Ex-Combatants and the Post-Conflict State


Book Description

This book provides a critical analysis of the reintegration challenges facing ex-combatants. Based on extensive field research, it includes detailed case studies of ex-combatant reintegration in Namibia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.




Research Handbook on Post-Conflict State Building


Book Description

As a conflict ends and the parties begin working towards a durable peace, practitioners and peacebuilders are faced with the thrilling possibilities and challenges of building new or reformed political, security, judicial, social, and economic structures. This Handbook analyzes these elements of post-conflict state building through the lens of international law, which provides a framework through which the authors contextualize and examine the many facets of state building in relation to the legal norms, processes, and procedures that guide such efforts across the globe. The volume aims to provide not only an introduction to and explanation of prominent topics in state building, but also a perceptive analysis that augments ongoing conversations among researchers, lawyers, and advocates engaged in the field.




Politics of Identity in Post-Conflict States


Book Description

Ireland and the Balkans have come to represent divided and (re)united communities. They both provide effective microcosms of national, ethnic, political, military, religious, ideological and cultural conflicts in their respective regions and, as a result, they demonstrate real and imaginary divisions. This book will specifically focus on the history, politics and literature of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland, while making comparative reference to some of Europe’s other disputed and divided regions. Using case-studies such as Kosovo and Serbia; Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Russia and Belarus; Greece and Macedonia, it examines ‘space’, ‘place’ and ‘border’ discourse, the topography of war and violence, post-war settlement and reconciliation, and the location and negotiation of national, ethnic, religious, political and cultural identities. The book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of cultural studies, history, politics, Irish studies, Slavonic studies, area studies and literary studies.




Post-Conflict Tajikistan


Book Description

The book provides a critical analysis of why peace has been consolidated in Tajikistan, and what role international peacebuilding has had in this. It will be of interest to academics working on Peace Studies, International Relations and Central Asian Studies.




The Post-Conflict Environment


Book Description

In case studies focusing on contemporary crises spanning Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, the scholars in this volume examine the dominant prescriptive practices of late neoliberal post-conflict interventions—such as statebuilding, peacebuilding, transitional justice, refugee management, reconstruction, and redevelopment—and contend that the post-conflict environment is in fact created and sustained by this international technocratic paradigm of peacebuilding. Key international stakeholders—from activists to politicians, humanitarian agencies to financial institutions—characterize disparate sites as “weak,” “fragile,” or “failed” states and, as a result, prescribe peacebuilding techniques that paradoxically disable effective management of post-conflict spaces while perpetuating neoliberal political and economic conditions. Treating all efforts to represent post-conflict environments as problematic, the goal becomes understanding the underlying connection between post-conflict conditions and the actions and interventions of peacebuilding technocracies.




The Political Economy of Iraq


Book Description

The second edition of The Political Economy of Iraq is as comprehensive and accessible as the first with updated data and analysis. Frank R. Gunter discusses in detail how the convergence of the ISIS insurgency, collapse in oil prices, and massive youth unemployment produced a serious political crisis in 2020. This work ends with a discussion of key policy decisions that will determine Iraq’s future. This volume will be a valuable resource for anyone with a professional, business, or academic interest in the post-2003 political economy of Iraq.




Governance in Post-Conflict Societies


Book Description

Foreword Frederick D. Barton Preface Derick W. Brinkerhoff 1. Governance Challenges in Fragile States: Re-Establishing Security, Rebuilding Effectiveness, and Reconstituting Legitimacy Derick W. Brinkerhoff Part 1. Governance and Post-conflict: Perspectives on Core Issues 2. Does Nation Building Work? Reviewing the Record Arthur A. Goldsmith 3. Constitutional Design, Identity and Legitimacy in Post-Conflict Reconstruction Aliza Belman Inbal and Hanna Lerner 4. Election Systems and Political Parties in Post-Conflict and Fragile States Eric Bjornland, Glenn Cowan, and William Gallery 5. Democratic Governance and the Security Sector in Conflict-affected Countries Nicole Ball Part 2. Actors in Governance Reconstruction: Old, New, and Evolving Roles 6. From Bullets to Ballots: The U.S. Army Role in Stability and Reconstruction Operations Tammy S. Schultz and Susan Merrill 7. The Private Sector and Governance in Post-Conflict Societies Virginia Haufler 8. Rebuilding and Reforming Civil Services in Post-Conflict Societies Harry Blair 9. Contributions of Digital Diasporas to Governance Reconstruction in Fragile States: Potential and Promise Jennifer M. Brinkerhoff Part 3. Reforming and Rebuilding Governance: Focus on the Local 10. Decentralization, Local Governance, and Conflict Mitigation in Latin America Gary Bland 11. Subnationalism and Post-conflict Governance: Lessons from Africa Joshua B. Forrest 12. Subnational Administration and State Building: Lessons from Afghanistan Sarah Lister and Andrew Wilder About the Contributors Index




Social Work in Post-War and Political Conflict Areas


Book Description

The book offers unique access to theoretical approaches and practical examples of international social work in the context of war and conflicts. The reader gains knowledge about the competences and role of social work, which contributes to mitigating the effects of war and conflict. The book raises the question of how to connect international social work with local approaches and offers suggestions for a development of social work with respect to exchanging knowledge and experiences between the West and the East, the Global North and the Global South. It furthermore discusses the role of social work in reducing the problem of gender-based violence and in the methods of peacebuilding processes in post-war and post-conflict societies.




Post-conflict Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration


Book Description

This book revisits post-Cold War Disarmament Disintegration and Reintegration (DDR) programmes in the light of previous experiences of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration. In the history of North America and Europe, in particular, such programmes had a major impact on state-building, contributing to the development of the welfare state, shaping political settlements and directing government policy to maintain social peace. The authors in this important book ask what is left of these state-building dimensions in contemporary DDR programmes and whether the constraints imposed by international organisations on DDR programmes have more negative effects than positive ones. The role of political leadership in DDR processes is highlighted: can bureaucratically-driven processes deliver success? Only if political elites take full control and manage DDR programmes can there be a lasting impact on state-building. Even then, most political elites avoid deep changes in their relationship with the veterans. Is there a chance of reshaping international intervention in such a way as to favour the development of a 'social contract' between political elites and veterans? In taking a historical perspective, this book is unique in the existing literature on DDR and will be essential reading for policy makers, students and scholars of conflict studies, and those working in NGOs, particularly donor agencies. This volume was produced with the contribution of the Crisis States Research Centre (LSE).