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1341. From Promise to Practice: Strengthening UN Capacities for the Prevention of Violent Conflict

Author:
Chandra Lekha Sriram
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
In the fall of 2000, the International Peace Academy commissioned a series of nine case studies examining the practice of preventive action. This study builds on earlier work by IPA identifying important issues for further examination in preventive practice. The cases examined were representative of the broad and increasing scope of preventive action geographically and in terms of approaches deployed—from structural prevention to post conflict peacebuilding as prevention. These cases were Kenya, Fiji, Tanzania (Zanzibar), Tajikistan, Burundi, Georgia (Javakheti), East Timor, Liberia, and Colombia. The cases are being edited and compiled for publication in a subsequent book; this report seeks to draw out central policy lessons for preventive action by the United Nations (UN). Important lessons can be drawn out with implications for each specific situation; more cross-cutting lessons for the UN and other preventive actors can also be derived from the collected cases.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Human Rights, International Law, International Organization, Migration, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States

1342. Nonviolent Voices in Israel and Palestine

Author:
Mohammed Abu-Nimer
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
Abstract:
In addition to supporting an immediate cease-fire, moderates on both sides of the Middle East conflict should develop joint initiatives that acknowledge a shared sense of humanity. Cross-ethnic projects to provide aid to all victims of violence and interfaith efforts to acknowledge the loss of human lives on both sides would reduce complacency in the face of continued violence. Further, a popular, nonviolent campaign to promote compliance with human rights standards would strengthen civil and political participation and marginalize the radicals.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

1343. The Aftermath of the Israeli-Palestinian War of 2002

Author:
Arie Kacowicz
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
Abstract:
Recent public opinion polls in Israel indicate substantial support for several proposals for a long-term resolution of the conflict. Combining these proposals into a single scheme would thus produce a formula for future negotiations with broad political support. This formula should include an Israeli declaration of acceptance in principle of the Saudi initiative, Israel's unilateral disengagement from 85% of the West Bank and the entire Gaza Strip, the creation of an international trusteeship regime in the West Bank and Gaza during a three-year transition to a Palestinian state, the deployment of multinational peacekeeping forces, and bilateral negotiations on the core issues of the conflict.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Human Rights, and War
Political Geography:
Israel and Palestine

1344. A Year of Loss: Reexamining Civil Liberties since September 11

Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights First
Abstract:
On the morning of September 11, men now believed to be members of the al Qaeda network forcibly took control of four commercial jetliners to attack the United States. Within minutes, 19 hijackers crashed two of those planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and a fourth into a field in Pennsylvania, killing more than 3,000 people.
Topic:
Human Rights, International Law, and National Security
Political Geography:
United States and Pennsylvania

1345. The Dominican Republic's 2000 Presidential Election: The U.S. Role in Supporting the Process

Author:
Kevin Michael O'Reilly
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
Dominicans elected Rafael Hipólito Mejía Domínguez their president on May 16, 2000. He took office on August 16, 2000. Mejía, the candidate of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Dominicano — PRD), won 1,593,231 votes or 49.87 percent of the ballots cast in an essentially three-way race with Danilo Medina of the Party of Dominican Liberation (Partido de la Liberación Dominicana — PLD) and former President Joaquín Balaguer of the Social Christian Reformist Party (Partido Reformista Social Cristiano — PRSC). Medina won 24.94 percent of the vote (796,923) to finish second, with Balaguer only fractions of a percentage point behind, at 24.60 percent (785,926). Turnout, at just over 76 percent, was high by historical standards. Although two shooting deaths marred the campaign's closing days, relatively little violence accompanied the voting compared to previous Dominican elections. Since 1994, Dominican electoral law had called for a runoff between the top two vote winners if no candidate passed the 50-percent-plus-one mark, but Medina conceded on May 17, after Balaguer acknowledged that he could not deliver the entire PRSC vote to the PLD in a second round of voting. Balaguer announced, “For the good of the country, we waive our right to participate in a second round.” The country's Central Electoral Board (Junta Central Electoral — JCE) certified Mejía's victory on May 18, 2000.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, and International Law
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, and Caribbean

1346. The U.S. Engagement with Colombia: Legitimate State Authority and Human Rights

Author:
Gabriel Marcella
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
September 11, 2001, reshaped international relations and had a profound impact on the strategic equation in Colombia. The challenge of what U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld called “draining the swamp” of terrorism with global links resonated deeply in Bogotá and among the insurgent forces: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia — FARC), the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional — ELN), and the paramilitaries, among them, the United Self- defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia — AUC). Though these groups already appeared on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations, as of 9/11 they formed part of a broader international threat assessment. Two weeks into 2002, an ill-conceived “peace process,” initiated by President Andrés Pastrana with the FARC in 1999, was r esuscitated at the last minute before an impending military offensive by the government against the FARC was started. President Pastrana, “risking all for peace,” had extended himself, his negotiators, and his government's credibility as far as he could for three years — with nothing to show for such extensive efforts other than his administration's and the Colombian citizens' frustration and virtual surrender to the FARC of national sovereignty over a demilitarized zone ( despeje ) the size of Switzerland, located in San Vicente del Caguán, an area south of Bogotá.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, and International Law
Political Geography:
United States, Colombia, South America, and Latin America

1347. The Dominican Diaspora Revisited: Dominicans and Dominican-Americans in a New Century

Author:
Max J. Castro and Thomas D. Boswell
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
The economy has been growing rapidly in recent years. Democracy is increasingly consolidated. The rate of birth has dropped significantly, and the level of education has risen.
Topic:
Human Rights and Migration
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, and Caribbean

1348. Defining a People: How Do International Rights Influence the Identity Formation of Minority Groups?

Author:
Reetta Toivanen
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper looks at the macroeconomic performance of EMU since it started in 1999. It argues that Euroland has benefited from a benign environment, appropriate monetary policy and structural reforms. However, there is no institution clearly in charge of formulating coherent economic policies in Euroland and this is reflected in the euro's external value.
Topic:
Government, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and International Law
Political Geography:
Europe

1349. Continuity as the Path to Change: Institutional Innovation in the 1976 British Race Relations Act

Author:
Erik Bleich
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
Institutional innovation can, paradoxically, be a product of institutional continuity. New institutions often emerge in a bifurcated manner in which formal institutions (such as laws and written rules) are accompanied by informal institutions (such as ideas that motivate and help determine the precise nature of specific policies). When informal institutions include ideas that track policy developments in other spheres or other countries, they can influence innovations in formal institutions. The development of the 1976 British Race Relations Act illustrates this dynamic. When British race institutions were established in the 1960s, they reflected the prevailing idea that British policies should incorporate lessons learned from North America. When Britain revisited its anti-racism provisions in 1976, policy experts looked again to North America and found that much had changed there in the interim. They subsequently altered Britain's formal institutions to include U.S.-inspired “race-conscious” measures.
Topic:
Government and Human Rights
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and North America

1350. The Carter Center News, January-June 2002

Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
In 2002, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of The Carter Center to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope worldwide. Underlying our work is the principle that basic human rights—the right to live in peace, have adequate food and health care, and a voice in choosing political leaders—comprise the foundation for the human spirit to flourish and societies to prosper. There always has been an imminent need to secure these rights for people worldwide, but the events of Sept. 11, 2001, raised the collective consciousness about the urgent need for the work of The Carter Center.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Human Rights, Migration, Science and Technology, and Third World