Exacerbated Conflict Research Articles

The Responsibility to Protect: International Conservationists, Decolonization and Authoritarianism in the DR Congo, 1960–75

As colonial rule in the Congo neared its end, western conservationists grew concerned about the potential collapse of the national parks left behind by Belgium. However, despite half a decade of political turmoil following independence, the nature reserves in the central African country survived. The Second Republic under Mobutu then ushered in a new era for the parks. Lobbied by international conservationists, the autocrat authorized harsh repressive measures against ‘intruders’ and established four new national parks. This created or exacerbated conflicts that still breed violence today. Drawing on archival documents from leading conservation organizations, this article examines the evolution of the Congo's nature protection regime during the crucial 15 years following independence. Thus, it contributes to a growing body of studies critically assessing the role of nongovernmental organizations in shaping contemporary Africa. As I will demonstrate in this article, some international experts swiftly recognized decolonization as an opportunity. To promote authoritarian measures in the parks, they exploited nationalist sentiments and the Mobutu regime's quest for international recognition. Consequently, violence became further normalized as a means of conservation in the Congo.

The role of the judiciary in the resolution of intra-party conflicts in Lesotho

Political parties play an integral role in modern democracies and are legitimate platforms of contestation for state power. Despite the vital role that political parties play in democratisation, they are often prone to internal disputes. Their internal processes, such as conferences, elections, decision-making and deployments, are often subject to contestation. Conflicts are inherent in political contestation in general and in political parties, in particular. Hence, political parties have several mechanisms for dispute resolution, one of which is the referral of disputes to the courts of law. The role of the courts in internal political party disputes is a double-edged sword. While a court provides an independent platform for resolving disputes, it lacks reconciliatory attributes. After court intervention, many political parties often break up into smaller parties or experience major defections. This phenomenon is more pronounced in Lesotho than elsewhere. Ever since the return to electoral democracy in 1993, the role of the courts in internal party disputes has increased phenomenally. However, instead of achieving cohesion and internal stability, political parties have experienced splits, exacerbated conflicts or significant defections after the referral of their internal disputes to the courts.

Fighting for black stone: extractive conflict, institutional change and peacebuilding in Sierra Leone

Abstract Environmental governance reform—especially in the minerals sector—has featured prominently in Sierra Leone's peacebuilding agenda. While reform has enhanced environmental governance capacity in ways that foster peace, it has also exacerbated conflict over the redistribution of extractive rights. This article examines one such conflict over tantalite in northern Sierra Leone. In the chiefdom of Sella Limba, violence erupted as local landowners and a multinational company utilized institutional hybridity—or the blending of informal–indigenous institutions with liberal reforms—to construct competing claims over mineral rights. The resulting uncertainty over the extractive ‘rules of the game’ accelerated conflict as stakeholders attempted to (re)negotiate the distributional consequences of institutional change in real time. International and national actors ultimately rejected hybrid institutional arrangements on the grounds that they distorted post-conflict reforms and undermined peace. Drawing on in-depth fieldwork, I retrace the conflict to provide an alternative perspective. I contend that institutional hybridity served as a necessary component of, rather than barrier to, peacebuilding because it 1) opened space for diverse political participation in post-conflict environmental governance and 2) promoted greater political accountability and integration. These outcomes have been theorized as ways in which environmental reform can facilitate post-conflict peace. This argument aims to advance environmental peacebuilding theory by examining the conditions under which environmental governance reform contributes to post-conflict peacebuilding.

Conflicts over GMOs and their Contribution to Food Democracy

The use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) embodies a specific vision of agricultural systems that is highly controversial. The article focuses on how conflicts over GMOs contribute towards food democracy. Food democracy is defined as the possibility for all social groups to participate in, negotiate and struggle over how societies organize agricultural production, thereby ensuring that food systems fulfil the needs of people and sustain (re)productive nature into the future. EU agricultural policy envisages the coexistence of agricultural and food systems with and without GMOs. This policy, which on the surface appears to be a means of avoiding conflict, has in fact exacerbated conflict, while creating obstacles to the development of food democracy. By contrast, empirical analysis of movements against GMOs in Germany and Poland shows how they create pathways towards participation in the food system and the creation of alternative agricultural futures, thereby contributing to a democratization of food systems and thus of society–nature relations. Today, as products of new breeding techniques such as genome editing are being released, these movements are gaining new relevance.

Coping with climate change related conflicts – The first framework to identify and tackle these emerging topics

Climate change is supposed to exacerbate conflicts arising from resource scarcity and contrasting objectives. Some European authors highlighted already the need to look at conflicting interests when elaborating and applying adaptation and mitigation strategies. This study analysed the level of consideration of these emerging topics arising through increased competition of resources, contrasting interests, climate change adaptation as well as mitigation measures for Austria and Southern Germany in detail. Furthermore, it surveyed the application of possible approaches for conflict prevention and mitigation in an international perspective and additionally examined the particular role of SEA as one of the instruments to cope with conflicts related to climate change. The results express the strong need to look at emerging conflicts in cross-sectoral and sectoral adaptation early enough and a strategic perspective. Based on the content analysis of the Austrian and German adaptation and mitigation documents, expert interviews as well as the international literature review, a rather low consideration of these emerging topics as well as approaches to cope with them became evident. In response to these deficiencies, the paper introduces a first framework to identify and tackle emerging and exacerbated conflicts related to climate change. This novel framework is internationally applicable. In the final step of the framework approaches to prevent and minimize conflicts are the key topic. Among these approaches, SEA could take a leading role in case mandatory planning instruments cover the topics related to potential or existing exacerbated fields of conflicts. Overall a mix of formal and informal instruments and a more cross-sectoral perspective seems necessary. To this aim, the paper introduces four main guiding principles to consider and minimize up-coming conflicting topics.

Levant’da Demokratik Değişim: Bölgesel Bir Düzenin Onarılmasına Yönelik Beklentiler

The 2011 Arab uprisings exacerbated conflict and turmoil in the Levant, with the civil war in Syria constituting the dominant event in the region since that point in time and drawing the surrounding countries into its destructive vortex. The changes wrought by the uprisings have intermingled with the pre-existing conflicts in the Levant and with new local and pan-Middle Eastern confrontations in pernicious ways. Among the outcomes of this crisis are that Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine —whose current political situations will be addressed in this paper— are experiencing a rise in authoritarianism. However, this paper argues that the Levant will not overcome its current disorder and regain a degree of order —in the sense either of stability or of recognized rules governing relations between regional actors— unless Levantine states undergo a degree of democratization, meaning they adopt some degree of accountability, pluralism and respect for basic freedoms and good governance. Democracy is closely linked to the emergence of peace and security but is also a condition for them to endure.

Social Leadership and Collaborative Engagement for Communities under Stress

This article reflects on the experience of the Arab-Australian communities in addressing complex conflicts facing local communities under stress. Key to progress was a community-led collaborative engagement focused on learning and adaptation rather than consultative processes. A key discovery was how grant funding based on competitive models exacerbated conflict as organisations scrambled for resources. An obsession with ‘what's in it for me and my organisation?’ overwhelmed the potential for community groups to work collaboratively. Instead, shifting the question to ‘how does it build community?’ generated new perspectives and mindsets based on joint learning and partnerships to form the basis of a practical Collaborative Community Model. The article concludes that linking peacebuilding and social leadership approaches helps communities go beyond just solving problems to instead increase their problem-solving capacity.

Decision Management Tools for Trans-Boundary Water Management in Lake Chad Basin

The Lake Chad basin, one of Africa’s oldest river basin has shrank to one-tenth of its original size. The environmental degradation that had occurred in the basin over the years has had direct impact on the livelihood of people in the region. The problem in the Lake Chad Basin has also constituted social risks to populations of the region resulting in accelerating global climate change due to years of unsustainable resource use. The ecological degradation in the basin has further exacerbated conflict with attendant terrorism in the region. Using a coordinated science-policy market place of ideas, an event during the EU-AU Workshop in water-energy-food nexus held in Italy in 2016, a team of scientists and policymakers from both Africa and European Union looked at the reason for the water loss and how to make the solution of inter-basin water transfer proffered practicable. Sustainability tools were recommended in the basin to provide policy advice for decision makers while also developing a nexus framework to enhance future sustainability of the basin. This paper also addresses cooperation among different stakeholders by suggesting new governance pattern and opening up the basin to external collaborators to reverse the declining fortune of Lake Chad basin.

Untying the Gordian Knot: Re-Assessing the Impact of Business and Human Rights Principles on Extractive Resource Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa

Extractive resource governance has been a challenging task for countries in the Global South. Whereas products of these resources have enhanced the economic development of advanced countries, it has only exacerbated conflicts, fueled ethnic clashes, and further impoverished the citizens in the Global South. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights sought to address these human rights concerns. The Guiding Principles laid the foundation for States duty to protect human rights, businesses’ responsibility to respect human rights and access to remedies for victims of human rights violations. This article argues that while African leaders have consistently found themselves as mendicants at the mercy of the Global North community in solving their problems, they should look inwards by implementing laws and policies aimed at addressing Africa’s weak extractive resource governance. The article considers various approaches in ensuring that local communities actively participate in resource management. It will further describe the human rights questions and challenges facing current international business and human rights regimes and thereafter show how these approaches could create an avenue for seeking a heterodox solution that takes into consideration the cross cutting synergies among business, human rights, and effective implementation of policy measures aimed at positive extractive resource governance.

Water tariff conflict resolution through indigenous participation in tri-water sector partnerships: Dalun cluster communities in northern Ghana

The paper examines how the perceived ownership of a water resource negatively influenced local people's attitudes towards payment of potable water tariffs and exacerbated conflicts between water users and service providers in the Dalun community of the northern region of Ghana. The paper presents a case study of how community participation and endogenous approaches to conflict resolution contributed to payment of water tariffs. The findings show that the establishment of a tri-water sector partnership (TWSP), consisting of the Ghana Water Company Ltd (GWCL), private sector development practitioners, and community water boards, led to positive mediation of water tariff conflicts using the institution of chieftaincy. Alternative, endogenous conflict resolution methods combined with modern methods in a tripartite partnership showed promise as an approach to managing conflicts in water projects and in broader poverty reduction efforts.

Getting What you Pay for: Authoritarian Statism and the Geographies of us Trade Liberalization Strategies

The role of the US state in advancing neoliberal globalization is the subject of Jamey Essex’s detailed study of the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR). Drawing on the new Marxist geography as well as Poulantzas’s conception of authoritarian statism, Essex argues that the USTR is engaged in a contradictory double geographic movement that involves insulating state economic policy from democratic accountability as it liberalizes international economic relations. In so doing, he draws attention to the role of the US trade policy in advancing neoliberal structural reforms in other states. He also shows that, despite the extensive consultative role of corporate representatives, the very secretiveness of the actual trade negotiations exacerbated conflict both among different capitals and between capital and the state generally.

Soil Erosion and State Intervention into Estate Production in the Shire Highlands Economy of Colonial Malawi, 1891-1964

This paper examines the history of soil erosion on private estates in the Shire Highlands region of Malawi and the limits of the colonial state's coercive capacity to intervene. It shows that the problem of soil erosion on the Shire Highlands estates was serious and widespread. In contrast to the intense, harsh conservation campaigns imposed on African Trust Land, the colonial state virtually ignored the environmental degradation taking place on these estates. The introduction of soil conservation measures on private estates exacerbated conflicts over many issues that had characterised the relationship between the state, the plantation and the peasant sectors. It generated a controversy over such issues as labour, land, crop production and the state's powers to intervene in privately owned lands. After a description of the process of creating a plantation economy and European land use practices, this paper argues that, until the 1950s, the state conservation policy toward private estates was one of benign neglect. After 1951, state officials finally began to focus on massive environmental degradation on settler estates but the actual intervention was weak. Various factors are shown to have inhibited an effective state conservation programme on private estates and it is demonstrated that state policies in this period were met with either indifference or opposition both on the part of the estate owners and the labour tenants.

Presidents vs. Parliaments: Comparing Democratic Systems

Presidents vs. ParliamentsComparing Democratic Systems Donald L. Horowitz (bio) In "The Perils of Presidentialism" [Journal of Democracy 1 (Winter 1990): 51-69], Professor Juan Linz makes the claim that parliamentary systems are "more conducive to stable democracy" than are presidential systems. "This conclusion," he continues, "applies especially to nations with deep political cleavages and numerous political parties." This theme forms a leitmotiv in Professor Linz's recent works, has been picked up by other scholars, and runs the risk of becoming conventional wisdom before it receives searching scrutiny. Linz argues that the presidential office introduces an undesirable element of winner-take-all politics into societies that need mechanisms of conciliation instead. A presidential candidate is either elected or not, whereas in parliamentary systems many shades of outcome are possible. Moreover, a directly elected president may think he has a popular "mandate," even if he has been elected with only a small plurality of the vote, perhaps even less than 40 percent. The potential for conflict is accordingly enhanced. Conflict is promoted, in Linz's view, by the separation of powers that divides the legislature from the president. The fixed term of a separately elected president makes for rigidity between elections. By contrast, parliamentary systems are able to resolve crises at any time simply by changing leaders or governments. Separate presidential election also produces weak cabinets and fosters electoral contests in which extremists either have too much influence or the whole society becomes polarized. This is a powerful indictment, supported by an abiding concern for [End Page 73] the stability of precarious democratizing regimes. Linz's claims, however, are not sustainable. First, they are based on a regionally skewed and highly selective sample of comparative experience, principally from Latin America. Second, they rest on a mechanistic, even caricatured, view of the presidency. Third, they assume a particular system of electing the president, which is not necessarily the best system. Finally, by ignoring the functions that a separately elected president can perform for a divided society, they defeat Linz's own admirable purposes. Presidentialism and Political Instability As frequent references to Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and Chile attest, Linz believes that presidentialism has contributed to instability in Latin America. If, however, his focus had been on instability in postcolonial Asia and Africa, the institutional villain would surely have been parliamentary systems. Indeed, Sir Arthur Lewis argued 25 years ago in his lectures on Politics in West Africa that the inherited Westminster system of parliamentary democracy was responsible for much of the authoritarianism then emerging in English-speaking Africa. What Lewis emphasized was the winner-take-all features of the Westminster model, in which anyone with a parliamentary majority was able to seize the state. Lewis's understanding conforms to that of many Africans seeking to restore democratic rule. The most impressive efforts at redemocratization, those of Nigeria in 1978-79 and again at the present time, involve adoption of a presidential system to mitigate societal divisions. Under the parliamentary system inherited at independence, a cluster of ethnic groups from the north had managed to secure a majority of seats and shut all other groups out of power. This game of total inclusion and exclusion characterized Nigerian politics after 1960, precipitating the military coups of 1966 and the war of Biafran secession from 1967 to 1970. By choosing a separation of powers, the Nigerians aimed to prevent any group from controlling the country by controlling parliament. Now it is possible that parliamentary systems helped stifle democracy in Africa while presidential systems helped stifle it in Latin America, but there are grounds for doubt. Linz refers to the emergence of conciliatory practices in the presidential systems of Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil, but he dismisses them as "deviations." Chile under Salvador Allende, on the other hand, is regarded as closer to the norm, with presidentialism exacerbating social conflict. Yet at least some research by Arturo Valenzuela suggests that, before Allende, many Chilean presidents actually bolstered centrist, moderating tendencies. The experience of the presidency in the United States, where the presidency was invented, is also explained away as "an exception." Consequently, Chile's exacerbated conflict is traced to its presidency, while the moderated conflict of the...