For whom do local peace processes function? : Maintaining control through conflict management

Peer reviewed

Ethnic Violence on Kenya's Periphery: Informal Institutions and Local Resilience in Conflict-Affected Communities

Deadly, inter-ethnic group conflict remains a threat to international security in a world where the majority of armed violence occurs not only within states but in the most ungoverned areas within states. Conflicts that occur between groups living in largely ungoverned areas often become deeply protracted and are difficult to resolve when the state is weak and harsh environmental conditions place human security increasingly under threat. However, even under these conditions, why do some local conflicts between ethnic groups escalate, whereas others do not? To analyze this puzzle, the dissertation employs comparative methods to investigate the conditions under which violence erupts or stops and armed actors choose to preserve peace. The project draws upon qualitative data derived from semi-structured interviews, focus group dialogues, and participant observation of local peace processes during field research conducted in six conflict-affected counties in Northern Kenya. Comparative analysis of fifteen conflict episodes with variable outcomes reveals the conditions under which coalitions of civic associations, including local peace committees, faith-based organizations, and councils of elders, inter alia, enhance informal institutional arrangements that contain escalation. Violence is less likely to escalate in communities where cohesive coalitions provide platforms for threat-monitoring, informal pact making, and enforcement of traditional codes of restitution. However, key scope conditions affect whether or not informal organizational structures are capable of containing escalation. In particular, symbolic acts of violence and the use of indiscriminant force by police and military actors commonly undermine local efforts to contain conflict. The dissertation contributes to the literatures on civil society and peacebuilding, demonstrating the importance of comparing processes of escalation and non-escalation and accounting for interactive effects between modes of state and non-state response to local, inter-ethnic group conflict.

Peace beyond the State? NGOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina

By examining the work of several NGOs in the context of post-conflict reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), this essay scrutinizes both the potential and limits of NGO contributions to peace-settlements and long-term stability. While their ability to specialize and reach the grassroots level is of great practical significance, the contribution of NGOs to the reconstruction of war-torn societies is often idealized. NGOs remain severely limited by ad hoc and project-specific funding sources, as well as by the overall policy environment in which they operate. Unless these underlying issues are addressed, NGOs will ultimately become little more than extensions of prevalent multilateral and state-based approaches to post-conflict reconstruction.

Relational restorative justice pedagogy in educator professional development

What would a professional development experience rooted in the philosophy, principles, and practices of restorative justice look and feel like? This article describes how such a professional development project was designed to implement restorative justice principles and practices into schools in a proactive, relational and sustainable manner by using a comprehensive dialogic, democratic peacebuilding pedagogy. The initiative embodied a broad, transformative approach to restorative justice, grounded in participating educators’ identifying, articulating and applying personal core values. This professional development focused on diverse educators, their relationships, and conceptual understandings, rather than on narrow techniques for enhancing student understanding or changing student behaviour. Its core practice involved facilitated critical reflexive dialogue in a circle, organized around recognizing the impact of participants’ interactions on others, using three central, recurring questions: Am I honouring? Am I measuring? What message am I sending? Situated in the context of relational theory (Llewellyn, 2012), this restorative professional development approach addresses some of the challenges in implementing and sustaining transformative citizenship and peacebuilding pedagogies in schools. A pedagogical portrait of the rationale, design, and facilitation experience illustrates the theories, practices, and insights of the initiative, called Relationships First: Implementing Restorative Justice From the Ground Up.

Investing in Peace : Foreign Direct Investment as Economic Restoration in Sierra Leone?

Peer reviewed

Between Entrenchment, Reform and Transformation : Ethnicity and Lebanon’s Consociational Democracy

Peer reviewed

Investing in Peace : Foreign Direct Investment as Economic Restoration in Sierra Leone?

Peer reviewed

Between Entrenchment, Reform and Transformation : Ethnicity and Lebanon’s Consociational Democracy

Peer reviewed

Ghosts, Memory and the Right to the Divided City : Resisting Amnesia in Beirut City Centre

Peer reviewed

Disciplinary Divides in Post-Conflict Justice and Peace : Tracking If and How we Share Ideas

Peer reviewed

Applying the security-development nexus on the ground: Land restitution in Colombia

The general consensus on the security-development nexus is that both are key to achieving sustainable peace in war-torn societies. However, this debate has largely taken place among international actors, with little empirical evidence about how security and development relate to each other or are even considered by local actors. The current paper applies the security-development nexus to the case of land restitution in Colombia. Following decades of internal armed conflict, in 2012 the national government passed sweeping land restitution legislation amid on-going violence. Through in-depth interviews and focus groups with multiple actors involved in this process, ranging from international organizations to national government units, from regional institutions to local communities, the paper analyses the objectives, impact, challenges and opportunities for land restitution related to security and development. Undermining peacebuilding, a lack of coherence in the integration of security and development priorities limits the extent to which either supports, or is promoted by, land restitution efforts in Colombia. The paper concludes with reflections on how the security-development nexus may promote peacebuilding amid on-going conflict.

Peace Building and Conflict Transformation: A Case Study of Northern Ireland

This paper provides an overview of the transition from armed conflict to peace in Northern Ireland between 1994 and 2016. It discusses the main stages of the peace process and the main elements of the peace Agreement in relation to the development of global thinking around peacebuilding as set out in the United Nations 1992 report Agenda for Peace and the 2000 Brahimi Report. The paper argues that while Northern Ireland is often highlighted as a positive example of peacebuilding, it is not without its limitations and overall the experience of the past twenty years emphasises the importance of ensuring a broadly inclusive process and the need for a sustained commitment over a long period of time. 

Les échecs de la mission canadienne en Afghanistan : déficits de sécurité humaine

La mission canadienne en Afghanistan constitue la plus longue intervention étrangère de l'histoire du pays et a été marquée par un effort important dans la province de Kandahar depuis 2006. Aujourd'hui, il s'avère que la mission à Kandahar présente des échecs importants. Afin d'appréhender la nature de ces échecs, ce travail propose des pistes de réflexions pour améliorer notre compréhension face à cet enjeu. Pour ce faire, le mémoire se questionne à savoir dans quelle mesure le Canada a-t-il respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine au sein de sa mission à Kandahar? La mission britannique dans la province de Helmand en Afghanistan est également utilisée comme outil de comparaison. En guise d'hypothèse, il est proposé que le Canada n'a pas respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine et que cela pourrait contribuer à la compréhension des échecs de la mission à Kandahar. D'abord, les bilans détaillés de ces missions sont présentés et il est démontré que la mission britannique a connu un meilleur bilan que la mission canadienne. Ensuite, à l'aide de la méthode de l'analyse de contenu et d'un codage, les missions canadiennes et britanniques sont analysées afin de déterminer leur correspondance respective face à l'approche de sécurité humaine. Les résultats démontrent que la mission britannique respecte l'approche de sécurité humaine de façon plus importante que la mission canadienne. Finalement, une analyse documentaire propose des pistes de réflexions afin de comprendre en quoi ce déficit de sécurité humaine pourrait permettre d'expliquer les échecs de cette mission lors de futures recherches. Ce mémoire apporte donc deux conclusions. D'abord, la mission canadienne n'a pas respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine malgré le fait que le Canada ait affirmé l'avoir fait. De plus, il est clair que le non-respect de l'approche de sécurité humaine constitue une avenue intéressante afin de comprendre les insuccès canadiens.

Les échecs de la mission canadienne en Afghanistan : déficits de sécurité humaine

La mission canadienne en Afghanistan constitue la plus longue intervention étrangère de l'histoire du pays et a été marquée par un effort important dans la province de Kandahar depuis 2006. Aujourd'hui, il s'avère que la mission à Kandahar présente des échecs importants. Afin d'appréhender la nature de ces échecs, ce travail propose des pistes de réflexions pour améliorer notre compréhension face à cet enjeu. Pour ce faire, le mémoire se questionne à savoir dans quelle mesure le Canada a-t-il respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine au sein de sa mission à Kandahar? La mission britannique dans la province de Helmand en Afghanistan est également utilisée comme outil de comparaison. En guise d'hypothèse, il est proposé que le Canada n'a pas respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine et que cela pourrait contribuer à la compréhension des échecs de la mission à Kandahar. D'abord, les bilans détaillés de ces missions sont présentés et il est démontré que la mission britannique a connu un meilleur bilan que la mission canadienne. Ensuite, à l'aide de la méthode de l'analyse de contenu et d'un codage, les missions canadiennes et britanniques sont analysées afin de déterminer leur correspondance respective face à l'approche de sécurité humaine. Les résultats démontrent que la mission britannique respecte l'approche de sécurité humaine de façon plus importante que la mission canadienne. Finalement, une analyse documentaire propose des pistes de réflexions afin de comprendre en quoi ce déficit de sécurité humaine pourrait permettre d'expliquer les échecs de cette mission lors de futures recherches. Ce mémoire apporte donc deux conclusions. D'abord, la mission canadienne n'a pas respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine malgré le fait que le Canada ait affirmé l'avoir fait. De plus, il est clair que le non-respect de l'approche de sécurité humaine constitue une avenue intéressante afin de comprendre les insuccès canadiens.

Alcances y límites del principio de la responsabilidad de proteger: actuación del consejo de seguridad frente al conflicto en libia en el 2011 y Siria durante el periodo 2011-2014.

El propósito de este estudio de caso es determinar los alcances y límites de la Responsabilidad de Proteger, tomando como ejemplo la actuación del Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas ante el conflicto en Libia y Siria. Para esto es necesario analizar fuentes primarias documentos oficiales y secundarias como artículos académicos, para así comprobar que la evolución del concepto de soberanía ha permitido que se legitimen las intervenciones con fines humanitarios, ya que todos los Estados tienen la responsabilidad de garantizar la protección de los derechos humanos de sus ciudadanos, de lo contrario, la comunidad internacional debe tomar medidas para evitar o detener los crímenes masivos.