History Of Conflict Research Articles

Towards a transformative memory of wartime sexualized violence? The ‘violence and gender’ exhibition at Dresden’s military history museum of the army

ABSTRACT This article asks how museums can mobilize memories of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) for progressive social ends. My case study is the ‘Violence and Gender’ exhibition, which ran at the Military History Museum of the Army in Dresden, Germany, in 2018. First, I introduce the memorial context, demonstrating the persistence of ‘conservative’ tropes that use memories of women’s suffering to buttress patriarchal and national agendas. Subsequently, I investigate how ‘Violence and Gender’ dislodges these conservative frames, focusing on its inclusion of complex victims and the links drawn between historical conflict and broader cultures of violence. Such contextualization and heterogeneity are key to ‘transformative memory’. I develop this term with reference to a recent scholarship on transitional justice to highlight the need for memory initiatives that broaden societal understandings of the forms and roots of CRSV, contributing both to more inclusive justice and to efforts to combat gendered violence and discrimination in the present. In view of its scope, ‘Violence and Gender’ offers the chance to reflect on the potential and pitfalls of various strategies for challenging visitors to check their assumptions and recognize their implications in global networks of insecurity and violence.

A new balance of power in the South Caucasus: How can it lead to regional stability?

The South Caucasus, comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, remains a pivotal region at the crossroads of North-South and East-West corridors. The region is rich in energy resources and communication opportunities, and it is entangled in unresolved historical conflicts and external competition. The new situation that emerged in the region after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war presumes a remaking of the new balance of power as well as the re-sharing of new zones of influence. The purpose of the study is to explore the evolving balance of power in the South Caucasus, focusing on the interplay between local actors and external stakeholders, and to evaluate the implications for regional stability. Extra-regional strategic interests and influences, as well as relevant policies and current risks of regional destabilization, are also explored. The research paper emphasizes the role of the contemporary geopolitical environment in the region by taking into consideration the key developments, regional responses, and broader implications. Comparative methods and discourse analysis of official statements are widely used in the research. Some quantitative data were also collected and analyzed for the projection of the evolving balance of power in the region. It has been concluded that the upcoming years will reveal whether the region can transition from a history of conflict to a future of cooperation, or whether new tensions will emerge from the shifting power dynamics. The region’s future stability will depend on the capacity of both local and external actors to prioritize dialogue and sustainable development over confrontation.

Sexual Violence Against Men: Impacts on Individual Victims, Significant Others, and the Community in the Eastern Region of Congo

Conflict-related sexual violence remains a systematic tool employed in warfare and terrorism to undermine communities, as recognized by the UN Security Council in Resolutions 1820 (2008) and 2242 (2015). Sexual violence has been a persistent issue throughout the history of conflict, war, and human existence. However, the victimization of men and boys remains insufficiently acknowledged and reported. This under-recognition can be attributed to several factors, such as societal stigma, the topic’s sensitive nature, prevailing stereotypes, and cultural influences. Male sexual violence is recognized as a critical public health concern because of its profound, immediate, and lasting effects on the victims, their loved ones, the community, and society at large. This paper examines the social and relational consequences of such violence on the individual victims, their significant others, and the wider society. The analysis will draw upon data gathered from the author’s doctoral thesis conducted in the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2021, as well as recent research on this critical issue to enrich the discussion.

Crafting Strategy, Making Continuum Peace? A Proposal of Social Practice Peacebuilding Research

Objective: The study assesses postconflict peacebuilding's analytical and political potential. Bourdieu's social practices and peacebuilding ideas show that long-term peace requires integration. We examined Sendoreng, Monterado District, Bengkayang Regency, West Kalimantan to see if local peace initiatives promote reconciliation. Theoretical Framework: Bourdieu's social practices and peacebuilding theories are used to study post-conflict reconciliation. Subjectivity, collective memory, and how individual and communal experiences affect peace processes are stressed. The paradigm emphasises local traditions in peacebuilding and how social structures and identity narratives affect conflict and negotiation.. Method: The study used a narrative approach to show conflict's emotional effects and lived experiences, enhancing postconflict perspectives. Qualitative analysis helps synthesise data for historical views and peacebuilding tactics. Results and Discussion: Intergroup conflicts caused by social culture and ethnic prejudices have shaped Sendoreng's conflict history, according to the data. Social cohesion and local culture foster Dayak-Maduru transformation. Postconflict integration uses institutional and community-driven regional forums and social normalization. Research Implications: To guarantee lasting reconciliation, the research proposes peacebuilding tactics include participatory decision-making and stakeholder engagement. It emphasizes the role of legal systems, national harmony forums, and policy frameworks in ethnic peacekeeping. A systematic dispute resolution strategy from the research benefits lawmakers and peacekeepers across sociocultural contexts. Originality/Value: This study applies Bourdieu's social practices theory to post-conflict reconciliation, providing a new viewpoint on peacebuilding. It uses Sendoreng as a unique case study to show how local culture affects conflict settlement. Peacebuilding research and practice can benefit from the paper's integrated conflict management model, which includes social, institutional, and policy initiatives.

Multi-disciplinary site investigations of WW2 allied aerial bombing decoy sites in North Staffordshire, UK

ABSTRACT In 1937, the British government implemented a strategy to strengthen UK air defences, constructing a network of decoy sites to mislead enemy aircraft from bombing Allied airfields, industrial centres and major cities. This paper reports on investigations of three relict aerial bombing decoy sites in Staffordshire, UK, deliberately built along German radio beam directions to divert enemy bombers from high priority industrial target sites. The three sites were in varying states of preservation, displaying control shelters with concrete bed generator rooms, headlamp platforms, relict electrical systems to simulated aeroplane runways, in situ blast walls and ceramic pipe blast expansion systems to protect personnel from bomb burst air concussions. Site-collected data included drone models, ground-based LiDAR, geophysical datasets and 360° camera imagery for digital site preservation. This study demonstrates these bombing decoy sites varied in construction and brings WW2 conflict history into the wider scientific community and public domain.

War, Colonization, and Language Evolution: Tracing Linguistic Shifts in Global History

This study investigates the intertwined roles of war and colonization in driving language evolution, focusing on the ways in which historical conflicts and colonial encounters have reshaped linguistic systems. By examining pivotal case studies—including the Norman Conquest, 20th-century conflicts, and colonial language imposition in various regions—the research reveals how power dynamics, cultural exchange, and forced linguistic contact contribute to shifts in vocabulary, syntax, and identity. Employing a multi-method approach that combines comparative historical analysis, corpus-based investigation, and qualitative case studies, the study highlights both the rapid lexical integration observed during wartime and the more gradual processes of creolization and pidgin formation that emerge in colonized settings. The findings underscore the dual nature of language as both a repository of cultural memory and a tool for negotiating social identity, offering valuable insights for contemporary language policy and cultural preservation efforts. This work aims to enrich our understanding of language change by situating it within the broader context of historical events, thereby contributing to ongoing discussions in historical linguistics and sociolinguistics.

An integrated participatory framework for WEFE nexus strategic planning: The Jordan Valley case study.

The Jordan Valley (JV) is a critical region where the interplay of water, energy, food, and ecosystem (WEFE) dynamics presents both challenges and opportunities for sustainable development and climate change mitigation and adaptation. In such a transboundary river basin with acute nexus problems and a long history of conflicts, it is essential that conscious efforts are made to pluralize the debate and actively encourage stakeholders' empowerment, participation and fair collaboration in strategic planning. An integrated framework for participatory strategic planning in the WEFE nexus is proposed, which has been developed in the context of the JV case study. The nexus approach emphasizes decentralized, but coordinated decision making as the source of solutions, based on a clear understanding of the challenges faced. The engagement process consisted of living lab sessions where Causal Loop diagrams facilitated discussions with stakeholders by visualizing the complexity and interdependence of WEFE sectors and prioritizing the challenges faced. Community capacity assessment appraised the capacities of each community, identifying barriers to addressing their priorities. Finally, the gap analysis bridged the baseline understanding with actionable targets. The results not only highlight the pressing challenges, priorities, and leverage points for each territory but also outline pathways for fostering resilience and adaptation to the region's intertwined crises. The priorities and capacities across the three territories of the JV reveal significant disparities, reflecting the diverse socio-political, environmental, and economic contexts of the region. The methodologies and overall framework may be replicated in other regions with similar climate and challenges around the world.

An Appraisal of the Efforts Made by Cameroon Towards Achieving Transitional Justice

This study examines the efforts made by the government of Cameroon toward achieving transitional justice in the context of its conflict recovery and nation-building process. Transitional justice refers to the set of judicial and non-judicial measures adopted by countries to address past human rights violations, promote reconciliation, and prevent future conflicts. Cameroon, with its history of internal conflicts, political instability, and human rights challenges, has made various efforts to address these issues. This appraisal explores the legal, institutional, and political steps taken by the government, including truth commissions, reparations, judicial reforms, and community-based reconciliation initiatives. The study critically assesses the effectiveness of these measures in promoting justice, accountability, and healing, as well as the challenges faced in implementing a comprehensive transitional justice framework. The study adopts the qualitative research methodology with the use of the doctrinal method alongside observation. Through an analysis of relevant policies, reports, and case studies, the paper highlights the successes, in Cameroon’s pursuit of transitional justice. It concludes by offering recommendations for strengthening the transitional justice process to foster sustainable peace and national unity in the country.

Media ownership and coverage patterns of established, disruptive, and unconventional climate advocacy groups

Groups advocating on climate and environmental issues often seek to obtain media coverage to increase public awareness of their cause, yet comparatively little is understood about the factors influencing the volume and content of that coverage. This study investigates the quantity and characteristics of media coverage of climate advocacy groups through a mixed-method analysis of 17,380 Australian media articles published between 2017–2022. Four types of advocacy groups were the focus: ‘Established’ groups (large professionalised environmental groups); ‘Disruptive’ groups (the greatest use of civil resistance tactics); and two types of what we call ‘Unconventional advocates’ – those who advocate for action on climate change but from a social identity position that is either typically not associated with climate action (‘Role-based unconventional advocates’, such as parents or doctors) or has a history of conflict with climate or other environmental causes and environmentalists (‘Conflict-spanning unconventional advocates’, such as farmers and political conservatives). Findings indicate that linguistic cues associated with conflict, achievement, and emotional sentiment differed significantly according to the advocacy group type and media ownership. While Established groups gained the greatest volume of coverage, Disruptive groups attracted the highest conflict language and lowest achievement language, particularly in outlets published by News Corp (the Murdoch owned media company). Meanwhile, conflict-spanning unconventional advocates received coverage using language with the lowest levels of conflict and highest levels of achievement. Our findings highlight the potential for new types of climate advocates to gain comparative sympathetic media coverage and potentially expand the social basis of support for climate action.

Under Fire, Under Pressure: Understanding the Lives of Commonwealth Troops on the Front Lines of the Korean War

Widely considered one of the opening salvos of the Cold War, the Korean War (1950–1953) was a turning point in the history of conflict and the first test of collective security for a new United Nations. It once again brought together old Commonwealth allies, but in an era where each nation had increasingly divergent interests. Nonetheless, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were expected to cooperate once more in a ruthless conflict shaped by evolving and often stalled diplomatic negotiations. While generals and politicians are often credited for shaping the course of the war, this article will turn to those sent to carry out their orders. It will explore the lives of the ordinary Commonwealth soldiers, who found themselves at the sharp end of a global standoff, from battle-hardened reservists to fresh-faced teenage recruits and conscripts. The article will examine the conditions they endured in dug-outs across the Korean Peninsula and the innumerable challenges to everyday survival, from disease and the cold to the enemy across no-man’s land. Finally, it will reflect on how individuals from disparate parts of the world could come together under such trying circumstances and contemplate the role that intangible factors like morale play in war.

Unveiling hydrosocial dynamics: discourse and power in Peña Blanca

Water is not just a material element but a socio-natural object of knowledge whose conceptualisation, policing and management carry symbolic and material implications. This issue becomes especially evident in territories where water scarcity and drought pose heightened social and environmental challenges, not least in the face of climate change. Against this background, our research looks at the long history of water privatisation in Chile and at how it has profoundly impacted water scarcity issues, exacerbated desertification, and led to water conflicts. In particular, in Peña Blanca, an agricultural community in northern Chile, these dimensions intertwine and shed light on the territory’s hydrosocial components. Water and fog tell histories of social dynamics, conflicts, cooperation, and climate change. Taking a discoursive approach to ethnographic fieldwork, the paper will analyse interviews carried out with local actors against the background of on-site observation to explore the discursive construction of water and its sociopolitical consequences in Peña Blanca. The paper aims to provide an original perspective on the symbolic and material implications of hydrosocial identities in climate-exposed communities struggling for autonomy, agency, and self-determination.

Rohingya identity, nationhood and the census

ABSTRACT Ethnicity is one of the factors that determine eligibility for citizenship in Myanmar. While the government of Myanmar denies the existence of a ‘Rohingya’ people and insists on calling them ‘Bengalis’, Rohingya organisations argue that the Rohingya are in fact an indigenous ethnic group with a long history in northern Rakhine. Exploring the dispute over ‘the Rohingya’ as an ethnic identity through the lens of critical demography, this article examines the colonial and post-colonial Burmese census as records of governmental knowledge production and investigates the Burmese concept of ‘national races’ and its roots in a colonial concept of nationhood in which ethnicity is assumed to represent a measurable, knowable and relevant kind of difference. After decades of post-independence conflict along ‘ethnic’ fault-lines, the Burmese government took the colonial premise of nationhood a step further by making ethnicity a criterion for citizenship, confusing the individual right to citizenship with the territorial rights of nations. This article queries the politics of the Rohingya ethnonym, investigating the parallel histories of census-taking, citizenship legislation and conflict in northern Rakhine.

Friends and Foes in the Battle Field: Unraveling the History of Farmer-Herder Conflicts in Jigawa State, 1991-2015

This paper examines the nuanced historical trajectories, causes, and effects of farmer-herder conflicts in Jigawa State. It also examines the role of the state government and other bodies in resolving and managing these conflicts, especially from 1991 to 2015. Arguably, the major factors responsible for these conflicts in Jigawa State include effects of the climate change, overpopulation of herders, indiscriminate destruction of unharvested crops by herders, encroachment on cattle routes, and denial of access to water points by farmers. Other contributory factors include occasional assaults on Fulani women, growth of agro-pastoralism, expansion of farming into pastures due to population explosion and technological advancements, cattle rustling, burning of rangelands, overgrazing of fallow lands, floods, and aggressive behavior from competing parties. The conflicts engendered food shortages and increased food prices, loss of lives, destruction of property, social dislocation, and estrangement. In response, the Jigawa State government took measures and implemented policies intending to curtail the phenomenon. This paper unravels the conflict, its consequences, and steps taken by the government to manage it using historical methods and sources such as published and unpublished materials, interviews, and observations.

Restoring dignity by granting rights: IHL and peacebuilding empowerment for Magdalena River fishing communities in Colombia

Abstract This article examines the role of international humanitarian law (IHL) in safeguarding artisanal fishing communities residing along the banks of the Magdalena River in Colombia after the recognition of the river as a rights-bearing entity1 and a victim of the armed conflict. The article also explores the potential of targeted peacebuilding interventions for achieving sustainable well-being, ecological restoration and enduring peace. Against the backdrop of historical conflict, the Magdalena River and its adjoining communities have suffered significant harm, requiring widespread reparations that go beyond immediate crisis management. The study proposes a comprehensive approach for achieving sustainable well-being, ecological restoration and enduring peace, acknowledging the complex connections between legal frameworks, environmental considerations and the cultural heritage of the riverine community.

A Living Classroom: Ongoing Revolutions at Boston’s Old North Church and Historic Site

Boston’s Old North Church and Historic Site welcomes about 200,000 visitors annually. Many arrive at the three-century-old church as part of their patriotic pilgrimage along Boston’s Freedom Trail, a 2.5-mile path that includes museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and some historic markers believed to represent critical moments in early American history. Most visitors to Old North expect to learn more about silversmith and patriot Paul Revere’s “midnight ride” and the lanterns that hung in the Old North Church steeple on April 18, 1775. However, when they stand inside the historic edifice, they quickly discover that it has unexpected stories to tell. The Old North Church functions as a living classroom. Its materiality introduces visitors to the hard histories of slavery, colonialism, racism, and religious conflicts. This article shows the evolution of interpretations of the Old North Church. The staff at Old North Illuminated, the non-profit organization that preserves and interprets the church’s history, relies upon the materiality of the church alongside new archival research to reinterpret its history. The current on-site interpretation reflects the staff’s growing awareness of the church’s complicity in histories of racism, slavery, and colonialism in the Atlantic World. Critical research discoveries since 2016, paired with the racial reckonings of the past 10-15 years, have allowed the staff to reinterpret the church’s history in more inclusive ways that will enable visitors to engage with the inequitable revolutions of our times.

Refugee securitization and the challenges of formal integration: case of Somali refugees in Kenya and Ethiopia

Securitization of refugees and migrants is a growing global phenomenon that is well illustrated by how refugee camps have emerged as governmental technologies of control in major host countries across the world. Policymakers and the media prominently feature the migration-security connection and depict refugees as threats to internal security, linking their presence to acts of terrorism and crime. This article examines how the securitization of Somali refugees in Kenya and Ethiopia, the two main host countries for this refugee group, has hindered their formal integration and exacerbated policies of encampment in these countries. Drawing on securitization theory, we highlight the discrimination of Somali refugees in Kenya and Ethiopia by demonstrating how this refugee group is seen as a specific security threat and treated differently from other refugee groups in these countries. A history of border conflicts that shaped the relationship between refugee hosting areas and the national governments long before the advent of camps, coupled with shared Somaliness between locals and refugees in hosting areas, and the back-and-forth refugee movements across international borders have created a confluence of factors that reinforce suspicion and distrust towards Somali refugees. The article adds a normative empirical dimension to securitization theory by providing a nuanced understanding of the concept as it applies to different refugee groups in similar contexts. It also contributes to refugee and migration literature by arguing that although shared Somaliness with locals has strengthened the informal integration of Somali refugees in the two study contexts, the same ties have also provided justification for securitizing this refugee group and denied it from benefitting from progressive laws on formal integration that are being implemented for other refugee groups.

Trypanosomosis and Transhumance: Contributions to Contemporary Conflicts Between Farmers and Herdsmen Along the Tsetse Fly Belts: Mathematical Modeling and Systematic Field Analysis Approach.

Conflicts within the tsetse fly belt revealed a strong correlation between the dynamics of bovine trypanosomosis and the insurgency involving farmers and herders in Nigeria and parts of West Africa. This study examined the history, causes and influence of farmers-herdsmen conflicts on banditry, terrorism and food security as it relates to the epidemiology of African animal trypanosomosis (AAT). A combination of literature database searches, semi-structured questionnaires, and mathematical modeling was employed. The study found that transhumance contributes significantly to conflicts between farmers and herdsmen. An average of 6.46 persons per attack were reported between 2005 and 2021. Only 8.4 (95 CI: 5.0 12.9) of farmers and 18.2 (95 CI: 12.4 25.4) of herdsmen have engaged in conflict resolution efforts. The study shows that both conflict and the spread of trypanosomosis can be effectively controlled when , ensuring that the sub-population remains in the basin of attraction of the trypanosomosis-conflict-free equilibrium ( ). The partial derivative of the basic reproduction number, , with respect to improved conflict resolution, suggests that halting transhumance can prevent a portion of the cattle recruitment rate ( ) from becoming infected with AAT. Climate change exacerbates these issues, leading to settlement and resettlement strategies within the fly belt regions. The model indicates that the basic reproduction number can only be reduced to less than one ( ) to become globally asymptotically stable if there is effective conflict resolution involving both farmers and herders. The study advocates for the establishment of ranching in tsetse-free zones with adequate social amenities, improved marketing strategies for animals and animal products led by government agencies through public-private partnerships, the banning of open grazing, and strict enforcement of policies against violators.

Perceptions of Organizational Change Readiness for Sustainable Digital Transformation: Insights from Learning Management System Projects in Higher Education Institutions

The adoption of Learning Management Systems (LMS) in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) offers a transformative potential to enhance educational quality, operational efficiency, and cost-effectiveness while promoting sustainable digital transformation. However, resistance to LMS implementation often undermines these benefits. Initial perceptions of an Organizational Change Readiness (OCR) play a crucial, as they shape attitudes and behaviors, often resulting in rumors, disengagement, and resistance. The objective of the study is to explore how attributes of change, leadership support, internal organizational context, and attributes of change targets impact OCR in the context of LMS implementation. Drawing from organizational change management and information systems literature, this study examines key factors influencing these early perceptions within LMS initiatives. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 316 university personnel across seven public universities and three private colleges. Data were analyzed using partial least squares, revealing that vision clarity, change appropriateness, top-management support, project champion effectiveness, and organizational flexibility explaining 75% of the variance in perceived OCR. Conversely, factors such as change efficacy, organizational history of change, organizational conflicts, and group self-efficacy demonstrated limited influence. These findings underscore the importance of aligning LMS initiatives with institutional goals, fostering sustainable digital practices, and enhancing policy frameworks to facilitate smooth adoption. This study provides actionable insights for promoting sustainable educational transformation in HEIs, particularly in contexts where traditional teaching methods prevail and resistance to technological change is common.

The rise of subaltern gurus in western India: Caste, identity and religion

Portuguese colonialism and the ramifications of state-sponsored Catholicism occupy centre stage in much of the scholarly writing on Goa. This preoccupation has meant that important parallel developments in Hindu society have tended to go relatively unnoticed. One such development is the meteoric rise in the first half of the twentieth century of subaltern gurus whose popularity is mistakenly seen as a sign of intensified religiosity. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, this article offers an alternate perspective. It examines the processes underlying the rise of the Padmanabha sampradaya in Bombay and its phenomenal spread to Goa and studies the growth of this guru-centred movement as part of the larger regional histories of conflict and of Bhandari caste identity articulations. The article also explores the ways in which the sampradaya has acquired new political leverage in Goa and its adaptability to the varying circumstances of state-level political competition. It argues that the emergence of gurus was a complex process that involved political elements evident in contemporary electoral politics in Goa and which cannot be decoupled from the social dynamics of the formation.

Colour troubles: colourisation and photography in Ireland

Colourisation of historical photography has formed a popular and lucrative practice and publication niche in Ireland since 2018. This essay concerns the challenges colourisation presents to historical and ontological constructions of the past, particularly Ireland’s past histories of conflict and trauma, centring on photography of the Troubles in Northern Ireland as example. From photographs’ contested use in the Scarman (1969), Widgery (1972), and Saville (2010) tribunals and enquiries, to Northern Irish artists’ interrogation of photographic ‘truths’ and representations of the conflict since the 1980s, it outlines photography’s complex relationship to witness, truth, memory and perspective. Contrasting with the dominant monochromatic record of the Troubles in photojournalism is the recent re-discovery of the work of Japanese photographer Akihiko Okamura, who produced an astonishing body of colour images of the North from the late 1960s–1970s. Okamura’s meticulous use of colour, and the digital restoration choices faced by Photo Museum Ireland in publishing and exhibiting his work in 2024, throw into relief the ethics, subjectivity and values invested into colour and photography.