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531. Societal Adjustments to the Threat of Terrorist Attacks

Author:
Seymour Spilerman and Guy Stecklov
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University
Abstract:
Terrorist attacks in the United States and in Western Europe have been rare and the public awareness of the terrorist menace has largely been molded by a few horrific events. In contrast, other countries have experienced chronic terrorism, with attacks on busses, restaurants, coffee shops, and retail establishments. In this paper we assess the impact of terrorism on civilian society in the United States, Northern Ireland, and Israel. We examine the psychological effects, the adaptations made by individuals to enhance their safety, and the consequent adjustments made by institutional actors and by commercial establishments to ensure continued economic viability. We review the various theories of societal adjustments to exogenous shocks, and point out that a very different formulation is required for the case of chronic terrorism than for the societal experience of a one-time attack.
Topic:
Security, Political Violence, Islam, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Israel, and Ireland

532. State of the States: Mapping India's Northeast

Author:
Bhagat Oinam
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
On June 18, 2001, a huge mass agitation took place in the state of Manipur against the extension of ceasefire between the Government of India and the Isaak Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland to all the Naga inhabited areas in the region. The agitation was triggered by the subclause in the agreement which read that the ceasefire between the two parties would no longer be confined to the state of Nagaland but would be extended "without territorial limits."
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Peace Studies, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

533. Genocide by Attrition

Author:
Everita Silina
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
Abstract:
Human rights observers have a tendency to look at humanitarian crises as if they were frozen in time. Many unfolding genocides have gone unrecognized and unprevented because each death, each massacre, was treated as if it were a photograph, a snapshot to be compared in that instance against the definition of genocide. Genocide, however, is not an event. This paper will argue that genocide can be waged with a wide array of methods beyond direct and violent murder. In fact, there are more protracted, more ambiguously lethal means of extermination than machetes, guns or gas chambers. Many victims of historical genocides die from slower indirect and less immediately deadly methods of annihilation than outright murder. Genocide is a process that can unfold over several years, even decades. This paper proposes a notion of genocide by attrition that takes the usual linear (causal) accounts of mass death as its starting point and expands on them to suggest a more complex picture of genocidal processes. More specifically, this study aims to illuminate the concept of genocide by attrition in its proper legal and historical contexts, and identify indicators thereof through the lens of existing international human rights laws and obligations so as to assist legal, humanitarian and political actors in the difficult task of genocide identification and prevention. The paper will draw on empirical evidence from various cases of genocide by attrition to identify a set of attributes that allow a fresh rethinking of the process of genocide.
Topic:
International Relations, Political Violence, Genocide, Human Rights, War, and Non State Actors

534. Conditions for Hospitality or Defence of Identity? Writers in Need of Refuge – a Case of Denmark's 'Muslim relations'

Author:
Ulrik Pram Gad
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
As one of the last decisions before it broke for this year's summer recess, The Danish Parliament, Folketinget, passed two bills to facilitate the participation of Danish municipalities in the International Cities of Refuge Network. On the face of it, it might be good news that yet another country opens its borders to writers targeted with threats and persecution.
Topic:
Political Violence, Democratization, Ethnic Conflict, Islam, and Immigration
Political Geography:
Europe and Denmark

535. Hizballah Will Defend Iran -- Not Palestinians

Author:
David Schenker
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Responding to the Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, the Lebanese Shiite militia cum political party Hizballah denounced the Jewish state and organized large rallies. Hizballah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah went so far as to call for a popular insurrection against the pro-West regime in Egypt, whose stance was not deemed sufficiently supportive of Hamas. Despite the strong rhetorical response, however, four days into the Israeli operation the organization had still not fired a single rocket into Israel in defense of the Palestinians. Absent a dramatic change of conditions on the ground, Hizballah is unlikely to participate in this round of hostilities.
Topic:
Political Violence and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Middle East and Egypt

536. Peace Operations and Organised Crime

Author:
James Cockayne and Daniel Pfister
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Peace operations have an important role to play in fighting organised crime for two reasons: Organised crime can act as a significant peace spoiler by undermining peace processes and endangering human security following conflict and in fragile states. The criminalised components of conflict help to sustain the material basis for war-fighting and reduce the incentives for a turn towards peace. Organised crime operating in conflict situations thus creates a more challenging operational environment for peace operations and peace processes.
Topic:
Security, Political Violence, Crime, Peace Studies, and War

537. El relato canónico de las desapariciones en Argentina: El informe "Nunca Más"

Author:
Emilio Crenzel
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
Este trabajo tiene por objeto analizar el contenido del informe Nunca Más, elaborado por la Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas (CONADEP); ésta es una organización creada en Argentina por el Presidente Raúl Alfonsín, en 1983, para investigar el destino de los miles de desaparecidos a causa de la represión estatal durante la última dictadura militar (1976-1983).
Topic:
Political Violence, Democratization, Human Rights, and Torture
Political Geography:
Argentina and Latin America

538. NATO and the challenge of non-lethal weapons

Author:
Cees M. Coops
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
The capability to apply lethal force manu militari has always been a hallmark of the military, as an instrument in the hands of their political masters to further the interests of the state. Driven by technological innovation, the means to apply lethal force and large scale destruction have been expanded tremendously over the centuries, to the extent that nation states decided that it was in their common interest to curtail or prohibit their use outright, but lethality remained as a qualifying factor. It is not surprising, therefore, that the phenomenon of Non- Lethal Weapons (NLW) was virtually non-existent during the Cold War.
Topic:
Political Violence, NATO, Science and Technology, War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

539. For a Safer Tomorrow: Protecting civilians in a multipolar world

Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
One night in March 2007, soldiers arrived in the village of Buramba in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). By the time they left at least 15 people were dead. 'At 5.30 in the morning', one survivor said, 'I saw the soldiers coming to our house...They kicked down the door, and killed eight people inside. Only my four grandchildren survived. [They] continued firing in the village. I fled into the bush. I returned three days later to see the bodies of my children and my mother. The bodies were in latrines; I could see the feet of my mother sticking out.'
Topic:
Political Violence, Human Rights, Post Colonialism, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo

540. The politics of post-trauma emotions: Securing community after the Bali bombing

Author:
Emma Hutchison
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Australian National University Department of International Relations
Abstract:
This paper examines how traumatic events can influence the constitution of identity and community in international relations. It demonstrates that emotions are central to how individuals and societies experience and work through the legacy of catastrophe. Often neglected in scholarly analysis of international relations, emotions can become pivotal sites for the renewal of political stability and social control. Key to this process are practices of representation. They provide individual experiences of trauma with a collective and often international dimension. They often smooth over feelings of shock and terror and unite individuals in a spirit of shared experience and mutual understanding. The paper illustrates the ensuing dynamics by examining the media's portrayal of the Bali bombing of 12 October 2002. Focusing on photographs and the stories that accompany them, the paper shows how representations of trauma may provide a sense of collective solace that can, in turn, underwrite the emotional dynamics of a political community.
Topic:
International Relations, Political Violence, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Israel and Australia/Pacific