Potentials of Disorder by J. s> Koehler C. Zurcher (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 983 relate to each other. He furtherargues that the events of I989- I99I mark a change of epochs. This is a well structured and coherent volume, which is no easy task considering the broad range of topics covered. Given its publication date in 2002, immediately following the events of i I September 200I, the reader cannot help but ask how the latter has further shaped the various security agendas of the new Europe. If I989-9I marked a change of epochs, to what extent does the current shift to international terrorism represent a further change or a continuation of the themes raised here?Books about politics are often hostage to fortune given changes in the internationalsphere. Nonetheless ,NewSecurity Challenges providesa solidfoundationforfurtherexploration. Queen's University ofBe(fast K. M. FIERKE Koehler, J. and Zurcher, C. (eds). Potentials ofDisorder. New Approaches to Conflict Analysis. Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York,2003. ix + 277 pp. Tables. Notes. Index. ?45.??. TOLSTOI'S observationthat 'happyfamiliesare all alike;everyunhappyfamily is unhappy in its own way' can be applied equally fruitfullyto the analysisof wars and conflicts. That some societies, nations and cultures prosper while othersseem doomed to a perpetualroundof quarrelsand disputeshas created a happy hunting ground for analysis by historians, sociologists and political scientists. Each generation draws its own conclusions and adjusts its own conduct to suit its perceptions of the reasons, whether they be imperial (Napoleon), economic (Marx), geopolitical (Mackinder),or sociological (too many to mention). Today's action menu is conflictprevention or, failingthat, conflict resolution, and today's flavour appears to be a combination of economics and sociology, served up in a soup of globalization, political nationalismand multi-ethnicsocial and culturalpluralism. In today's plethora of publications, unfortunately, too often the only seasonings available appear to be a choice between hasty journalistic impressionism or esoteric academic theorizing. It is, therefore, more than a little refreshingto find a seriouspublication that combines expert scholarship on relativelyrecent experiences with a focus on identifyingpracticalpointers towards conflict resolution. For the lack of academic stuffinessin its firstand finalchaptersalone thiscontributionis worth opening. The book takes as its subjects the eight conflicts in the Balkans and the Caucasus in the last decade of the twentieth century. Their contemporaneity and their grouping within two small but well-defined geographical regions make these eminently suitablecase studiesfromwhich to begin to draw some empirical conclusions. The regions and the conflicts share several characteristics : the fallout from collapsing empires; ethnic complexity; economic disarray;internationalinvolvement and political point-scoring,to name but a few. This book attempts to do more than simply explain the roots of each of these wars of transition and put their characteristicsforward as generalized indicators for the future. Several chapters make a valiant attempt to suggest 984 SEER, 82, 4, 2004 waysin which these conflictsmighthave been avoided,or could now be solved,orothersimilar conflicts couldbedefused. Inthemain,thecontributors sharea commonviewofthecharacteristics of thesetworegionswhichhelpexplainwhytheconflicts progressed astheydid andwhy thereis stillso muchunfinished business.Socialist-era institutions monopolized thepublicframework; informal andtraditional institutions were thereforeforced to develop as a networkof patronage and shadow structures. The corruption, criminality and dependency which characterized the latter were manifested in a series of new or reinvented public institutions. The perpetuation of a climate of fear in deliberately engineered weak states continues to reinforcethe 'marketof violence' (chaptertwelve). Each chapter, writtenby an acknowledgedexpert in theirfield, expands on an aspect of this theme. It is perhaps fortunate for the reader that many of these conflicts are 'frozen',as thereareindicationsthatmuch of the materialwas writtenin 200 I or 2002. But little has happened in the intervening period to invalidate its fundamentalthesis. To a reader seekingcurrenttreatmentof the disputesthe book will seem somewhat dated, but to those seeking explanations and signpostsfor futureuse this will be only a minor criticism.And it is here that the main worth of the book lies. The reason for its slow publication is not hard to seek. Multi-authored volumes taketime to assemble,particularlywhere the language of publication is not the contributors'firstlanguage. This volume's authorsarelargelydrawn from the German- and Russian-speakingacademic communities and it is a tribute to the editors' skill that the occasional infelicities of style are so unobtrusive. They are more than compensated for by the opportunityfor an English-language readership to...