Aftermath Of Violent Conflict Research Articles

Factors Affecting National Interests in the Aftermath of Post 1990 Armed Conflict in Nepal

National Interest to a particular country is often shaped and prioritized by various variables including independence, distinctiveness, territorial integrity and socio-cultural determinants. Nepal’s national interest depends on thesecurity vision in the aftermath of violent conflict, development initiatives based on utilization of available natural resources and state policies for assuring inclusiveness, social cohesion and justice. Nepal experienced a ten years long armed conflict since 1996 to 2006 that affected a range of social, political and economic dimensions along with security apparatus of the country. Though the fundamental attributes of national interest such as territorial and political sovereignty and the core values remain constant, security policy and strategies are found to be evolving in the nascent democracy often shaped by the ability to identify security threats. With the aim of developing a causal relationship between national interest and security vision, security policy, identification of security threats, quantitative analysis is conducted by adopting SPSS and Karl Pearson’s Correlation tools. Moreover, Nepal’s new security policy has been analyzed in the aftermath of violent conflict. This paper draws the conclusion that higher the ability of political leaders to identify the security vision, the achievement of national interest is higher. This also depicts if security vision is closely linked with the political values the promotion of national interest is high. Setting the context on political change and the security strategy, it is admitted that new form of government induces additional security concern which if not identified may challenge the means of ensuring national security.

The policy reassembly of Afghanistan's higher education system

ABSTRACTThis paper explores how a national higher education sector can be assembled upon a relatively narrow ideological foundation during and in the aftermath of violent conflict. It analyses the case of Afghanistan's higher education system, and argues that the violent disintegration of this system during the 1980s and 1990s created the conditions for a neoliberal reassembly and subsequent expansion of higher education from 2001. This paper draws on data gathered from document analysis, and semi-structured interviews with key policy actors. It identifies an ideological grounding in neoliberalism within higher education policies which are responsible for directing the sector's growth since 2010. I argue that this neoliberal agenda, largely driven by globalised influences, has exploited Afghanistan's conflict-affected context to position higher education primarily as a driver of economic growth, thus limiting policy emphasis on higher education's non-economic dividends. The paper concludes by critiquing the underlying assumption that this role is sufficient if higher education is to serve as a key institution in Afghanistan's ongoing national development.

Memory and the Popular: Rwanda in Mukoma Wa Ngugi’s Fiction

This essay locates the valences of the popular in Mukoma Wa Ngugi’s fiction to understand how Rwanda as a background for a thriller fits into a longer tradition of African popular genres that represent the aftermath of violent conflict. The question of whether Nairobi Heat and Black Star Nairobi attempt to illuminate the genocide or only evoke it as background shapes the approach to the popular. The essay then identifies ways in which Mukoma’s novels are also in conversation with the more canonical works of anticolonial “writing back” to empire and in fact perform an unnarration, or blotting out, of that discourse and the historical dynamics that inform it. Mukoma does not divorce himself entirely from this older literary project, which exercises a disruptive influence in the popular as he configures it. Finally, the essay examines the relation among action, morality, and sentimentality to identify how Mukoma reclaims the plot of intervention from the humanitarian framing of the failure of international intervention.

‘The Cast of the Past’: Truth Commissions and the Making and Marginalization of Identity

While truth commissions have become the ‘go to’ response in the aftermath of violent conflict and human rights abuses, serious critical discussion on the extent to which commissions have tended to shape and reify the identities of victims and perpetrators and obscure the reality of structural culpability is only tentatively emerging in the field. Drawing on the literature from the field of transitional justice, this article critically interrogates the relationship between truth commissions and the three key constituencies of victims, perpetrators and structural actors. It suggests that binary oppositions between victims and perpetrators are frequently privileged, resulting in hierarchal conceptions of innocent victims and guilty perpetrators. These polarized categories fail to reflect the complexity of conflict and promote easy and uncritical allocations of blame and responsibility. It also argues that the capacity of truth commissions to engage with structural actors and the structural causes of conflict is limited due to the influence of human rights and criminal justice on transitional justice and an individualized focus on violations of civil and political rights. An impunity gap is thus created, eliding broader patterns of institutional complicity and responsibility for structural violence, while the focus on civil and political rights violations creates further hierarchies of harm and hierarchies of victimization. The paper concludes that greater recognition of the complexity of identity and involvement in conflict is required to provide a more honest reflection on the past and a more sustainable link between truth telling and peace building.

Women, Piety and Political Representation

The aftermath of violent conflict provides opportunities for fresh debates about gender politics. In sub-Saharan Africa, several post-conflict states have introduced constitutional reforms and quotas to promote women’s participation in government. Yet, women’s political representation in Somalia is a matter that goes beyond the hotly-debated gender quotas which are often championed by international donors and other peacebuilding actors. In post-war Somalia, women believe that the question of political representation is closely linked to the recognition of women’s ongoing contributions to society. For many women, the contemporary post-war Islamic discourses in Somalia have eroded some rights previously guaranteed—if imperfectly—by the pre-war state. Such discourses today have also constructed a new ideal version of Somali women in an Islamic society which largely dispossesses them from public life. In this article, I highlight Somali women’s forms of activism which are centered on engaging Islamic discourses in an attempt to change current perceptions about women’s roles in politics and public life. I examine women’s narratives for insights into the root causes of women’s exclusion and the strategies used to resist, counter, and challenge oppositional Islamic discourses. I conclude by considering how women’s ‘unorganized’ movements across Somalia—premised on working within a framework of Islam, are suggestive of multifaceted expressions of women’s agency in patriarchal and non-liberal contexts.

Birthplace, bloodline and beyond: how ‘Liberian citizenship’ is currently constructed in Liberia and abroad

As a twenty-first century post-war, emigrant-sending country, Liberia reflects global citizenship norms while simultaneously departing from them, and this unique positioning offers new opportunities to theorise citizenship across spatial and temporal landscapes. In this article, I examine ‘Liberian citizenship’ construction through a historical prism, arguing that as Liberia transformed from a country of immigration to one of emigration, so too did conceptualisations of citizenship – moving from passive, identity-based citizenship emphasising rights and entitlements to more active, practice-based citizenship privileging duties and responsibilities. Given the dynamic trends in citizenship configuration across the globe and particularly in Africa, this article fills gaps in the growing body of literature on citizenship and participation in emigrant-sending countries by contributing to wider debates about how identities, practices and relations between people transform in the aftermath of violent conflict. Empirical evidence presented is based on multi-sited fieldwork conducted in 2012 and 2013 with 202 Liberians in urban centres in West Africa, North America and Europe.

To address or not to address the violent past in the classroom? That is the question in Côte d’Ivoire

In the aftermath of violent conflict, divided societies have to answer the important question of whether, when and how to address their country’s violent past within their educational system. Whereas some scholars within the field of peace education and transitional justice argue that addressing the violent past in the classroom is important for fostering mutual understanding and empathy among future generations in order to prevent conflict recurrence, other scholars are more sceptical about the need and feasibility of addressing the violent past in schools. They emphasize the possible negative impact in terms of increased tensions within schools and within society more generally. The current paper makes an important empirical contribution to this debate by analysing the views and perceptions on this matter of 984 secondary school teachers in Abidjan, the largest city and de facto capital of Côte d’Ivoire – a country that was recently torn apart by ethnic strife and violent conflict. It emerges that while so far most teachers have shied away from addressing their country’s conflict history in class, it also appeared that many of the teachers were actually in favour of breaking this culture of silence.

Civil war violence and political trust: Microlevel evidence from Nepal

Exposure to violence can shape people’s political and social perceptions. War-time effects on trust in state institutions are particularly relevant for political stability in the aftermath of violent conflict. If people distrust the state, they are less likely to endorse reform plans, will be less inclined to comply with state rules and regulations, and may uphold support for challengers of state authority. Our paper contributes to the understanding of the role of violence for trust in the national government. We use high-quality, geo-referenced survey data, joined with village-level information on civil war casualties, to estimate the effects of exposure to violence on political trust in Nepal. We find that exposure to violence matters for reducing trust in the national government. This association seems to be mainly driven by effects of violence at the outbreak of the conflict as well as at the end of the civil war period under investigation. These findings shed new light on the complex associations between exposure to violence and political trust.

Priming effects of a reconciliation radio drama on historical perspective-taking in the aftermath of mass violence in Rwanda

A field experiment in Rwanda investigated the impact of a radio drama designed to increase perspective-taking with regard to the history of intergroup conflict. An audio-based priming technique was used to assess the causal impact of the radio drama. Rwandan participants (N=842) listened to an audio-delivered questionnaire recorded either in the voice of a main character of the radio drama (experimental priming condition) or an unknown actor (control condition). Participants primed with the radio drama reported higher levels of historical perspective-taking, engaged less in competitive victimhood, and expressed less mistrust toward the out-group. Overall, the findings suggest that fictional radio dramas can be used to address opposing historical narratives in the aftermath of violent conflict. Additionally, the study demonstrates the usefulness of a priming paradigm to assess causal influence of mass media interventions.

Movers or Stayers? Understanding the Drivers of IDP Camp Decongestion During Post-Conflict Recovery in Uganda

The paper explores factors that influence the household decision to leave internal displacement camps in the immediate aftermath of violent conflict. Our analysis is based on two sources of information: household survey data collected in northern Uganda for households that were displaced by the civil conflict, and geo-referenced data on armed conflict events, with which we construct our developed index of recent conflict exposure. We compare households that moved out of camps with those that remained in the camps after the region was declared safe from rebel incursions. The study covers the first few months of the end of conflict, when return was regarded as largely voluntary. We find that a history of conflict both at the place of residence, and at the expected place of return reduces the likelihood of return. Access to camp services overall encourages households to stay in camps, although the effect varies with the proportion of young household members. Results also show that a history of economic skills poses varying effects on return decisions. While experience in cultivation is associated with a high likelihood of moving out of the camp, households with members with recent experience in trading are less inclined to return. From a policy perspective, the results point to the need for recovery initiatives to ensure access to adequate infrastructures in return locations in order to fast-track reintegration.

<em>Collective Memory Practices as Tools for Reconciliation:</em> Perspectives from Liberation and Cultural Psychology

Many African communities have appropriated the international practice of “Truth and Reconciliation Commissions” (TRCs) as a means to construct a shared sense of collective memory, identity, and purpose in the aftermath of violent conflict. In this paper, we consider alternative forms of collective memory practices that might better suit the task of reconciliation in postconflict West African communities. Drawing upon the theoretical perspective of cultural psychology, we first identify the conceptual foundations of canonical TRC practice in particular Christian traditions that valorize revelation, truth, confession, and forgiveness. We then propose alternative practices of collective memory that have conceptual foundations in local practices or traditions that recommend secrecy (Shaw 2000), directed forgetting (Cole 2001), and other forms of interpretative silence. Drawing upon the theoretical perspective of liberation psychology, we note the ways in which conventional TRC practice, by focusing attention on acts of wrongdoing within communities, can reproduce silence about broader political and economic injustices that produce ripe conditions for conflict. We then propose alternative practices of collective memory to illuminate the role that local elites and citizens of rich nations play in the ongoing reproduction of unjust postcolonial conditions that can lead to conflict situations within communities.

Post-Conflict Accountability and the Demands of Justice: Can Conditional Amnesties Take the Place of Criminal Prosecutions?

When justice campaigners formulate aims and expectations for post-conflict justice, criminal prosecutions of the persons responsible for human rights violations and for politically motivated crimes are often given pride of place. Criminal trials in the aftermath of violent conflict and political suppression are intended to hold individuals accountable for horrific injuries they inflicted on their fellow citizens. And often enough, trials do succeed in this ambition, at least in respect of the (often comparatively few) accused brought before the courts. Against this background, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that post-conflict trials are not ends-in-themselves. The end in question is accountability – and this provides the starting point for asking whether credible alternative accountability mechanisms exist and when, if ever, such mechanisms ought to be preferred to criminal prosecutions. One alternative to prosecution, it has been argued, is the transitional amnesty implemented by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission between 1996 and 2001. This amnesty was available to political activists and to members of the apartheid state’s security forces, provided that an individual amnesty application was submitted within a limited period and upon full disclosure of the salient facts concerning the commission of politically motivated crimes. After reminding the reader of the extent to which this amnesty scheme was indeed capable of meeting the main tenets of accountability, the working paper reviews the manifold ways in which the experience of amnesty continues to exert its influence in South African political life. It addresses the frustrating prosecutorial aftermath of unsuccessful amnesty applications as well as the drawn-out special pardons process under way since 2002 to deal with some of the perceived shortcomings of the initial amnesty scheme. It argues that while South Africa’s amnesty law was quite rightly hailed as a blueprint for future transitions in which accountability through criminal trials cannot be ensured, the justifications put forward for this form of amnesty need to be effectively communicated in order to avoid creating a legacy of impunity which may ultimately pose a threat to democratic consolidation and the rule of law.

Beyond damage and social reproduction: Meaning making, agency, and living history among youth in the aftermath of violent conflict.

Beyond damage and social reproduction: Meaning making, agency, and living history among youth in the aftermath of violent conflict.

Decision-makers, donors and data: factors influencing the development of mental health and psychosocial policy in the Solomon Islands

Mental disorders and psychosocial problems are common, and present a significant public health burden globally. Increasingly, attention has been devoted to these issues in the aftermath of violent conflict. The Solomon Islands, a small Pacific island nation, has in recent years experienced periods of internal conflict. This article examines how policy decisions regarding mental health and wellbeing were incorporated into the national agenda in the years which followed. The study reveals the policy shifts, contextual influences and players responsible. The Solomon Islands' experience reflects incremental change, built upon longstanding but modest concern with mental health and social welfare issues, reinforced by advocacy from the small mental health team. Armed conflict and ethnic tensions from 1998 to 2003 promoted wider recognition of unmet mental health needs and psychosocial problems. Additional impetus was garnered through the positioning of key health leaders, some of whom were trained in public health. Working together, with an understanding of culture and politics, and drawing on external support, they drove the agenda. Contextual factors, notably further violence and the ongoing risk of instability, a growing youth population, and emerging international and local evidence, also played a part.

Rebuilding an Inclusive Political Community After War

This article argues that the central need in a society in the aftermath of violent conflict is to rebuild the state’s representation function, which should be constructed around an inclusive political and civic community. This inclusive community must overcome the fragmentation of society that occurs or is exacerbated during war, and view all community members as survivors of conflict. The main means of pursuing reconciliation in post-conflict societies has been through measures of ‘transitional justice’, primarily trials or truth commissions. However, this article argues that these transitional justice measures, while fulfilling certain needs and accruing some benefits, do not necessarily fulfil the specific need of delivering reconciliation or helping to rebuild inclusive societies. Instead, these measures could, paradoxically, deepen divisions within society. A new paradigm of ‘reparative justice’ is thus proposed as part of a comprehensive alternative, within the framework of a critical approach to post-conflict peacebuilding (PCPB), that would facilitate the reconstruction of an inclusive political and civic community while pursuing the objectives of justice and reconciliation.

Reviving Agriculture in the Aftermath of Violent Conflict: A Review of Experience

Promoting post-conflict recovery of agriculture differs significantly from promoting development of an agriculture sector in ‘normal’ circumstances. The large body of literature on post-conflict recovery has yet to cover systematically the experience of efforts to revive the production sectors of an economy. Based on a selected review of project and programme materials, this article draws together evaluations and lessons learned from many countries' post-conflict experiences in agriculture.1 It gives attention to the important links between this experience and resumption of long-term development, and with constraints imposed by the need to sustain peace. It is more difficult to rehabilitate agriculture in a post-conflict setting than it is to promote agricultural development under ‘normal’ conditions, that is, conditions of peace and security where violence is limited to ‘ordinary’ crime and banditry. This article explains why this is the case and shares some lessons learned from aid agency experience. Although a substantial body of literature focuses on post-conflict recovery, it does not differentiate between diverse experiences at the sectoral level.

Balancing Peace with Justice in the Aftermath of Violent Conflict

In her discussions of the different forms of justice, Rama Mani argues that international peacebuilders have sometimes imposed rather than proposed and facilitated solutions. She proposes that in order to rejoin peace and justice there must be a ‘social compact’ forged between all stakeholders in post-conflict societies: civilians and combatants, citizens and governments, international peacebuilders and national recipients.

Truth-Seeking, Truth-Telling, and Postconflict Peacebuilding: Curb the Enthusiasm?1

This essay evaluates popular and scholarly claims about the peace-promoting benefits of formal truth-telling and truth-seeking mechanisms in the aftermath of civil wars. Its purpose is twofold. First, it synthesizes and clearly articulates in one place the full range of claims about the relationship between truth-telling and peacebuilding. Second, it evaluates these claims by systematically examining the core factual and theoretical assumptions on which they are based. An argument is made that many such claims—and their core assumptions—are flawed or highly contentious as well as that truth-telling advocates claim far more about the power of truth-telling than logic or evidence dictates. This is not to say that truth-telling has no role to play in preventing the resumption of violent conflict in postwar societies, only that proponents likely overstate its importance. Before proclaiming the necessity of truth commissions or trials in the aftermath of violent conflict, we need to better understand how truth-telling prevents the recurrence of civil war, how important it is relative to other factors and other peacebuilding strategies, and when it is likely to prove helpful, harmful, or irrelevant.

Recuperation in the Peruvian Andes

Violent conflict is highly damaging for human security and the entire fabric of regional society. Individuals and groups confront situations that are unpredictable, threatening and impoverishing in material and cultural terms, and many communities are dislocated and de-territorialised. But conflict and instability do not in themselves constitute useful points of departure for the analysis of post-conflict situations. In this contribution I seek to highlight which actors, social relations and constellations of power come to prominence in the aftermath of violent conflict; examine the tensions arising from the different meanings given to ‘recuperation’; and investigate the spatial practice of social actors taking part in processes of recuperation. This contribution builds on an ongoing fieldwork study in a province of the Peruvian Central Andes.