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41. Plea Bargaining at the ICTY: Guilty Pleas and Reconciliation

Author:
Janine Natalya Clark
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
To date, 20 defendants at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) have pleaded guilty. Such guilty pleas have generally been accepted by the Trial Chambers as mitigating circumstances on the grounds, inter alia, that they can facilitate reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia. Yet as these guilty pleas are frequently induced through plea bargains, in which important concessions are accorded to defendants, this necessarily raises fundamental questions about whether guilty pleas can and do in fact foster reconciliation. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to explore this posited link between guilty pleas and reconciliation which, in turn, is one dimension of the broader linkage that the Tribunal makes between its work and reconciliation. It will focus on two particular claims made by the Tribunal - that guilty pleas aid reconciliation by helping to establish the truth and that when defendants acknowledge responsibility for their crimes, this may help to provide victims with closure. It will seek to demonstrate that both of these assertions are flawed, and will conclude by addressing some of the broader issues and questions raised by the ICTY's use of plea bargains, in particular the critical relationship between plea bargains and outreach work.
Political Geography:
Yugoslavia

42. Conflictos bélicos y gestión de la información: una revisión tras la guerra en Irak y Afganistán

Author:
Manuel R. Torres Soriano and Javier García Marín
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
Existe un acuerdo casi unánime entre aquellos estudiosos que han investigado la compleja realidad de la guerra: el creciente papel que tiene la gestión de la información pública en el desarrollo de los conflictos bélicos (Libicki, 1995; Alberts et al., 2001, Armistead, 2004). Esta preponderancia se manifestó en algunos de los conflictos de la década de los noventa, como la llamada Guerra del Golfo, y en los de la antigua Yugoslavia y Kosovo. A pesar de que en ellos la gestión de la información jugó un papel destacado en la estrategia de los contendientes, el desenlace de estos conflictos estuvo vinculado a los tradicionales elementos del “poder duro”, según la distinción de Josehp Nye (1990). Sin embargo, en los últimos años, hemos podido asistir a un acelerado incremento de la importancia del componente “inmaterial” de la guerra. La generalización y sofisticación de las nuevas tecnologías de la información, junto con la aparición de una nueva tipología de conflicto caracterizado por la asimetría en la naturaleza y fines de los contendientes, han situado a la dimensión informativa de los conflictos en el lugar central de toda reflexión sobre la naturaleza de las guerras del presente y el futuro.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, War, and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and Maryland

43. Nick Miller, The Nonconformists: Culture, Politics, and Nationalism in a Serbian Intellectual Circle, 1944-1991

Author:
Harun Karcic
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
The collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s has by now been thoroughly analyzed by journalists, social scientists and historians. An entire spectrum of theories about conspiracy theories have emerged, varying from interpreting the break up of Yugoslavia as a byproduct of 'ancient hatreds' all the way to looking at it as a mere power struggle between former- communists-turned-nationalists. It is impossible to understand the break up of Yugoslavia without having to go back at least to the Second World War. Once the 50 years between the formation and the collapse of Yugoslavia are analyzed, including the gradual rise of nationalism in the 1970s and 1980s, the picture becomes somewhat clearer.
Political Geography:
Yugoslavia and Serbia

44. Xavier Bougarel, Elissa Helms, and Gerlachlus Duijzings, The New Bosnian Mosaic: Identities, Memories, and Moral Claims in a Post-War Society

Author:
Christine Zubrinic
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
Since the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the subsequent wars, Bosnia has become a symbol of emerging ethnic nationalism as well as a model for studies in peacekeeping and post- conflict reconstruction. The New Bosnian Mosaic: Identities, Memories and Moral Claims in a Post-War Society edited by Xavier Bougarel is a rich contribution to the study of post- conflict transition and reconstruction from an anthropological and ethnographic perspective that allows the reader to better understand the quandaries faced by Bosnia and those involved in post-Dayton reconstruction. The New Bosnian Mosaic is a collection of academic essays written by researchers in the fields of anthropology, ethnic studies and international relations between the most pivotal years of Bosnia's reconstruction between 1999 and 2003. The wealth of academic and field experience brought forth by the contributors gives the work a completeness often lacking in other works of the same subject matter. By incorporating these experiences this work succeeds in answering the large and daunting questions which surround Bosnia's past, present and future without falling victim to the generalizations which often plague academic research on the problems facing Bosnia.
Political Geography:
Bosnia and Yugoslavia

45. Pulling the Stops on Genocide: The State or the Individual?

Author:
Amabelle C. Asuncion
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The International Court of Justice's decision on the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro) has exposed the unforeseen irony in the international consensus on the singular distinction of genocide as the crime of crimes. Defying expectations, this classification coupled with the conception of a 'civil genocide' has magically transformed into a legal shield which protects states from responsibility even as individual convictions are being handed down. Yet, the history of the Genocide Convention easily recalls the objective of preventing the commission of genocide by states and individuals alike. This article thus ponders on the virtue of seeking recourse under the Genocide Convention – whether against the state or the individual. In traversing this inquiry, it embarks on a comparative analysis of selected case law from the International Criminal Tribunal of Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda, and the International Court of Justice. As it uncovers a counterintuitive clash of jurisprudential outcome and a widening gap between the ideal and the real, the article identifies the legal bolts which need to be adjusted so that the genocide stops can be pulled in the right direction.
Topic:
History
Political Geography:
Yugoslavia and Rwanda

46. Globalization and Smallholders: The Adoption, Diffusion, and Welfare Impact of Non-traditional Export Crops in Guatemala

Author:
Benjamin Davis, Calogero Carletto, Angeli Kirk, and Paul Winters
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper uses a duration analysis based on adoption data spanning over 25 years from six communities in the Central Highlands of Guatemala to explore how household characteristics and external trends play into both the adoption and diffusion processes of non-traditional exports among smallholders. Adoption was initially widespread and rapid, which led NTX to be hailed as a pro-poor success, reaching all but the smallest landholders. However, over time more than two-thirds of the adopters eventually dropped out from NTX production. Based on the analysis, NTX production.
Topic:
Agriculture and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
South America, Yugoslavia, and Tunisia

47. The International Security Presence in Kosovo and the Protection of Human Rights

Author:
Federico Sperotto
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights Human Welfare (University of Denver)
Abstract:
On March 11th, 2000, two children who were playing in the neighborhoods of Mitrovica, Kosovo, got hurt by an “unexploded ordnance”. One of them died in the explosion, the other was severely injured. An inquire clarified that the ordnance was a “bomblet”, a part of a cluster bomb dropped during the 1999 NATO air campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Cooperation, and International Law
Political Geography:
Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and Balkans

48. Montenegro and the NATO Partnership for Peace Program

Author:
Mehmedin Tahirovic
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
In contrast to the former republics of Yugoslavia that fought wars to reach their sovereignty, Montenegro achieved its independence democratically. This was a longer process, but it demonstrated that, even in the traditionally unstable Balkans, the most sensitive issues can be resolved peacefully, based on the concepts and principles of Western democracy. It is this specific feature of Montenegro that requires a special approach to finding adequate modalities to participate in the Partnership for Peace Program (PfP), taking into account the theory and practice of international relations.
Political Geography:
Yugoslavia

49. Beyond the RMA: Survival Strategies for Small Defense Economies

Author:
Ron Matthews and Curie Maharani
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
Life was straightforward during the Cold War. There were the big guys in the bi-polar strategic stand-off—the United States and the Soviet Union—and there were the little guys: the Eastern European countries, such as Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia; Chile in Latin America; Spain in Southern Europe; Sweden in Scandinavia; Israel in the Middle East; and Singapore in the Far East. All these countries, big or small, capitalist or communist, possessed comprehensive and diversified defense industrial bases. However, times have changed, and in some senses they have changed dramatically. More than anything else, economics does not favor small countries. Previously, Cold War doctrine was premised on mass formations of artillery, main battle groups of tanks and combat aircraft located on the Central European front. In the twenty-first century, these formations have disappeared. Militaries have been transformed by the need to respond to new, emerging, asymmetrical threats arising anywhere across the globe, a shift that is captured under the umbrella term of the “Revolution in Military Affairs” (RMA). Contemporary doctrine focuses on high-intensity warfare, characterized by sophisticated defense systems, such as telemetry and cruise missiles, fiber optic technologies, sensors, modern telecommunication systems, “stealth” coatings of modern weapon platforms, light-weight composite materials, and the miniaturization of technologies in, for instance, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, Israel, Poland, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Latin America, Spain, Sweden, Singapore, Chile, and Scandinavia

50. Office of Security Sector Reform (OSSR): Joint Force Command Naples (JFCN)

Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The Office of Security Sector Reform was established in the Joint Force Command Naples in March 2006, and is staffed by a mixture of military and civilian staff. This article explains the role of the Office and how it operates. Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Western Balkans is now a major line of operation for the Joint Force Command Naples, a NATO operational headquarters. The Office of Security Sector Reform is focused geographically on the three Membership Action Plan countries (Albania, Croatia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) in the region and the three new Partnership for Peace countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia).
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro