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371. Civil Society and Peacebuilding: Mapping Functions in Working for Peace

Author:
Catherine Barnes
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Civil society play roles at every point in the development of conflict and its resolution: from surfacing situations of injustice to preventing violence, from creating conditions conducive to peace talks to mediating a settlement and then promoting it, from setting a policy agenda to healing war-scarred psyches. After situating civil society peacebuilding roles in the policy context and highlighting several critiques, this article concentrates on charting the specific functions civil society can play, focusing on initiatives by actors from a conflict zone and their external supporters. It concludes identifying several recommendations and areas in need of further research.
Topic:
Civil Society

372. Virginia Page Fortna, Does Peacekeeping Work? Shaping Belligerents' Choices after Civil War; Lise Morjé Howard, UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars

Author:
Richard Gowan
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
A UN official once joked that there are two ways to think about peacekeepers: as Jedi or Jell-O. The Jell-O thesis is that the routines of a large-scale peace operation in a country emerging from war—daily patrols, human rights monitoring and so on—form a gelatinous mass that stifles the urge for violence. Advocates of the Jedi approach have a higher estimate of peacekeepers' virtues, emphasizing their ability to influence local political actors' decisions and shape otherwise-impossible deals between old enemies.
Topic:
Civil Society
Political Geography:
United Nations

373. Health-Care Reform in Georgia: A Civil-Society Perspective

Author:
Tobias Hauschild and Esmé Berkhout
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This report aims to identify key challenges arising from reform of the health-care system in Georgia, especially in primary health care, and to present some possible strategies to address them. It will be a useful reference document for Oxfam, our partners, and all those concerned with improving the provision of health care in Georgia.
Topic:
Civil Society, Health, and Reform
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe, Asia, and Georgia

374. Oversight or Overlooked? Civil Society's Role in Monitoring and Reforming Security Systems and the Practice of Counterterrorism

Author:
Alistair Millar
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Fourth Freedom Forum
Abstract:
This report considers civil society's role in monitoring Security System Reform (SSR) and counterterrorism both in policy and in practice. The report argues that civil society engagement, particularly with local actors, is central to ensuring proper civilian oversight and the overall effectiveness of both SSR and counterterrorism efforts and examines how efforts to engage civil society may be improved.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Terrorism, United Nations, and Counterinsurgency

375. Youth and Civic Engagement in the Americas Preliminary Findings From a Three-City Study: Rio De Janeiro, Chicago, and Mexico City

Author:
Irene Rizzini, María de Los Angeles Torres, and Norma Alicia Del Río Lugo
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper examines how civically engaged youth in three different cities and countries in the Americas became engaged in civic activity. The usual concern about youth is their lack of involvement. However, the authors have learned from their work in Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, and Mexico City that there are youth in each of these cities who care deeply about their communities and are active in diverse organizations and projects. This paper is part of a broader study that examines youth who are significantly engaged in civic activity. In this paper, the authors will focus particularly on the youths' initial process of engagement and what motivated them to get involved.
Topic:
Civil Society and Youth Culture
Political Geography:
America, Latin America, Mexico, and Chicago

376. Negotiation on the Ground: Realizing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in South Africa, Nigeria and Peru

Author:
Natasha Sawh
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Abstract:
When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) came into force in 1948, the horrific memory of the Holocaust was fresh in the minds of the drafters. The rise of Nazism in Germany was made possible in large part by the severe economic depression the country suffered. In 1941, President Roosevelt outlined four essential freedoms he believed to be achievable worldwide within a generation, including freedom from want. In his 1944 State of the Union address, he stated a pragmatic rationale for socio-economic rights: “People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made” (cited in Eide 1995, p.29). In the aftermath of WWII, the importance of international standards that could protect all human beings against state oppression was clear. As a result, a group of influential states agreed upon the UDHR, which expressed a bold and comprehensive vision of human rights that included political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights. Its preamble envisions the “advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want.”
Topic:
Civil Society and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Africa, South Africa, Germany, Latin America, Nigeria, and Peru

377. "The Media": A Crisis of Appearance

Author:
Nick Couldry
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Abstract:
'Inaugural' – as often, a word's origins remind us of something we forget. The word denotes a beginning of course, but also the taking of 'auguries' at the start of an uncertain journey. The classical Mediterranean had various ways of taking omens or auguries (not all cruel) including the ancient method of reading the movement of birds of prey in the sky: in both Greek and Latin the words for omen and bird of prey are the same. I claim no special knowledge of the future, but the image of auguries remains apt because it registers the great uncertainty that these days attends any talk of media, both in the media industries and in media research. The signs of 'media culture' are increasingly difficult to read. It's those difficulties on which I want to reflect tonight.
Topic:
Civil Society, Politics, Mass Media, and Power Politics

378. Protecting Civilians and Protecting Ideas: Institutional Challenges to the Protection of Civilians

Author:
Benjamin de Carvalho and Jon Harald Sande Lie
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Although the Protection of Civilians (PoC) today is largely embedded in the UN system as a whole, there are a number of issues still critical to address at the institutional level for the PoC to inform a shared culture of protection effectively. These include addressing the extent to which preparations for civilian protection are an integral component of mission planning, and whether protection activities are part of the mission's mandate per se or a mere part of its many tasks. Also of key concern is the extent to which operational capacity is achieved and designed to enhance protection.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Human Rights, and United Nations

379. Focus and Exit: An Alternative Strategy for the Afghan War

Author:
Gilles Dorronsoro
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
After seven years of war, the international community has failed to create the conditions for a sustainable Afghan state. The reality is that the international coalition now has limited resources and a narrow political time frame to create lasting Afghan institutions. Yet building such institutions is our only realistic exit strategy. The debate in Washington and European capitals has recently centered on how many more troops will be sent to Afghanistan in 2009 as part of a military surge. Such a tactical adjustment is unlikely to make much of a difference in a country where the basic population-to-troops ratio is estimated at approximately 430 people per foreign soldier.
Topic:
Civil Society, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Central Asia

380. Local Election Disputes in Indonesia: The Case of North Maluku

Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The election for governor in Indonesia's North Maluku province was one of the most bitterly contested since direct elections for local government heads were introduced in 2005. Held in November 2007, it remains in dispute more than a year later, although a winner has been named and inaugurated. At one point it seemed as if violence between the two sides could escalate into serious communal conflict, in an area where thousands had died in religious violence a decade earlier. By early 2009, however, it looked as though Indonesia's democratic institutions would be resilient enough to cope with an election gone wrong, and the dispute would be quietly resolved in the Constitutional Court. The Court's decision is expected in early February. The dispute that many thought could trigger further turmoil may prove instead to be a minor wrangle in Indonesia's largely successful effort to choose local government leaders by direct popular vote.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Civil Society, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Asia