Peace Initiatives Research Articles

Energy, economy and development (EED) triangle: Concerns for India

In this paper we discuss issues involving energy security with economic growth and development that brings out (i) the dimension of physical security alternative, (ii) framework for a pan South East Asian platform to support energy security and (iii) requirement of promoting regional energy cooperation and specific energy peace initiatives. Sustaining projected economic growth rate coupled with energy security in future is a concern for all developing countries like India. The energy security of these nations is threatened by the disruption of energy supplies by ongoing energy terrorism and geopolitical conflicts in the region. India's geo-strategic position and increasing energy dependence raises concerns for its energy security. We discuss energy security, examine factors and approaches to attempt the energy security in the light of economic growth and development.

The Referendum in South Sudan: Is it Peace or Conflict Ahead? An Interview with Ambassador Daniel Rachuonyo Mboya

Over the years, Sudan, especially the south, caught the eye of the world with images of war, including children suffering from malnutrition, child soldiers, rape victims, amputees and images of slavery. The situation in Darfur is no better now than it was before. It is grim. The eruption of violence in the Abyei region during the referendum in the south leaves a lot of question marks over the future of the region. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese are abroad as refugees thanks to the conflicts that have dogged the region for decades. Now, an overwhelming majority -almost 99%- have voted for an independent South Sudan. Companies are lobbying for contracts, governments are sending emissaries and the world is watching. Is peace finally being realised in Sudan? Is this what Dr John Garang envisioned for the south? Veteran diplomat, Daniel Rachuonyo Mboya was Kenya's first Ambassador to Sudan and also the first Special Envoy to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Secretariat for the Peace Initiative in Sudan. In this interview he expresses his opinion about the referendum in South Sudan and the future of the volatile region.

The Winner Takes All: The 1949 Island of Rhodes Armistice Negotiations Revisited

Why is there no peace between Israel and the Palestinians? This article draws the line all the way back to the very first Arab-Israeli negotiations. In 1949, on the Island of Rhodes, UN mediator Ralph Bunche negotiated an armistice agreement between Israel and Egypt. The outcome of the first Arab-Israeli war constituted the immediate context for the negotiations and was important for the final outcome. Israel had won; the Arab states had lost the war. A large number of Palestinians had fled and had lost their homeland. After the war, Israel was in a much stronger military position than Egypt, and could resume the war if necessary. New empirical evidence shows that this imbalance of power on the ground was strengthened by strong support in Israel's favor from the UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie, as well as from the US administration. Such support served to limit the UN mediator's room for maneuver and ultimately contributed to a biased agreement. An analysis of the negotiations between Israel and Egypt at Rhodes sheds light on and widens our understanding of the approach and power relations which marked the 1949 negotiations. The armistice negotiations represent the first example of a process and an agreement based largely on Israeli premises. Such an agreement could not provide the basis for peace in the Middle East. Ever since 1947, mediators have tried to convince Israel, the Palestinians, and their surrounding Arab neighbors that a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict is both desirable and possible. Still, all initiatives launched by the United Nations in the years following 1947 and the subsequent establishment of the State of Israel have failed. Similarly, repeated attempts by the United States have had limited success. On the Island of Rhodes, Israeli and Egyptian delegations entered an armistice agreement under UN auspices on February 24, 1949. Ralph Bunche, a US doctor of political science and a former US State Department official, was the UN Acting Mediator (henceforth mediator). The agreement signed on Rhodes in 1949 between Israel and Egypt was the result of the first round of negotiations in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and formed the basis for three further armistice agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors: Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The armistices were intended to provide the basis for later peace negotiations, which were expected to commence within a year.1 They were initiated in Lausanne, but nothing came of them. On December 10, 1950, Ralph Bunche received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to negotiate the armistice agreements in the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbor states.2 Arab-Israeli peacemaking in the 1940s represents the crucial beginnings; the formative years that would later influence similar attempts. An appreciation of the approaches, processes, and outcomes of peace initiatives during this period is arguably of utmost importance for understanding the entire post-war era. This article seeks to shed light on the 1949 Israeli-Egyptian armistice negotiations and, through this exploration, call into question the accuracy of the traditional explanations offered with reference to this process. In fact, crucial issues with regard to the armistice negotiations on the Island of Rhodes have not been adequately studied.3 This article will provide fresh insights into what took place on Rhodes during the Israeli-Egyptian armistice negotiations. Why did the armistice agreement reached on Rhodes fail to contribute to later peace negotiations in the Middle East? Can the answer be found in the nature of the final agreement and how this agreement was reached? Could it be that the very nature of the negotiations, with specific reference to the mediator's room for maneuver and the role of external actors, such as the United States and UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie, proved decisive in terms of the final outcome? Mediation theory points to the fact that process symmetry rarely serves to redress existing power asymmetry between negotiating parties. …

Peace over Justice: The Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) vs. the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Northern Uganda

Peace over Justice: The Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) vs. the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Northern Uganda

The political economy of conflict resolution in a natural resource economy: The case of Nigeria's Niger Delta

This paper embarks on a comprehensive study of the entire peace initiatives adopted to resolve the Niger Delta conflict in Nigeria with a view to uncover the relationship between the character of the Nigerian State, the emergence and the continual nature of the crisis. With the aid of fragmented organizational structure theory, the paper discovered that there is a strong relationship between the character of Nigerian state and the emergence of the conflict. The paper also discovered that the character of the state has a causal effect on the pattern of conflict resolution adopted together with the emergence of an ‘economy of conflict’, and that these were responsible for the persistence of the conflict. It therefore recommends the democratization of both the production and consumption process in the oil economy and the peace processes as a panacea. Key words: Political economy, conflict resolution, natural resource economy, Niger Delta, economy of conflict.

Atoms for peace and radiation for safety – how to build trust in irradiated foods in Cold War Europe and beyond

When Eisenhower announced the decision of his administration to promote peaceful uses of atomic science and technology on an international scale in his famous Atoms for Peace speech in front of the United Nations' General Assembly on 8 December 1953, agriculture and food were among the potential areas of application that he mentioned. Consequently, the Atoms for Peace initiative prompted national governments of many countries as well as international institutions under the aegis of the United Nations and the Organisation for European Economic Co‐Operation to establish programs for the peaceful use of atomic energy in these domains. Using ionizing radiation for the preservation of food featured as one of the most promising applications of atomic energy in all these programs. However, the paradoxically overheated Cold War expectations about the potential of nuclear technologies could not erase the fear – fueled by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – that radiation would have lethal effects when applied to human subsistence. Thus, efforts to use ionizing radiation to improve an essential human need such as food were met with distrust by its opponents. Their misgivings were actually incorporated into food legislation since it forced proponents to prove the safety of irradiated foods. To this end, food irradiation activists initiated wholesomeness studies to generate data in order to prove the safety of food, in an attempt to establish a science‐based trust regime. This paper sets out to explore how the advocates of food irradiation strove to define an internationally consistent safety concept and how this concept influenced national regulators in their task of institutionalizing trust in food.

The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation: Towards an Ecumenical Theology of Just Peace?

The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation: Towards an Ecumenical Theology of Just Peace?

Partial truth and reconciliation in the longue durée

This paper argues that there are many possible sequences of truth, justice and reconciliation after conflict. Finding the apt path for a particular place and time requires peacebuilders to network across learning organisations that are responsive to local voices. Peacebuilding is construed as a craft of responsive governance. It requires patience and resilience because most peace initiatives fail, even though most successes are built on the foundation of prior failures. Data from the first 12 cases of the Peacebuilding Compared project are used to develop these themes that imply being oriented to what Susanne Karstedt calls the longue durée of peacebuilding.

From defiance to engagement: An evaluation of Shell’s approach to conflict resolution in the Niger Delta

In the course of the lengthy era of military rule in Nigeria, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (Shell) enjoyed robust protection from the State, a scenario that largely left the unrelenting demands of the Niger Delta peoples unheeded. Over the last decade, however, Shell has gradually become responsive to the inevitable need of getting involved in State and non-State initiatives for finding sustainable peace in the Niger Delta region. At formal and informal levels, these initiatives are becoming evident although challenges remain. This essay proceeds from the premise that the Niger Delta conflict is not interminable. Extrapolating from the various efforts made by Shell towards resolving its conflicts with the peoples of the Niger Delta, this essay accentuates some of the missing links between top-down efforts and bottom-up initiatives in building sustainable peace in the region. Drawing from learned experiences of Shell’s successes and failures as well as of Nigeria’s power relations and institutional architecture, this essay contends that while compensatory gestures could play a major role in the resolution of conflicts, that approach alone cannot guarantee conflict resolution and reconciliation in the Niger Delta. The overarching outcome of this evaluation is an attempt at identifying the entry points of concerted conflict resolution strategies, with practical focus on the short-, medium- and long-term attainment of peace.

Nancy Fraser

Development and ChangeVolume 42, Issue 1 p. 297-314 Reflections Nancy Fraser Amrita Chhachhi, Amrita Chhachhi Senior Lecturer in Women, Gender and Development at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS, PO Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The Netherlands; e-mail: [email protected]). Her main areas of specialization are gender, labour and globalization/neoliberalism, social protection/human security, collective action, labour market/social policies, and gender, culture and globalization with a focus on culture/identity, religious fundamentalisms, ethnic/communal conflict, peace initiatives and social movements. As well as her academic work, she is involved in a number of feminist, labour and peace networks and initiatives.Search for more papers by this author Amrita Chhachhi, Amrita Chhachhi Senior Lecturer in Women, Gender and Development at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS, PO Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The Netherlands; e-mail: [email protected]). Her main areas of specialization are gender, labour and globalization/neoliberalism, social protection/human security, collective action, labour market/social policies, and gender, culture and globalization with a focus on culture/identity, religious fundamentalisms, ethnic/communal conflict, peace initiatives and social movements. As well as her academic work, she is involved in a number of feminist, labour and peace networks and initiatives.Search for more papers by this author First published: 22 March 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2011.01691.xCitations: 2Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume42, Issue1FORUM 2011January 2011Pages 297-314 RelatedInformation

Somali and Ethiopian Diasporic Engagement for Peace in the Horn of Africa

This article examines the complexities and multiple layers of diasporic engagement in homeland peacebuilding in Somalia and Ethiopia. The study challenges the negative perception of diasporas as conflict drivers and unscrupulous long-distance nationalists. It identifies three major contributions of diasporic engagement to peacebuilding in the conflictridden Horn of Africa. First, remittances from the diaspora enhance family economic survival, community stabilization, and economic activities in the absence of effective state institutions. Second, diasporic engagement enhances the space for greater contestation of ideas and broadens the range of political options for the homelanders. Finally, direct and indirect diasporic peace initiatives in the homelands, especially at the local level, have the potential to induce moderate social and economic development and hope for a brighter postwar future. This gives people a stake in their polity and contributes to peace.

<em>Multilateralism:</em> Challenges of International Mediation in Regional Conflicts

Editor's Note: This briefing was adapted from Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari's opening speech at the 2009 conference of the West African Research Association (WARA) in Dakar, Senegal, Making in West Africa: Historical Methods and Modern Applications. As part of the larger West African Peace Initiative, this was the first of three regional conferences. The second, scheduled for Freetown, Sierra Leone, in December 2010, addresses issues of faith communities and their roles in conflict. The third conference, scheduled for Praia, Cape Verde, in December 2011, will address the role of the media. Selected papers from these conferences are being serially published by Africa Conflict and Peacebuilding Review, with the first item appearing in this issue. Ambassador Gambari's remarks serve as the introduction to the series .

The White House Middle East Policy in 1973 as a Catalyst for the Outbreak of the Yom Kippur War

We focus on the part that was played by the U.S. Administration, in particular by National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, in the failure of efforts to bring about an Israeli-Egyptian settlement in 1973, the year in which the Yom Kippur War broke out. Documents recently declassified in the United States and Israel support that the behavior of the White House, especially of Nixon's influential NSA, Kissinger, in the Middle East arena that year not only failed to prevent war but also indeed catalyzed its outbreak. We shall claim that in the examined period Kissinger led a stalemate policy, which in practice meant undermining any peace initiative that surfaced if it was not in accordance with Israel's position on a possible settlement. With this in mind, the Egyptian government understood that the United States would have no real interest in promoting a peace process, pressuring Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and perhaps also from other territories occupied in the Six-Day War. This assessment prompted the Egyptians to abandon diplomacy and (together with Syria) attack Israel in October 1973. They assumed that such a move would get the White House directly involved in the peace process in the Middle East and lead to the return of Egyptian territories occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War.

The Arab Peace Initiative: Now or Never

AbstractIt has been almost a year now since President Obama set out for Cairo to deliver what has been seen as one of the largest overtures by the United States to publicly engage the Middle East. Unfortunately, despite the high hopes that this new administration garnered and the continuous efforts of high‐level American officials to put an end to the Arab–Israeli conflict, there is little fruit to bear on the ground. More often than not, the diplomatic breaches and hurdles to even get to the negotiating table have consumed the headlines, and 1 year later the multilateral relations in the region seem tepid at best. The repeated failures of the bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel and Syria may be attributed to a number of factors, including a deep‐seated mistrust that has not been addressed, concerns over the long‐term security, and domestic political constraints to make the required concessions to reach an agreement. Yet while all of these elements contributed to the despondent current state of affairs, the one critical missing ingredient has been the absence of a comprehensive framework for peace representing the collective will of the Arab states.Now more than ever, the Arab Peace Initiative (API) offers the best possible chance of achieving an inclusive peace, provided that all parties to the conflict understand its significance and historic implications that have eluded all parties for more than six decades. The likelihood that the current lull in violence will continue if no progress is made on the political front is slim. If the Arab states want to show a united front, especially as the Iranian nuclear advances threaten the regional balance of power, they must finally and publically resolve to promote the API in earnest.

Women, Community Leadership and Conflict Transformation in Nigeria

This paper examines women’s role in community leadership and implications for their involvement in conflict transformation processes. Using content analysis of selected third-party interventions in conflict transformation in some Nigerian communities, the paper discusses the structures and processes through which women were excluded. Furthermore, the paper analyses women-driven peace initiatives and suggests strategies for actively increasing women’s participation in conflict transformation in their communities.

Historical Breakthroughs in Arab-Israeli Negotiations: Lessons for the Future

This article analyzes the conditions that might facilitate the long awaited diplomatic breakthrough in the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians in the Obama presidency. In order identify ten specific factors, the article relies on the rich historical record of peace negotiations, particularly since 1967. The analysis indicates that, despite the presence of a number of the factors which have facilitated past agreements, there are others which militate against excessive optimism. The arrival of Barack Obama's administration in Washington in January 2009 generated particularly intense speculation with regard the possibility of trying resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all. In the year before his inauguration, a number of veterans of the Oslo peace process of the 1990s wrote how to (or hownot- to) books in impatient anticipation of a dawn in Washington with regard the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or even with regard the Middle East as a whole. Authors included Aaron David Miller, Daniel Kurtzer with Scott Lasensky, Martin Indyk, and Dennis Ross with David Makovsky.1 All of these books combined personal experience with policy prescriptions, and all made it clear that their authors fervently hoped that the new President would reverse George W. Bush's legacy. They joined a number of predecessors,2 who have not only described and analyzed the Arab-Israeli negotiations, but also have formulated a series of learned, lessons explicitly intended be relevant for future negotiations. The new wave of policy prescriptions was grounded on the general, even universal, perception that not only might Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking be galvanized by the new administration, but that this is a particularly crucial time for peacemaking in the Middle East in general (including, in addition the issue of Israel/Palestine, the issues of Iran, Lebanon, and the Golan Heights). For much of George W. Bush's term, most observers, both in the US and abroad, believed that as long as he was President, no long-term solution the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was likely, nor would a serious attempt be made achieve such a solution. In fact, the one exception proved the rule: very few considered the November 2007 Annapolis Conference be a serious effort.3 Most observers, of whatever political persuasion, perceived Bush as an unabashedly pro-Israel politician who rarely even tried portray himself as an honest broker between the sides. While Bush touted himself as the first US President openly advocate the two-state solution, few took this pronouncement very seriously. With two bloody wars within 30 months - Israel against Hizbullah in Lebanon (2006) and against Hamas in Gaza (2008-2009) - a new urgency for dealing with the conflict was established. The Arab League made clear rather forcefully that if Israel did not accept its Peace Initiative, announced in 2002 and reconfirmed in 2007, it would soon be withdrawn. And Arab leaders, who have warned repeatedly that the key dealing with the Arab and Muslim worlds in general must be a consensual settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, clearly expected action from Obama. These near-universal expectations of a break in the diplomatic stalemate were not unreasonable. Even apart from the current collection of crises, several characteristics of candidate Obama suggested that he would be strongly inclined make the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a high priority on his agenda: a) he is in general a very engaged, resolute man, likely prove himself be an activist President; b) he appears approach virtually all issues in a comprehensive manner, looking for fundamental solutions; and c) during the presidential campaign of 2008 he spoke about the concerns of both parties the Middle East conflict - Israelis and Palestinians - with great passion, dwelling specifically on Israel's security concerns and on Palestinian suffering. …

Retribution, Restitution and Reconciliation: Limited Amnesty in Bosnia-Herzegovina

This paper will explore two interwoven themes. Firstly, it will consider the political context that gave rise to the amnesties. In doing this, it will seek initially to evaluate the depth of the international community’s commitment to justice during the conflict by assessing the measures taken by international actors in the response to the violations and the importance given to justice in the various peace initiatives. It will argue that whilst the violence was ongoing, and contrary to the actual crimes being committed within Bosnia-Herzegovina, efforts were made by some international actors and local propagandists to construct a narrative of the violations in which the actions of all sides were described as morally equivalent. The objective of this narrative construction was to lessen demands for justice as it was felt that if the violence was acknowledged as genocide or at least it was widely recognised that Bosnian Serb forces were disproportionately responsible for the commission of war crimes, and the Bosniak civilians suffered disproportionately during the conflict, it would have been more difficult for international mediators to seek to broker a settlement that recognised the ‘facts on the ground’ that had been created by ethnic cleansing. As a result, the international mediators, eager to reach a negotiated settlement, repeatedly prioritised reaching a peace agreement over the pursuit of justice, and even after the ICTY was established, its work was hampered by a lack of funding and cooperation until 1997. The report will also argue that contrary to the behaviour of international actors in other contemporary conflicts, there was, however, a reluctance to agree to an amnesty for war crimes, due to the intense media coverage of the Balkans conflicts and the resultant public outrage. The resultant global awareness and debates on the mass atrocities perpetrated in Bosnia-Herzegovina provided the impetus for the creation by the United Nations of the Commission of Experts and the ICTY. Although the support of international actors for these mechanisms was initially reluctant, the institutions nonetheless gradually gained momentum and the ICTY grew into an effective body commanding significant resources and personnel, and its existence helped to shape the limits of Bosnia’s amnesties. Secondly, this paper will explore the scope and impact of the amnesty laws that were eventually adopted. The report will investigate the objectives of these laws and the extent to which these objectives were realised. In particular, as the exclusion of the most serious crimes from the amnesties was deliberately intended to facilitate prosecutions of these crimes, and provides an example of how amnesties that adhere to the evolving anti-impunity norm articulated in recent years by international human rights activists operate, the report will explore the extent to which excluding these crimes has contributed to truth and justice with Bosnia. Clearly, without the exclusion of the most serious crimes, few trials would have been possible. However, this paper will argue that in the 14 years since the Dayton peace accords, only a small fraction of the total number of offenders have been tried and progress towards improved interethnic relations and stable government within Bosnia-Herzegovina has been minimal. In addition, the report will explore the introduction of plea agreements at the ICTY and in the national legal system in order to consider the extent to which some forms of leniency following conflict and mass atrocity represent an efficient means to prioritise limited prosecutorial resources and incentivise perpetrator testimony. Furthermore, the report will consider whether the pursuit of more holistic forms of transitional justice encompassing both trials and more restorative strategies could help Bosnian society to achieve to peaceful coexistence under domestic democratic government, a status which, as will be explored in the following section, has not featured in Bosnia’s past.

CHRISTIAN–MUSLIM CONFLICTS AND INTERFAITH BRIDGE‐BUILDING EFFORTS IN NIGERIA

Religious pluralism in Nigeria has been disrupted by religiously‐motivated conflict. Colonial polices towards Muslim and Christian communities institutionalized racial and religious differences—with far‐reaching consequences before and after independence. Religious fundamentalism among Christians and Muslims noticeably emerged in Nigeria during the 1970s. Between the 1980s and the mid‐2000s, roughly 48 cases of religious riots were reported. Most of Nigeria’s inter‐religious forums have responded to religious conflict only after it has escalated into violence. Governmental and non‐governmental inter‐religious peace initiatives should consolidate into a larger national forum, with branches extending to state and local levels to foster grassroots support.

Look to Norway – men hvor lenge?

Internationally, Norway receives positive attention mainly in the context of Winter Olympics or peace initiatives. However, an Associated Press article recently suggested that the Norwegian health care system had "found the Solution to Killer Superbug". Furthermore, Norway was proclaimed "The Most Infection Free Country in the World". What my be the reality behind such headlines, and how shall we as a nation maintain a favourable situation? Physicians in Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands have a long tradition for modest prescription of antibiotics, and are trained to use agents with a narrow antimicrobial spectre whenever possible. This is probably the main reason why these countries have had less antibiotic resistance than others. The number of antibiotics marketed in a country correlates positively with total drug consumption. Until 1992, Norwegian authorities could reject marketing of new compounds if national experts found no medical need for them. The foresight of senior colleagues has led to the number of marketed antibiotics in Norway, even today, being 10-fold lower than in some other European countries. The national surveillance programme, NORM, reports antimicrobial resistance in human pathogens on an annual basis. For example, national levels of MRSA and ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae are still very low whereas ampicillin and ciprofloxacin resistance in E coli and high- level gentamicin resistance in enterococci cause some concern. Norway has well-established epidemiological surveillance systems in the fields of microbiology and infectious diseases. Nevertheless, more knowledge is needed on how antibiotics are used in hospitals. Two national strategic plans (since 2003) have emphasized the explicit importance of antibiotic surveillance to counteract future antibiotic resistance problems. To fulfil national ambitions, there is an urgent need for economic grants to this field; the human resources are there and as eager to start as Olympic performers!

THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION IN ANGOLA

The Catholic Church’s colonial legacy and Protestant support for the three nationalist parties prompted various responses to Angola’s civil war. Angolan disunity stemmed from colonial divisions and ethnocentric evangelism by foreign missionaries, which reinforced ethnic and tribal differences. But churches not only influenced and sustained the war; they eventually moved toward a new ecumenical vision committed to the healing and wholeness of the nation. For example, the Catholic Church partnered with major Protestant groups to form an ecumenical initiative for peace. As churches contribute to social reconstruction, they should focus on three areas in particular: education, economic development, and democracy promotion.