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332. South Africa's Political Turmoil
- Author:
- Martin Plaut
- Publication Date:
- 10-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Foreign Policy In Focus
- Abstract:
- South Africa has entered the most difficult political period since the end of apartheid in 1994. At the heart of the crisis is the question of the future direction of the country.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Africa
333. Promoting Sustainable Security
- Author:
- Jean Dufourcq(ed.) and Laure Borgomano-Loup (ed)
- Publication Date:
- 02-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- NATO Defense College
- Abstract:
- War has vanished; it seems to have disappeared from the mental landscape of the Western world. War, that is, as it was understood in the 19th and 20th centuries, as conflict between nation-states and organized societies for the defence or conquest of territory and wealth, the establishment of empires or the imposition of ideologies by force. When the Second World War ended, the Western victors attempted to outlaw war by means of collective regulators and the restrictive provisions of the San Francisco Charter concerning individual and collective legitimate defence. And then these very peoples, armed to the teeth for the cold war, developed the art of strategy and sophisticated weapons of destruction to such a point that, unwittingly, it seems, they domesticated war. The huge-scale disasters that the destructive power of the atom was now able to inflict made war unthinkable. Thus the cold war ended in a strategic stalemate, without a shot being fired. War quietly fell into discredit, as Western states, conditioned by centuries of national wars, border fighting and national defensive postures against neighbouring countries, slowly began to shift the focus to collective security to protect common interests, and policies on disarmament and prevention of proliferation in whatever form it took. In doing so, they exposed themselves to a potential new hazard: the danger that war might return, via other routes, to the heart of the Western world.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Development, and Peace Studies
334. Development and Security in the Pacific Island Region
- Author:
- M. Anne Brown
- Publication Date:
- 09-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Pacific Island states face serious challenges and dilemmas, as a series of crises in the region indicate. Across the region, countries struggle with significant problems of state capacity, including poor leadership, poor governance and weak links between state institutions and community life and values.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Australia/Pacific
335. Fuelling the Niger Delta Crisi
- Author:
- James Cockayne (ed.)
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Commercial security is increasingly present in humanitarian and post-conflict settings. The UN has even considered using commercial security to solve peacekeeping shortfalls. Yet using commercial security in these settings raises difficult ethical, operational and strategic questions. This exploratory study begins to describe the decentralized, ad hoc use of commercial security in these settings, in an attempt to provoke the further research and discussion needed before these questions can be adequately answered.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Humanitarian Aid, and Peace Studies
336. Remittances in Conflict and Crises: How Remittances Sustain Livelihoods in War, Crises and Transitions to Peace
- Author:
- Patricia Weiss Fagen and Micah N. Bump
- Publication Date:
- 02-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Although migrant workers, refugees and immigrants have been sending money, goods and ideas home for millennia, until about a decade ago donors and international finance agencies paid little attention to the phenomenon. Interest has grown exponentially as statistics show what we now call migrant remittances to be among the most important contributing factors to national economies in several countries. Nearly all the countries in the conflict, war-to-peace transition, and crisis categories are highly dependent on remittances. The slow recovery of livelihoods and persistent violence or repression ensure high levels of migration and the need for remittances in such countries for several years after conflict and crises have ended. By all accounts, migrant remittances reduce poverty in important ways in developing countries. Research shows that migrants transfer funds and invest in their countries of origin at times when international investment has all but disappeared. By serving these purposes in countries emerging from or still experiencing conflicts (e.g., Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Somalia, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and others), remittances can be seen as a sine qua non for peace and rebuilding.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Development, Peace Studies, and War
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Sri Lanka, Kosovo, Liberia, and Somalia
337. International Assistance to Countries Emerging from Conflict. A Review of Fifteen Years of Interventions and the Future of Peacebuilding
- Author:
- Alberto Cutillo
- Publication Date:
- 02-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- The end of the Cold War and the spirit of cooperation which prevailed in the early 1990s within the Security Council provided the international community with a historic opportunity to address the number of violent conflicts—and particularly internal conflicts—which had been steadily increasing since the end of World War II.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Development, and Peace Studies
338. Peace Through Security: Making Negotiated Settlements Stick
- Author:
- Monica Toft
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Peace and Security Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper presents an empirical challenge to the commonlyaccepted wisdom that negotiated settlements are the best way to end civil wars. There are two problems with negotiated settlements. First, negotiated settlements account for only onefifth of all civil war outcomes, thus the bulk of wars and their endings remain largely understudied. Second, wars ended by negotiated settlements are much more likely to recur than those ended by outright military victory. The paper shows that military victories, especially those attained by rebels, are not only more stable, but may help better promote democratization. The author argues that rebel victories are more stable because they employ mechanisms of both harm and benefit to all parties in reconstructing the state. By contrast, negotiated settlements tend to include only mutual benefit, leaving mutual harm mechanisms aside. The implication being that without the possibility of mutual harm, negotiated settlements fail. The paper offers ways to integrate harm mechanisms into these settlements and thereby make them as robust as military victories.
- Topic:
- Security, Peace Studies, and Treaties and Agreements
339. Burundi: Democracy and Peace at Risk
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Since the new, democratically elected government came to power in September 2005, the first since 1993, there has been marked deterioration in Burundi's political climate. Led by the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), the government has arrested critics, moved to muzzle the press, committed human rights abuses and tightened its control over the economy. Unless it reverses this authoritarian course, it risks triggering violent unrest and losing the gains of the peace process. The international community needs to monitor the government's performance, encouraging it to adopt a more inclusive approach and remain engaged even after UN troops depart in December 2006.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Democratization, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Burundi
340. Sri Lanka: The Failure of the Peace Process
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- After four years of relative peace, Sri Lanka has again plunged into military conflict between the government and the separatist Tamil group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). A 2002 ceasefire, negotiated with Norway's help, remains intact on paper but is flouted on the ground with increasing regularity and frequent brutality. More than 2,500 people, many of them civilians, have been killed since January. Human rights abuses and political killings are carried out with impunity by both sides. The humanitarian crisis in the north east is critical, with more than 200,000 fleeing their homes during the year. Until attitudes change on both sides, the immediate prospect is for worsening violence.
- Topic:
- Government, Human Welfare, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Norway, Asia, and Sri Lanka