institute, Zikode talks about the essence of AbM—what they are fighting for, who they are, what they have achieved, and what we can learn from them.
Topic:
Politics, Community, Mobilization, Land Reform, and Grassroots Organizing
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

90. Dossier 9: How Kerala fought the heaviest deluge in nearly a century

Author:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:
During the summer of 2018, the Indian state of Kerala was hit by severe rains and floods – the heaviest in nearly a century – affecting 5.4 million people. What followed was one of the most successful rescue and relief efforts in India’s history. This dossier tells the story of the remarkable way in which the people of Kerala, led by their Left Democratic Front government, powerful mass organisations and community networks, responded to the crisis, fighting the roadblocks put up by the far right RSS-BJP which is leading the federal government.
Topic:
Disaster Relief, Natural Disasters, Leadership, Community, and Weather
Political Geography:
India and Asia