Protracted International Conflicts Research Articles

Reflecting on the Ethical and Legal Implications of the State-Led War Against International Terrorism

This article takes critical issue with the state-led global war against international terrorism, focusing specifically on the ethical and legal implications of that protracted international conflict. Following others, the paper conceptualises terrorism as an aspect of modern political violence that tends to service the overall interest of extant liberal global political economy at the expense of the human security challenges. To this end, the article seeks to shed light on the flux of alliances and allegiances between formal state agents and informal political actors (e.g. religious extremist or terrorist groups and left-/right-wing para-militias, etc.), whose bellicose political activities not only underscore the global war on terror but in part also inform the post-Cold War liberal international order. It is only in viewing the ongoing state-led global war against international terrorism through the prism of the state system’s perennial bellicose activities that we would be able to fully appreciate the adverse effects the global war on terror on the development of both domestic and international law that is critical to safeguarding the security and/or protection of civilians in times of peace and war.

Public Diplomacy and International Conflict Resolution: A Cautionary Case from Cold War South America

AbstractCan public diplomacy help resolve protracted international conflicts? Both rationalist and constructivist traditions identify significant domestic obstacles to international peacemaking. However, Robert Putnam's concept of “reverberation” implies that diplomats can expand their adversaries’ win-sets for cooperation by engaging foreign publics. This paper analyzes a most-likely case, with archival evidence: Argentine Ambassador Oscar Camilión's unsuccessful quest for Argentine-Brazilian rapprochement in 1976–77. Although the two countries later overcame rivalry, public diplomacy contributed negligibly to this success: internal Argentine divisions created mixed messages toward Brazil, Brazilian leaders launched a competing public relations operation, and these two currents obstructed and nearly terminated Camilión's mission. This case illuminates the paradoxes of Argentine foreign policymaking under military rule and offers a cautionary tale for scholars and practitioners of public diplomacy and conflict resolution.

Poetics of diaspora: Sahrawi poets and postcolonial transformations of a trans-Saharan genre in northwest Africa

The oral poetic tradition in Hassaniya Arabic emerged as a distinct trans-Saharan genre in present-day Mauritania in the pre-colonial era, fusing stylistic features of classical Arabic poetry with the musical heritage and griot1 traditions of neighbouring sub-Saharan cultures. As a popular musical art performed in a colloquial dialect, Hassani poetry is accessible to a range of social classes, and mastery of composition signifies linguistic prowess and social prestige. Drawing on ethnographic research with male and female Sahrawi poets in 2006–07, this article traces the roots of oral poetry in Hassaniya-speaking communities in northwest Africa and discusses recent shifts in modes of transmission, performance contexts, and poetic content. While the proliferation of new media has decreased the apprenticeship of younger poets, Hassani poetry has maintained an active following among mixed age groups. In the context of the protracted international conflict over the Western Sahara, the genre has gained new visibility as part of larger national projects to promote Sahrawi cultural heritage and advance opposing political agendas. Examples from Sahrawi poets in southern Morocco, Western Sahara,2 and refugee camps in Algeria demonstrate how the genre serves as a discursive strategy in critiquing modern urban culture, employing social capital, and supporting the political rhetoric of nationalist movements.

Escalation and delay in protracted international conflicts

Why do escalations in protracted international conflicts sometimes hasten the pace of negotiations? And why is it sometimes the case that the resulting terms of agreement were deemed unacceptable to one or both sides before the escalation? We analyze these issues in a game-theoretic setting with asymmetric information, in which the delay a party exercises before it makes an acceptable offer is served to signal credibly its true stand, of which the other side is initially uncertain. Escalation makes both sides more eager to settle than before, as an agreement would end the increased level of hostilities. We analyze how this effect may loosen the incentives to exercise long delays in the course of bargaining, and hence shorten the time to agreement. However, it turns out that the larger is the overall increase in violence implied by escalation, the higher are also the chances that its initiator will eventually regret its own decision to escalate.

Resolving Conflict Across Languages

English is increasingly used as an indispensable interlanguage, the common third language of non‐native speakers, in international negotiations. In technical or commercial talks, where interlocutors share a stock of expert knowledge, semantic problems are relatively easily overcome. In emotive and complex negotiations to resolve protracted international conflict, however, intriguing problems of interpretation arise. Though interlocutors speak in English, they are unlikely to think or work in English. Back home the political debate is conducted in the mother tongue. Thus the semantic fields, the full range of meanings and connotations, of key abstract concepts at the heart of the negotiation may not be conveyed in translation. The ill‐fated Syrian‐Israeli peace talks are drawn upon to exemplify the argument.

Protracted international conflicts: Ten propositions

I wish to set down ten related propositions on protracted social conflicts. These propositions have been generated by monitoring conflictual and cooperative events in world society over a decade. I will then show how these propositions throw light on conflicts generally and, also, on the theory and practice of conflict resolution.

A Surgeon's Travels

<h3>Objective</h3> Protracted international conflict has seen escalating numbers of displaced and resettled Syrian and Iraqi refugees, raising concerns for their health and well-being. This paper describes the demographic and clinical profiles of recently resettled Syrian and Iraqi refugee children and adolescents across physical, psychosocial, developmental and educational domains using standardised multidisciplinary assessments. <h3>Design</h3> A cross-sectional observational study was undertaken of initial specialist paediatric multidisciplinary Refugee Health Service assessments completed at the tertiary paediatric hospital (Western Australia) between June 2015 and September 2019. <h3>Results</h3> Three hundred and twenty-seven children and adolescents (264 Syrian, 63 Iraqi) were assessed following resettlement. Witnessed trauma (86%) and disclosed adversity (median Refugee Adverse Childhood Experiences score 3, range 1–14) were universally high. Almost all patients had health issues identified across physical (99%), psychosocial (76%) and developmental/educational (75%) domains. Interrupted education (65%) and death of a family member (16%) were significantly associated with psychological morbidities. Common comorbidities included dental caries (78%), non-infectious disease (76%), vitamin D deficiency (72%), malnutrition (46%; overweight/obesity 23%), and psychological (32%; post-traumatic stress disorder 4.3%) and developmental (9.5%) concerns. Emerging and alarming child protection concerns were prevalent (17%), with females demonstrating especially high risks. <h3>Conclusion</h3> This is the largest comprehensive study demonstrating the complex and cross-dimensional health needs and specific vulnerabilities of resettled Syrian and Iraqi refugee children and adolescents. Early comprehensive standardised multidisciplinary paediatric assessments, and culturally safe, trauma-informed interventions and follow-up are required to optimise resettlement outcomes and promote well-being.