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82. The Upper Guinea Coast in Global Perspectives
- Author:
- Jacqueline Knörr and Christopher Kohl
- Publication Date:
- 01-2016
- Content Type:
- Book
- Institution:
- Berghahn Books
- Abstract:
- For centuries, Africa’s Upper Guinea Coast region has been the site of regional and global interactions, with societies from different parts of the African continent and beyond engaging in economic trade, cultural exchange, and various forms of conflict. This book provides a wide-ranging look at how such encounters have continued into the present day, identifying the disruptions and continuities in religion, language, economics, and various other social phenomena that have resulted. These accounts show a region that, while still grappling with the legacies of colonialism and the slave trade, is both shaped by and an important actor within ever-denser global networks, exhibiting consistent transformation and creative adaptation.
- Topic:
- Globalization, Regional Cooperation, Colonialism, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Liberia, West Africa, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Guinea, and Gambia
83. Conflict, Peace, and Regional Economic Integration in Southern Africa: Addressing the Policy Challenges
- Author:
- Zebulun Kreiter
- Publication Date:
- 07-2016
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Social Science Research Council
- Abstract:
- he Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) organized a seminar on “Conflict, Peace, and Regional Economic Integration in Southern Africa: Bridging the Knowledge Gaps and Addressing the Policy Challenges.” It was held at AVANI Victoria Falls Resort, Livingstone, Zambia, from October 7 to 8, 2015. The seminar was the inaugural edition of the SRO-SA Southern Africa Sem- inar Series, an informal and frank forum in which academics, policymakers, and other stakeholders have the opportunity to discuss key development is- sues that affect the region. The purpose of the seminar was to sort out issues related to the causes of conflict in Southern Africa, the scope for regional responses and implications, the role of civil society in conflict mediation, the related issues of xenophobia and migration, the interaction of gender and conflict, and the importance of governance for economic development and to elicit perspectives from other regions. Despite promising economic and political developments, the regional in- tegration agenda in Southern Africa faces a number of growing challenges. The skewed nature of economic growth has resulted in in-country and cross- border migration in the region, as people search for employment and better living conditions. Furthermore, inequities in the distribution of income and wealth have inflamed tensions and led to a surge in social and political conflict within member states.
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation, Conflict, Peace, and Economic Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Southern Africa
84. African Boundary Conflicts and International Mediation: The Absence of Inclusivity in Mediating the Bakassi Peninsula Conflict
- Author:
- Aloysius Nyuymengka Ngalim
- Publication Date:
- 09-2016
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Social Science Research Council
- Abstract:
- This paper begins with a description of the conflict, mediation and post- mediation clashes, and an analysis of the mediation process. The main argument is that post-mediation clashes were a result of the exclusion of the views and interests of residents of the Bakassi peninsula. Background information on the conflict is presented to situate the paper within extant ideas on international mediation and to provide theoretical underpinning and a theoretical basis for the conclusion. This study draws data from documentary sources complemented with interviews conducted during fieldwork between January and April 2013. Documentary sources include press reports and legal documents related to the dispute as well as scholarly publications. Data was analyzed using the content analysis approach.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Imperialism, Conflict, and Humanitarian Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Nigeria, and Cameroon
85. When Should Blue Helmets Walk Away From a Conflict?
- Author:
- Richard Gowan
- Publication Date:
- 08-2016
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Global Peace Operations Review
- Abstract:
- The renewed crisis in South Sudan is turning into a decisive test for the United Nations. There is a growing international outcry over reports that local forces raped and killed civilians almost in front of UN peacekeepers. The Security Council has struggled to persuade the South Sudanese government to accept the deployment of an additional 4,000 troops with a robust mandate to stabilize the capital, Juba. Having initially rejected the proposal, which has strong African support, President Salva Kiir now seems willing to at least consider the reinforcements. There are tensions in the Security Council over how to handle Kiir: the U.S. wants a tough line, but China and Russia insist on respect for that South Sudan’s sovereignty. Kiir and his advisers profoundly distrust the UN. According to a leaked South Sudanese document they believe that “The UN Secretary General [Ban Ki Moon] has constantly advanced negative views against the Government of the Republic of South Sudan and its leadership,” and even pursued a “regime change strategy.” This is unjust. A few outside analysts have advanced ambitious and probably unworkable plans to turn South Sudan into an international protectorate on the Kosovo model. But the UN is largely struggling to stay on top of the crisis and get aid to the suffering, rather than plotting to overthrow Kiir.
- Topic:
- United Nations, Peacekeeping, Conflict, and Humanitarian Crisis
- Political Geography:
- South Sudan and Africa
86. Full Issue: Money & War
- Author:
- Sarah Detzner, James Copnall, Alex de Waal, Ian M. Ralby, Joshua Stanton, Ibrahim Warde, Leon Whyte, Richard Weitz, Jessica Knight, John H. Maurer, Alexander Tabarrok, Alex Nowrasteh, Tom Keatinge, Emily Knowles, Karolina MacLachlan, Andrew Lebovich, Caroline Troein, and Anne Moulakis
- Publication Date:
- 01-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Fletcher Security Review
- Institution:
- The Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Abstract:
- The Fletcher Security Review: Managed and edited by students at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, we build on the Fletcher School’s strong traditions of combining scholarship with practice, fostering close interdisciplinary collaboration, and acting as a vehicle for groundbreaking discussion of international security. We believe that by leveraging these strengths – seeking input from established and up-and-coming scholars, practitioners, and analysts from around the world on topics deserving of greater attention – we can promote genuinely unique ways of looking at the future of security. Each issue of the Review is centered around a broad theme – in this issue, we tackle “Money & War.” Money influences every aspect of warfare, conventional or unconventional. No nationstate military, insurgent group, terrorist network, trans-national criminal organization, or hybrid actor can be understood, or countered, without knowing where the money is coming from – as well as where, and how, it gets spent. Evolutions and revolutions in financial tools and practices quickly translate to transformations in military affairs, and some cases, vice versa.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Economics, Human Rights, Governance, Sanctions, Military Affairs, Finance, Islamic State, Navy, Arab Spring, Maritime, Conflict, Multilateralism, Islamism, Drugs, and Currency
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Africa, China, Iran, Sudan, Darfur, Middle East, Asia, North Korea, Mali, Asia-Pacific, Sahel, United States of America, and North America
87. The State of the Sudans: An Interview with James Copnall
- Author:
- James Copnall
- Publication Date:
- 01-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Fletcher Security Review
- Institution:
- The Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Abstract:
- A prolific writer and reporter, James Copnall was the BBC’s Sudan correspondent from 2009- 12 and covered South Sudan’s independence, the Darfur war, rebellions, and clashes between both the Sudans. He has also reported from over twenty other African nations. His latest book, A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts - Sudan and South Sudan’s Bitter and Incomplete Divorce deals extensively with the conflict engulfing the Sudans from various perspectives. Earlier this year, he sat down with the Fletcher Security Review to give some perspective on recent developments.
- Topic:
- War, Conflict, Journalism, and Interview
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Sudan, and South Sudan
88. Understanding "The Political Marketplace" and the Roots of Persistent Conflict: An Interview with Professor Alex de Waal
- Author:
- Alex de Waal
- Publication Date:
- 01-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Fletcher Security Review
- Institution:
- The Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Abstract:
- As the Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation, Professor Alex de Waal is considered one of the foremost experts on Sudan and the Horn of Africa. His scholarly work and practice has also probed humanitarian crisis and response, human rights, HIV/AIDS and governance in Africa, and conflict and peace-building. In 1988, he received a D.Phil. in social anthropology at Nuffield College, Oxford for his thesis on the 1984-5 Darfur famine in Sudan. He was the first chairman of the Mines Advisory Group at the beginning of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. He set up two independent human rights organizations, African Rights (1993) and Justice Africa (1999), focusing respectively on documenting human rights abuses and developing policies to respond to human rights crises, notably in Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan. From 1997 to 2001, he focused on avenues to peaceful resolution of the second Sudanese Civil War. In 2001, he returned to his work on health in Africa, writing on the intersection of HIV/AIDS, poverty and governance, and initiated the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa. During 2005-06, deWaal was seconded to the African Union mediation team for Darfur and from 2009-11 served as senior adviser to the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel for Sudan. He was on the list of Foreign Policy’s 100 most influential public intellectuals in 2008 and Atlantic Monthly’s 27 “brave thinkers” in 2009.
- Topic:
- Economics, Human Rights, Politics, Humanitarian Intervention, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Sudan, Darfur, and Ethiopia
89. Peace Operations in the Central African Republic: Some Challenges and Ways Forward
- Author:
- Jude Cocodia
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Social Science Research Council
- Abstract:
- Despite their burgeoning reputation in peacekeeping, the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) are apparently finding the conflict in the Central African Repub- lic (CAR) difficult to resolve. The explanation involves, in part, the complex situation within the country, apathy on the part of national political elites, and a lack of local participation in peacemaking. Other factors are linked to poor field leadership, the composition of the peacekeeping contingent, and the nature of the mandate. The situation demands more analysis of peace operations and the political conditions under which such operations occur, with a view toward lessening human suffering, making peacekeepers accountable, and brightening the prospects for peace.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, United Nations, Conflict, Peace, and African Union
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Central African Republic
90. Congo: No Peace Without Women
- Author:
- Denis Mukwege
- Publication Date:
- 03-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of International Affairs
- Institution:
- School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- On September 2012, a Congolese doctor stood before the world's leaders at the United Nations General Assembly and denounced the mass rapes of women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the impunity enjoyed by those responsible. Dr. Mukwege said he was ashamed of the international community's failure to stop these atrocities. A month later, he was attacked in his residence in Bakavu, DRC, and was forced into exile. Dr. Mukwege, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 and in 2013, returned to the Congo earlier this year in January to resume his work at the Panzi Hospital. There, he treats victims of sexual violence in a country ripped apart by sixteen years of conflict. According to the UN, "Sexual violence in the Congo is the worst in the world." Around 500,000 women have been raped in the country since 1996. Dr. Mukwege shared his insights with the Journal about the Congolese crisis and the role of women in conflict.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Women, Conflict, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Congo