Post-Conflict State Building Research Papers (original) (raw)

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- Post-Conflict State Building, Post Conflict Peacebuilding

This study examines the role of political factors in attitudes toward World War II in contemporary Ukraine. The question under examination is which factors determine public views of the principal warring sides and their leaders in Ukraine. This paper uses a representative national survey specifically designed for this research project and conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in 2012. It analyzes the roles of regionalism, political party preferences, ethnicity, language, age, and sex in attitudes toward the Red Army, Soviet partisans, the German Army (Wehrmacht), and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during the war, as well as toward the wartime leaders of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and the UPA. The analysis of the survey data shows that regional values, political party preferences, ethnicity, language, and age have significant effects on views of the Soviet Army and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army during the war and attitudes toward the wartime activities of Joseph Stalin and Roman Shukhevych. Public perceptions of the German Army and Adolf Hitler in Ukraine do not vary much across regions, political parties, and ethnic, language, age, and sex groups.

- by Ivan Katchanovski
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- History, European History, Military History, Political Sociology
- by Nikolaos Tzifakis
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- Languages, Eastern European Studies, European Studies, International Relations
- by Ioannis Armakolas and +3
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- Peace and Conflict Studies, Albanian Studies, Balkan Studies, Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development

In this article for Just Security, the authors explain how the EU institutions (European Commission and External Action Service) and the US are pressing forward with a package assembled by Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, which not only continues their pursuit of electoral law and constitutional changes which would reinforce the power and unaccountability of Bosnia and Herzegovina's political elites, but also put huge swathes of BiH land up for natural asset stripping. In addition, genocide denial and war crimes glorification criminal sanctions imposed by High Representative Valentin Inzko would be on the chopping block. These moves reward allied politicians Milorad Dodik and Dragan Covic, who have jointly driven the ongoing crisis in BiH.

In the twenty years that have elapsed since the 1997 Tajik Peace Accord, Tajikistan has faced a number of significant threats, both internally and externally. Despite Tajikistan being the smallest and poorest country in Central Asia , it has managed to weather several storms and avoid a relapse into full violent conflict. This success may be attributed, in part, to President Rahmon’s move towards authoritarianism and his creation of an unobstructed, one-party government. The short-term success of this power consolidation, however, is likely to be undone by its long-term repercussions. As long as Islamist groups continue to find representation and support, their suppression will only create new grievances and undermine Tajikistan’s social cohesion over time. What specific steps will help to reverse this path are uncertain, but it is clear that regional and international actors must play a heavier role in achieving effective change if the Tajikistan government is unwilling to initiate. Finally, the peacebuilding community should re-prioritize Tajikistan as an urgent conflict prevention priority, using a grassroots approach to promote moderate voices, build community resilience, and expand the space for dialogue and non-adversarial approaches across Tajikistan’s various cleavages.

- by Dominik Zaum
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- International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, Violence, International Studies

The paper describes the process of security sector reform in Guatemala with reference to the efforts to implement community-based policing practices. The results point to the difficulties of shaking-off public understandings of security honed during the armed conflict and underscore the efforts of a still young police institution to position itself in a democratic context. The study posits that community-oriented policing strategies open opportunities to forward police reform in the high-violence, low-trust, weak-institutions, and post-conflict context of Guatemala. The argument is supported by field data gathered in indigenous territories in the Western Highlands, where traditional forms of social organization persist, and in metropolitan Villa Canales municipality, an urban, high-violence site of research.

BARMM inherited the structural flaws of the previous set-up in ARMM, that is, the architecture of domination and dependence underpinning the state of exclusion, injustice, insecurity and poverty in the BARMM. The enactment of the BOL and the establishment of the BARMM seek to reverse this legacy. This provides a broad outline of key challenges towards genuine political autonomy that is essential for Bangsamoro’s continuous quest for self-determination. In doing so, we have outlined three sites of political domination and exclusion – dynastic clan politics and interdependence with national elites, absence of viable alternative local parties coupled with lack of active civil society in politics, and electoral violence and impunity. A key assertion in this article is that deep reforms are needed in these critical areas in order for BARMM to have an impact on the ground. Achieving political autonomy is not merely an outcome but an active process of empowerment and provision of opportunities for participation. In such an exclusive political order as BARMM, political inclusion is central to political autonomy.

- by Imelda Deinla
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- Post-Conflict State Building

There are two dominant theories that elucidate the broad choice of transitional justice mechanisms available to societies with a history of gross violation of human rights, the realist and idealist theories of transitional justice. While realists advocate for the use of political processes such as the adoption of truth commissions, idealist believe in the supremacy and primacy of the law in dealing with past human rights abuses. This paper discusses the two theories’ applicability to Zimbabwe while positioning endeavours of citizens who are using their everyday
modes of life such as family healing mechanisms to seek historical accountability and reconciliation. When both
law and politics fail to initiate mechanisms that deal with histories of gross violations of human rights, it can be said
that ‘natural’ alternatives emerge. The conclusion of the paper is that there is need to conceptually broaden the
scope of transitional justice away from presenting it as competition between peace/justice, realist/idealist, politics/
law toward an inductive one that recognises an array of everyday activities that have turned into transitional
justice mechanisms.

A complexity-friendly, SenseMaker-based approach to understanding how to build sustainable livelihoods and communities in conditions of high uncertainty and change. The tool also detected underlying attitudinal change among participants... more

Corruption tops common problems for state-building and economic development for most of the nations in the world1. The contemporary anti-corruption measures led by the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, Transparency International, and many other international and regional bodies, approach corruption from an upright interpretation, address it with a legal view, highlight its deleterious effect on state-building, and judge its negative consequences on development2. This article focuses on the government expenditure side of annual budgets, but it does not cover corruption related to any particular problems arising from budget planning, projection and auditing. Using both primary and secondary data, the article ropes the Pritchett et al.3 led argument on the institution focused anti-corruption fights led by the international development interventions which remain under-valued and under-researched, and proposes a repositioning of the current approach to the local context. This argument establishes two views, the strategic actions and the tools we need for local fit anti-corruption reform, and dwindling the knowledge gaps among public on corruption effects.

- by Hamdi I. Abdulahi
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- Governance, Justice, Rule of Law, Post-Conflict State Building

Updated and consolidated list of assessed damage to historic monuments in Syria.

- by Ross A Burns
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- Cultural Heritage Conservation, Syrian History, Syria, Post-Conflict State Building

During the last few years, some donor countries (especially the US and the UK) have been increasingly outsourcing services in post-conflict operations to international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) and private military and security companies (PMSCs). These states have also adopted ‘integrated approaches’ to their policy interventions, contributing to the emergence of an ‘aid and security market’. The article uses ideas from both development and defence studies and re-problematises the contracting states’ relationship with PMSCs and INGOs. It argues that although INGOs and PMSCs are very different types of non-state actors, there are striking similarities in outsourcing practices. Moreover, it demonstrates that the leading contracting states have poorly managed their contracts with both INGOs and PMSCs, and have not seriously reflected on the unintended consequences of their contracting practices on the recovery of war-affected countries.

- by Madhumitha Ardhanari
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- Pakistan, Migration Studies, Bangladesh, Post-Conflict State Building

Cómo citar: Uribe, Simón, Silvia Otero-Bahamón e Isabel Peñaranda. 2021. "Hacer el estado: carreteras, conflicto y órdenes locales en los territorios de las FARC". Revista de Estudios Sociales 75: 87-100. https://doi.org/10.7440/res75.2021.08 R E S U M E N | En agosto de 2017, como parte de los acuerdos de paz con el gobierno colombiano, las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) hicieron entrega de una extensa lista de bienes destinados a reparar a las víctimas del conflicto armado. Entre estos se incluyeron cerca de 3.700 kilómetros de carreteras, la mayoría localizadas en zonas de influencia de esta guerrilla. En este artículo indagamos el tipo de actores, colaboraciones, relaciones de poder y tecnologías que hicieron posible la construcción de carreteras en Puerto Guzmán, un municipio amazónico con presencia prolongada de las FARC. En este sentido, argumentamos que la construcción y transformación en el tiempo de estas infraestructuras permiten entender al estado como una coproducción que involucra dinámicas y actores distintos, algunos antagónicos al orden estatal.

- by Simón Uribe and +1
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- Latin American Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Colombia, Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development

Sebha is the key and the most populated city in Fezzan,
the South of Libya, and the main gateway between
North and South. In 2018, it es􀆟matly hosts around
210,000 inhabitants constitu􀆟ng around 2/3rd of its
governorate.
It has experienced figh􀆟ng and damage, especially in
2011 and 2014. Most of the displaced were within the
boundaries of the city and its immediate
neighborhoods, accelerating the development of its
informal settlements.
15,190 IDPs from Sebha outside the region has
returned, cons􀆟tu􀆟ng today 7% of the population. This
is while there are s􀆟ll 8,390 displaced IDPs.
Sebha became also a major step on the migra􀆟on road
from Africa to the North. 35,040 migrants were
accounted for in August 2018 (18% of the municipality
popula􀆟on), in an accelera􀆟ng trend. 89% of the
migrants are from Africa, mainly Niger and Nigeria.
Their humanitarian situation is a priority issue.

This paper analyses the shortcomings of the pradeshiya sabhas as local democratic institutions in the Northern province. This paper locates these institutions in the context of decades of conflict and post-war challenges to local residents. It also reminds us of the sidelining of elected bodies by the unelected but far more powerful decentralised
institutions of central government at local level, the Divisional Secretariat.

In the 1990s negotiated settlements created new institutional frameworks intended to end long-standing conflicts in both South Africa and Northern Ireland. In each case, women organized as women attempted to influence those processes from the inside. This paper examines how these processes of institutional design were gendered and the impact that women organized as women (ie gender actors/activists) had on these ' new' institutions/ structures. Concurring with Jane Mansbridge(2013) recent plea for political scientists to analyse negotiations to agreement and the institutions that facilitate negotiations, this paper argues that for a greater understanding of how these processes were gendered - not only the involvement of women and gender actors and their outcomes - but also the form and structure of the negotiations themselves need analysing. As such it takes a different focus to much existing literature on settlements in NI and SA. Using a feminist institutionalist approach that sees institutions as gendered rules, norms and practices with formal and informal guises, this paper compares these two cases to expand our understanding of the gendering of negotiation processes.

This article examines power dynamics in political groupings during
the 2014 Afghanistan presidential election and assesses the impact on
political stability and order. The focus is the power dynamics of local
political-economic and identity networks that have come to underpin
and constitute the state in post-2001 international state-building.
The article first seeks to understand how the complex relationships
between the two leading presidential candidates, Ashraf Ghani and
Abdullah Abdullah, and key powerbrokers were negotiated and
subsequently influenced electoral outcomes. Second, focusing on
negotiations over the appointment of the Cabinet ministers, advisers
and staff, and governors, the study maps the restructuring of political
networks within the Afghan state. The analysis reveals the impact of
the election on the redistribution of power and resources, and the
consequences for political order and state stability in the post-2014
period.

- by Seth Kaplan
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- Post-Conflict State Building, Somalia, Somaliland, Horn of Africa

The fall of Muammar al-Qadhafi in October 2011 marked the end of the Libyan uprising, led to the close of NATO’s intervention “Operation Unified Protector” (OUP), and ushered in a delicate political transformation which failed to come to a quick and decisive end with the first round of elections held in early July 2012. To assess some major pitfalls of the current transitional process, this article will propose an analysis of two main challenges the new Libyan authorities will face, the proper handling of which will determine the nature and stability of the future state. The first challenge is the political transition from an autocratic regime via revolutionary credentials to democratic legitimacy. The second involves the construction and governance of an entirely reshaped security sector, both in the military and civilian realms, transcending their previous roles in the Jamahiriyya either as Praetorian Guard or as state-sponsored bullies.

- by Zahra' Langhi
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- Gender, Post-Conflict State Building, Conflict in Libya, Inclusive Democracy

The education system in El Salvador has traversed a number of turbulent periods in the past 200 years. Colonialism, oligarchic control, military regimes, efforts at modernization, civil war, and international organizations have each left their mark. While the system remains at the center of political, economic, and social forces—each with their own impact—stakeholders from the school level to the central Ministry of Education (MINED) continue to dedicate themselves to the improvement of education. In what follows, we explain both the historical constraints on the system as well as more recent reform initiatives. We also characterize the overall organization of the education system in addition to detailing a number of more specific aspects, such as student enrollment, multi-grade schools, curricula, teacher and principal training, parental involvement, student and teacher evaluation, and education financing.

- by Pauline Martin and +2
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- Latin American Studies, Education, Latin American politics, Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development

Inspired by Sarah Chayes' "Thieves of State," this is a book-length study that drew on broad field research in North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, media and social media monitoring and analysis, polling research, and a deep contextual knowledge to develop a model of political and social dynamics. The field research took place in 2020 and over 200 people were interviewed. Extensive media reviews were conducted for each country, and an online poll. In light of the difficulty in doing field work during COVID-19, this report provides an important overview of the situation in the two countries, from the ground up.
This study is a hybrid: Grounded in academic questions and literature, it strongly reflects the voices of ordinary people in localities that are often ignored in political discussions.

- by Kurt W . Bassuener, PhD and +5
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- European Studies, Comparative Politics, Resilience, Political Science
- by Justine Chauvin
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- State Building, Post-Conflict State Building

Since the defeat of Siad Barre´s regime in 1991 Somalia has been without a functional government, becoming the longest-running territory with state collapse of the postcolonial history. This with many other features has become this country located in the Horn of Africa as one of the main examples of Failed State, label that has served as a pretext in many cases to implement untrustworthy interventions. Nonetheless, the country have seen examples of relatively successful national-building process, highlighting Somaliland and Puntland meanwhile the course of events in southern Somalia have been characterized by violence, clash of interests and national-building failure. Additionally the Somali case has raised as one of the biggest challenges to the international diplomatic system, more than a dozen peace conferences have ended up in a failure when in the geopolitical scenario of the Horn of Africa converge different interests and spreads like wildfire new actors.

Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programmes form part of standard post-conflict peacebuilding tools regularly applied in the context of UN peacekeeping operations. Yet, the limitations of such templates become evident when peacebuilders are confronted with unconventional settings, such as the urban environment. So far, there is a scarcity of research on UN-led DDR efforts in cities, even though the proliferation of urban armed groups is projected to pose an intractable challenge for decades to come. Based on six months of fieldwork in Port-au-Prince, this article presents new empirical evidence on innovative DDR programming in Haiti, the only country where a United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) tried to implement a traditional DDR programme for gang members. As this attempt proved to be a failure, the mission subsequently changed its approach to a more community-focused armed violence reduction and prevention programme which aims to disincentivize at-risk sections of the population from joining gangs. Even though the current community violence reduction approach is better adapted to the unconventional conflict environment in Haiti and is seen by many practitioners today as a role model, it shares a number of limitations with traditional DDR programmes and is not a panacea for urban peacebuilding.

This article explores the way in which the concept of ‘public’ is continually and unpredictably constituted, redefined, and unmade in Gulu District, northern Uganda. It uses case studies of three local security initiatives and their conflicts with state agents to examine how public authorities establish power through a dynamic process of both claiming and denying authority, thereby divesting themselves of responsibility to intervene. It also shows that the state maintains its power over other claimants to public authority such as the local security initiatives by unpredictably shifting the boundary between public and private, and enforcing these seemingly arbitrary definitions with a very real threat of violent force. Together, these two phenomena prevent civilians from developing expectations of public authorities or creating alternative public authorities, which helps to explain the lack of state accountability to citizens in northern Uganda.

This essay will attempt to examine the factors behind escalation of the conflict, why the conflict is still there, and how initiatives are evaluated to resolve the conflict. Knowledge from a recent excursion to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo, Mostar, Srebrenica) will be used to complement discussions and arguments. Notably, local discourses sometimes did not coincide with academic’ perceptions.

The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement both ended the Bosnian War and created the consociational democracy that exists in Bosnia and Herzegovina to this day. The ethnic autonomy created by the Dayton Agreement has resulted in a frozen conflict between ethnic groups that has manifested itself in the country’s monoethnic education system. This study explores the short-term stability under consociationalism and the long-term stability under a multiethnic education system. Additionally, this study explains the importance of the country’s only multiethnic education system in Brčko District and how it came into existence.

This is an overview lecture through a PowerPoint presentation to the Somali Student Association of Oxford University in the UK. It covers geography, history, and economics. It provides a brief overview of Somalia in general. It helps... more

This paper is part of a larger collection titled: "STATE STRENGTHENING IN AFGHANISTAN
LESSONS LEARNED, 2001–14" Edited by Scott Smith and Colin Cookman.
The paper was presented in March 2015 in “Conference on State-Strengthening in Afghanistan 2001–2014: Learning from the Past to Inform the Future.” that was organised by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Chatham House, and Stanford University.

This paper is the product of a review of recent literature on issues of gender in the context of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction. It was prepared as background material for an international workshop on gender equity and peacebuilding jointly convened by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Key findings and research questions are presented in relation to the effective integration of gender concerns into policies and programs that shape post-conflict societies. There has been progress in considering a gender perspective in international thinking, policy statements, and programs related to peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction, as evidenced by recent documentation on this topic from the United Nations. Findings reported below indicate a slow but positive shift in international opinion and understanding about the consequences of conflict on women and the importance of their participation in peacebuilding processes and post-conflict social transformation. However, gender discrimination continues through political exclusion, economic marginalization, and sexual violence during and after conflict, denying women their human rights and constraining the potential for development.

- by Ijlal khalid
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- Critical Theory, Social Movements, International Relations, Political Economy

This book details about the Nepal's peace process, and its relation with the state building challenges of Nepal.

(SORRY FOR THE NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING READERS, THIS BOOK IS IN NEPALI MANUSCRIPT)