Parties In Conflict Research Articles

Social Harmony in Local Cultural Awareness, Its Effect on Conflict Settlement and Social Violence (Case Study of Silat College Conflict in Madiun)

The conflict between the two silat colleges in Madiun, was caused by differences in opinions and interests of individuals related to the strategy of developing the values ​​of the faithful heart of the martial arts school. Settlement efforts have been carried out by the authorities through reconciliation by bringing together conflicted parties, however, the implementation of reconciliation was not effective in resolving the conflicts that occurred. Solutions that prioritize prosecution actually lead to new problems, therefore a cultural approach can be a support for resolving these social conflicts. Local cultural wisdom that contains values, social norms, and goals binds the community in maintaining harmony, harmony and harmony of social life. These social values ​​and norms form the glue of people's lives and are believed to be able to solve social problems that occur in society. With the use of local culture, it will be able to encourage living together in the community based on the demands of a value system that complements their rules culturally. Keywords : Silat College, Conflict, Harmony, Culture, Local Wisdom. DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-18-05 Publication date: September 30 th 2020

Water in war: Understanding the impacts of armed conflict on water resources and their management

AbstractArmed conflict has the potential to disrupt water systems that are crucial to environmental and human wellbeing. Yet there is no comprehensive overview of scientific evidence on the impact of armed conflicts on water resources and their management. This paper assesses the relevant scientific evidence through a systematic literature review. We discern conceptual, empirical, and methodological approaches adopted in the reviewed publications and synthesize the overarching research results. Common research topics across the body of literature include the role of water resources in armed conflicts, either as a casualty or as a weapon used by conflict parties, and the implications of armed conflict on water resources management, such as basic service provision and water governance. The analysis also pinpoints the research field's focus on empirical studies based on a small number of cases, and highlights a lack of conceptual engagement with the notion of armed conflict. Future research on water resources and their management in conflict settings needs to be more transparent on conceptual frameworks and assumptions to facilitate knowledge integration across different studies.This article is categorized under: Planning Water > Engineering Water Water Governance > Human Water

Family mediation as a form of alternative dispute resolution in Poland

For years, mediation has been unused as an institutionalised form of dispute resolution. The introduction of methods for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) into social life, including the use of impartial mediation in the practice of the Polish justice system, signals some social change. The practice and procedure of mediation is of particular importance in cases regarding close relationships between people. This article explains and promotes family mediation as a form of ADR. Experience shows that mediation in family matters brings a number of benefits to conflicted parties and the justice system.
 
 Keywords: Conflict, dispute, mediation, family.

Engaging North Korea: environmental cooperation in peacebuilding

Despite ongoing political tensions and sanctions, North Korea and South Korea have made some progress in forestry cooperation. To explain the persistence of this cooperation, we draw upon a local approach to environmental peacebuilding. By tracing inter-Korean forestry cooperation from 2000 to 2018, this study finds that cooperation persists because of a North Korean desire for cooperation specifically on the environment, and because non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with close ties to the South Korean government provided an alternative way to implement inter-Korean forestry cooperation through periods of tension. Our findings also highlight the benefits of using environmental cooperation as a way to engage with North Korea in a depoliticised and sanction-free context. This finding has far-reaching implications for environmental peacebuilding. First, NGOs can pave the way for engaging conflict parties even in the face of ongoing hostility. Second, environmental cooperation provides an opportunity for a win–win strategy for conflict parties.

DEMOCRATIC SUSTAINABILITY AND CONFLICT RESILIENCE IN GHANA’S DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM

Ghana could be described as an island of peace in an ocean of conflicts. This is because most of Ghana’s West African neighbours have experienced (and some are still experiencing) various forms of national civil conflicts which have never occurred in Ghana. In the last three decades, the West Africa sub-region has been plagued with many intra-state conflicts. In Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali, conflicts have escalated into full scale war, bringing with it numerous loss of lives, destruction of property and causing social despair for the citizenry. The peace of some countries like Senegal, Nigeria, Niger and recently Burkina Faso also continues to be threatened by different dissident groups and popular uprisings. While most of these countries’ democracies remain fragile due to the conflicts within these states, Ghana remains one of few examples whose current democratic structures have stood the test of time for the last three decades. This study inquired into Ghana’s conflict resistance capacities and its ability to continue to sustain its democracy as a country. Mixed methods approach was employed to select 132 community residents from 3 purposefully sampled conflict-prone communities in Ghana, and 5 key informants as well as 462 political party delegates for interviewing and data collection for the study.The study found that the very nature of Ghana’s internal conflicts with respect to their geographical limitations, the conflict parties involved as well as the issues at stake contribute to confine these internal conflicts within their areas of occurrence. In addition, some conscious social and institutional measures (put in place) in the Ghanaian democratic system help to promote peace and maintain order. Finally, majority of the respondents (63.6%) were of the opinion that Ghana is unlikely to have a national civil war because its democratic institutions are effective. It was suggested that politicians should avoid interfering in local conflicts and increase coverage for peace education programmes and conflict intervention initiatives in the country, among others.

Alternatives of judicial economic disputes settlement in investment and construction sphere

Modern state of construction industry signifies the necessity of coping with technological backwardness, accrued misbalances, low productiveness of construction business and also its persistent unprofitability and high level of conflict character of construction participants. Actual rise of economic interests contradictions caused by a more complicated character of projects, increase of social burden on construction business induced by inconsistent and even fragmentary measures of public regulation has led to enormous number of economic disputes. Bankruptcy caseload of investment and construction companies is at the highest possible level nowadays. Not only small and middle-sized business but also large companies cannot withstand modern challenges pressure. In this connection there is a huge field for elaboration of dispute resolution methods. Shifting towards project financing strengthens inner contradictions in the industry and also causes conflict of interests with banks. Decline of assets quality, increase of unfinished construction volume, loss of partners, withdrawal of turnover capital, waste of staff, enlargement of shadow economy segment – these are just the part of consequences which should be overcome immediately. Systemic possible solutions deal with the use of the whole specter of disputes resolution methods. Foreign experience, for example Belarusian one, proves that non-judicial methods are more flexible, rational, diverse and acceptable for parties in conflict. The most important thing is that these methods of settling differences have negotiating nature and let the parties find decisions with a high potential of practical fulfillment (not just winning the case in court). Experts expressed different opinions on the issue of conciliation procedure organizational form. The main requirement for arising disputes in investment and construction projects is an uninterrupted process and prevention of bankruptcies: debtors, contractors, subcontractors and construction shareholders. Participants of conference came to the conclusion that certain pilot projects promoting diverse disputes settlement procedures in investment and construction should be launched

Проблема сохранения историко-культурного наследия в Косове: международно-политический аспект

The purpose of this work is to identify the relation-ship between world politics and culture in the con-text of the concept of sustainable development. As an example, the author analyzes the situation in Kosovo, where cultural and historical objects have become hostages of the ethno-confessional conflict and the subject of bargaining by actors in the inter-national arena. The relevance of the paper is deter-mined by the presence of ongoing terrorist attacks against cultural heritage sites in the region and the world. During the conflict in Kosovo, there was a mutual cultural and ethnic genocide, which the con-flict parties are not willing to admit. Moreover, given the primary responsibility of the state for the preser-vation of historical and religious sites, the question arises about the future of heritage sites in Kosovo with an unrecognized status. In this regard, the in-ternational community needs to be more actively involved in the situation in Kosovo.

Orchestrating peace in South Sudan: exploring the effectiveness of the European Union’s mediation support

ABSTRACTPrevious research has primarily focused on the EU’s high-profile involvement as direct mediator in peace negotiations. Conversely, less attention has been devoted to the EU’s support to third parties’ mediation efforts, which is a significant component of its mediation activities. Addressing this research gap, this article develops a conceptual framework for the systematic analysis of EU mediation support, identifying key mediation support techniques and the conditions for their success. In terms of mediation support techniques, the EU may rely on “endorsement”, “coordination”, “assistance”, and “lending leverage” to empower and steer third party mediators in line with its mediation objectives and values. We illustrate the utility of the conceptual framework for the EU’s support to IGAD in mediating in South Sudan’s civil war. We find that the EU has contributed significantly to IGAD’s empowerment in terms of endorsement, coordination, assistance, and lending leverage. Simultaneously, our analysis also points to important challenges in the EU-IGAD relationship, which relate to challenges concerning strategic engagement with IGAD’s internal politics that are marked by diverging interests and ties of its member states to the conflict parties.

Arbitration of oil contracts in oil-producing Arab Countries

This study investigates the most important legal matters of arbitration of Arab oil contracts. It has focused on the independent nature of arbitration, and the distinguished characteristics which make arbitration the most preferable means to settle international economic disputes. The study as well as sheds light on the arbitration agreement which included in the oil contracts in a way that excludes this agreement from the legal rules that usually prevent such agreements from developing in scope and content on the one hand, whereas on the other hand the study takes a look on the arbitration tribunal resulting from the arbitration agreement that included in the oil contracts which have special characteristics that distinguishes them from any other contracts in other economical and trading ventures.
 This study has concluded that it is better for the disputes resulting from the oil contracts to be resolved via arbitration without necessarily arbitrated affecting the judicial immunity function. additionally, settlement of disputes in issuing the arbitration decision should be voluntarily implemented by the two parties in conflict. Finally, the researcher recommends arbitration as the only viable tool for settling conflicts/disputes of oil contracts in oil producing Arab nations because it’s the fastest, most reliable, least expensive and time saving method of conflict resolution.

Исламофобия в России и мире как отражение миграционных процессов

The article considers the problem of migration and conflicts associated with it. The author points out that due to natural population loss, immigration remains the main source of population replenishment in Europe and in Russia. It is shown that inflow of labour immigrants who do not want to adapt to the norms of the recipient society resulted in the growth of xenophobia and formation of the Islamophobic mood. The paper emphasizes the leading role of the state in conflict-solving process, because only well thought-out migration policy opens the road to a dialogue between conflict parties.

Günümüz Çatışmalarında Özgürlüğünden Yoksun Bırakılmış Kişilerin Korunması

In the contemporary armed conflicts of today, deprivation of liberty has become a widely used method by both states and non-state armed groups. The conditions in which those vulnerable persons are detained by the parties of conflict are extremely severe and quite tragic. They are often held in conditions where they are unaware of the reasons for their detention and their rights, their communication with the outside world is banned and they have inadequate access to water, food and medical assistance. They are often subjected to extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment, and cannot be protected. Although this is mostly due to the failure to comply with relevant legal norms, lack of knowledge of the law or lack of capacity and physical disabilities; the lack of detailed legal norms in noninternational armed conflicts compared to international armed conflicts is an important factor in the inability to protect their life, dignity and health. This study aims to address humanitarian law in terms of the ‘deprivation of liberty’ which is commonly applied by the parties to the conflict in the context of the Non-International Armed Conflicts which has become a fundamental characteristic of contemporary armed conflicts. Within this scope, whether the provisions on deprivation of liberty/detention in the law of Non-International Armed Conflicts provide adequate protection or not and the legal gaps in this respect will be examined. Additionally, in cases of detention, the areas of Humanitarian Law need to be improved alongside efforts and solution proposals to strengthen these areas will be included.

Third party interventions in coach-athlete conflict: Can sport psychology practitioners offer the necessary support?

The relationship athletes develop with their coaches is instrumental for improved sport performances and wellbeing. Sport psychologists have been encouraged to facilitate the development of effective coach-athlete relationships and may also play a vital part in dealing with disruptions, such as interpersonal conflict. With this in mind, the present study aimed to explore sport psychologists’ roles in preventing and managing coach-athlete conflict, as well as to examine potential challenges in doing so. Data were collected via sixteen semi-structured interviews with experienced sport psychology practitioners. A thematic analysis resulted in two overarching themes. The first theme encapsulated roles of sport psychology practitioners in managing coach-athlete conflict. The six identified subthemes included such roles as educating sport participants, facilitating dyadic interactions, or protecting individual conflict parties. The second overarching theme covered challenges perceived by sport psychology practitioners when providing support to coaches and athletes. The five subthemes included, for example, environmental and professional concerns. Based on this study, practical recommendations for the education of sport psychologists are drawn. These may include training in conflict prevention, mediation or even organizational change. Applied sport psychologists should furthermore be better prepared to cope with and manage power differences between themselves and others as well as between the various members of sport organizations (e.g., coaches, athletes, manager). Lay summary: The relationship between coaches and athletes is crucial for sport performance and individual wellbeing. Thus, the presented study explored how sport psychology practitioners may facilitate this relationship during times of interpersonal difficulties and conflict by providing information, practicing interpersonal skills and mediating between conflict partners.

The conceptual model of information confrontation of virtual communities in social networking services

Social networking services are one of the most popular mass media and are used as an effective tool for information confrontation due to their functional characteristics. Existing models of information confrontation take into account the redistribution between conflict parties of only one kind of resource, although in the social networking services there is a need to consider additional factors that determine the effectiveness of virtual communities’ opposition. A conceptual model of information confrontation of virtual communities in social networking services has been developed, and it includes three-layer dynamics of the number of actors, growth of information resources of virtual communities and dynamics of spending resources for the confrontation conduct. The model also takes into account the peculiarities of the antagonistic conflict of virtual communities’ actors through the choice of a differential equation that corresponds to the type of its dynamics. The offered conceptual model formalizes the behavior of virtual communities’ actors in the conditions of antagonistic conflict. At the same time, it allows to investigate the peculiarities of using different strategies to carry out the information fight of virtual communities in social networking services, to choose optimal strategies, to predict the development of conflicts in the information space and to develop effective measures to counter threats to the state’s information security.

Der Vertrag zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Volksrepublik Polen über die Grundlagen der Normalisierung ihrer gegenseitigen Beziehungen als Zäsur in der Geschichte der Bonner Republik

For Poland, the "Warsaw Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of Poland" brought legal certainty: The Polish western border was now recognized by both German states under international law. For the Federal Republic of Germany, the tough domestic political struggle for ratification of the treaty marks a turning point. The essay describes this struggle between the social-liberal government and the conservative opposition against the background of the German constitution (Basic Law), which should ensure the stability of the democratic system based on the experiences from the Weimar period. It shows how the conflict parties used instruments of the no-confidence vote and the dissolution of parliament and what role the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) played in this conflict: The leading decision of the court is analysed in detail. Last but not least, the surprising role of the GDR in this conflict is also examined.

The criteria of mediation procedure applicability in juridical practice

The goal of the article is to discuss where, when and under which circumstances should the mediation process and procedure be applied. In Russia, this practice is still being developed and its’ reputation is crucial so that it might be well received by both judicial bodies and the general public. A positive image of mediation might help to develop trust in this progressive method of conflict resolution among Russian citizens. To do this, it is necessary to distinguish conflicts that can be solved via mediation from those where mediation is not applicable and, therefore, will fail. We propose criteria to determine, whether a conflict situation is negotiable, and mediation is applicable. Our proposition is based on an analysis of contemporary literature together with the practice of addressing mediation in different situations. Our conclusions find that the system of criteria for the applicability of mediation procedure should be based on the criteria of negotiableness. Also, the system of criteria should be consistently developed on “indications” and contraindications for mediation. In addition to acknowledging a case as negotiable, the indications should include the following: conflict parties do not possess negotiation procedure and interpersonal relations between the parties do not exceed the acceptable “threshold level.” Obstacles to mediation may include: an extremely high stage (exceeding the 6th stage in Glasl’s model) of conflict escalation, criteria related to the personal characteristics of the parties, and contextual criteria. The obstacles related to the personal characteristics of the parties include an attitude to interpret conflicts in terms of guilt level, the inability to rationally interpret the conflict while being inclined towards its’ successful resolution. The contextual criteria include circumstances that are related neither to the conflict situation itself nor to the personal characteristics of the parties. The said criteria are external and objective such as direct prohibitions, subcultural restrictions, etc.

African Solutions to African Challenges: The Role of Legitimacy in Mediating Civil Wars in Africa

AbstractThe current scholarly literature on the international mediation of civil wars draws predominantly on a rationalist-materialist perspective. This perspective suggests that the ticket to mediation success is the material manipulation of the bargaining environment by third parties with a high degree of economic and military resources. I argue that legitimacy also determines outcomes of mediation because if a mediator has legitimacy, it can continue to look for a mutually satisfactory outcome and try to pull the conflict parties toward compliance. I show that legitimacy matters by systematically comparing the effectiveness of African and non-African third parties. African third parties are typically considered ineffective because of a low degree of economic and military capacity. However, they effectively mediate civil wars in Africa because of a high degree of legitimacy, which is a result of a strong conviction within the African society of states that African mediation is the most desirable type in conflicts there. Drawing on data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program supplemented with unique data, which together cover all mediation efforts in Africa between 1960 and 2017, I find quantitative evidence supporting the effectiveness of African third parties. Compared to non-African ones, African third parties are far more likely to conclude negotiated settlements that are more likely to be durable. African third parties are especially effective if the conflict parties are highly committed to the African solutions norm. Theoretically, this study deviates from much of the literature that puts forward solely rationalist-materialist explanations of mediation success. By bringing legitimacy to the forefront, this article supplements the current mediation literature that emphasizes material sources of power and ignores social structures.

3 Europe and Eurasia

Key trendsNotwithstanding continued tensions and fighting, hostilities eased and violence declined in both conflicts compared to the previous year.Strategic implicationsThe conflict is highly detrimental to the economies of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The war in Donbas had a catastrophic impact on Ukraine’s economy, compromising the ability of many Ukrainians to survive.The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continued to have a significant humanitarian impact on civilians.ProspectsThe likelihood of political dialogues towards peace remains moderate despite some positive steps in 2019 in both conflicts.In Nagorno-Karabakh the short- to medium-term risk of major violence is moderate.The conflicts receive limited international attention but foreign influence continues to have an impact. Conflict parties will need to factor in, among others, Russia–US and Russia–Turkey relations in their calculations.

THE DISCLOSURE FRAMEWORK OF RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS IN SELECTED ASEAN MEMBER STATES

Related party transaction or RPT is a transaction that could either be harmful or beneficial to the company and minority shareholders. RPT can be considered as an efficient tool for the company or abused by the controlling shareholders. Therefore, one of the key factors to address this transaction is through disclosure. This study applied a content analysis method using materials that were largely library-based including primary and secondary data. The former was gathered from relevant theories to explain the application of the legal theories. Meanwhile, the latter was derived from published materials, such as textbooks, journal articles and online databases. In order to assess these materials, a combination of descriptive, critical and comparative data analysis approaches was employed in this study. This paper aims to understand the underlying applicable legal theories on RPT by analysing and comparing the disclosure framework in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand that adopt the ASEAN Disclosure Standards (“ADS”). This paper finds that there is a disparity in the disclosure standard among these states despite having ADS in place. This problem calls for a clearer ex-ante approval process in ADS and to consider the model from the European Union’s Shareholders Amending Directive 2017/828 to improve the disclosure framework in each jurisdiction. In conclusion, ADS indicated the requisite for the conflicted parties to declare and obtain approval from the minority shareholders however with unclear procedure and minimal threshold.

The Conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh: Moving Towards Peace

In this paper we discuss the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh in the framework of game theory. Observing the current state of the conflict, we conclude that there is no sustainable or pure strategy equilibrium. The game is possible to solve for mixed strategies, based on maximizing expected payoffs of conflict parties. Then, we discuss how Armenia can prevent Azerbaijan to restart the war through a proper selection of policy components in its payoff structure. We argue that Armenia should be more active in international lobbying for Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence, as it will ultimately increase the probability of peaceful solution. The recent large-scale war, initiated by Azerbaijan in September 27th, 2020, can be a natural test for the suggested game structure and implied peacebuilding policies. According to the game, Azerbaijan will fail to resolve the conflict via military means despite of the on-going large-scale war and will be compelled to join the negotiations.

Estranged Political Relationships: Demystifying the Root Causes of Violent Conflicts in South Sudan

The breaking of peace agreements and the subsequent perpetuation of civil war in South Sudan are sustained by the failure to adopt broad interventions addressing the many layers of the conflict. An understanding of the multiple causes of the conflict can form the basis for a successful and durable peace agreement. To investigate why violent conflict persists, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 29 major stakeholders, including conflict parties, mediators, eminent South Sudanese personalities, scholars and civil society leaders. The responses were grouped into five major themes: historical conflicts, estranged political relationships, power struggles, resource control and ethnic violence (not included in this article). The results suggest that estranged political relationships, characterized by fear, anger, bitterness, distrust and the urge for revenge, are born out of historical conflicts that remain unresolved. The ensuing power struggles and ethnic violence are motivated by the estranged political relationships between the top leaders. Dealing with their estrangements, therefore, forms the base from which historical conflicts can be addressed towards lasting agreements and sustainable peace in South Sudan.