Peace Agreement Research Articles

Holistic Pragmatism: the Chinese Approach on International Relations

Different geographical environments produce different histories, cultures, civilizations, philosophies, and mentalities, all of which have an enormous impact on their decision-making and foreign policy-making. Thousands of years of social norms and tradition have shaped Chinese people's holistic and pragmatic thinking and approach, determining China's policymakers' objective and overall approach to state governance and international relations. Above all, China, as a civilizational state that has been unified for thousands of years, distinguishes itself from the Western nation-states formed in modern times through continuous wars and peace treaties. Consequently, China has formed different perceptions and interpretations of national and international affairs, and distinct approaches and decision-making processes in terms of inter-state and international interactions and conflict management. By studying various dimensions of Chinese history, culture and philosophy, as well as analyzing its foreign policy-making and active participation in global affairs, this study argues that holistic pragmatism has pervaded China's domestic and foreign policy-making, influencing Chinese policymakers’ decision-making and people's thinking habits. This highlights the necessity to broaden the academic scope of international relations to encompass diverse geographical, cultural and historical perspectives, thereby providing a more comprehensive and profound understanding of international relations in our interconnected world.

Median line: A century of border violence and the alluvial geopolitics of the Evros/Meriç/Maritsa River border

AbstractThe border river of the Evros/Meriç/Maritsa has been shaped during the century since its demarcation by the Lausanne peace treaty. Over this period, a dense overlap of environmental, geopolitical, legal and cultural actors has turned it into both a riverised border and a borderised river. The border regime appropriates the riverine characteristics of flow, erosion, mud, turbulence and fog as much as it is founded on military technology, international law, agricultural and conservation practices, resource logistics, border crossing and the denial thereof. Here, the river's movement of sand and alluvium has become an agent in the policing of the river border. Drawing on interviews with asylum seekers, locals, forensic pathologists, legal scholars and fish scientists, this paper weaves field research, primarily undertaken on the Greek side, with a historic and ecosystemic perspective of a century‐old border that has become a hotspot for violent practices. These practices themselves harness the uncertain physical conditions that the riverscape affords. In this article we argue that the disjunctures of the river's dynamic geomorphology and the history of demarcation of the median line frame the contemporary politics of mobility of those illegalised by the border regime. In the ambiguous territorial pockets produced by the movement of the river away from the median line of 1926, islands of hyperlegality have been produced where state violence takes place with impunity.

The paradox of permission: Why governments allow foreign actors to promote solar energy projects in disputed cities

This article examines why foreign actors promote rooftop photovoltaic (PV) projects in cities characterized by ongoing ethno-national conflicts, and why the host government accepts these projects despite viewing them as undermining its sovereignty. It finds that foreign aid providers increasingly view off-grid PV technology as a low-cost solution for helping the embattled minorities of the city strengthen their autonomy and self-sufficiency by disconnecting them from the state-controlled national electricity grid. Local authorities accept these projects because they view them as benign initiatives that can help them address ‘infrastructure vacuums’ in neglected spaces of the city. This allows foreign actors to shape the status quo of the disputed city while avoiding political pushback by the host government. This dynamic is examined in the case of East Jerusalem, where EU and UN bodies invested in rooftop PV projects over the past decade with the stated goal of strengthening the energy autonomy of the city's Palestinian neighborhoods and preserving the option of dividing the city's infrastructure in a future peace agreement. Through government protocols and interviews with foreign aid representatives who promoted the projects, Jerusalem municipal officials who approved them, and Palestinian users who installed them, this article finds that Israeli authorities viewed these projects as a necessary buffer to address ungoverned areas of the city where Palestinians viewed municipal integration projects as an act of occupation. Foreign actors introduced PV solutions to these areas but struggled to overcome technical, bureaucratic, and social hurdles that limited their progress.

Including Civil Society in Peace Negotiations: The War in the Ukraine Donbas Region (2014–21)

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates how the logics of ‘civil' and ‘interstate' war were applied differently by mediators and the conflict parties to the issue of civil society inclusion during the Minsk negotiations. The resulting direct and indirect inclusion modalities did not succeed in ‘giving people a voice', but ultimately contributed to the failure of negotiations. The article argues that in an interstate war of aggression, direct civil society inclusion ‘at the table’ is likely to be one-sided and counter-productive and therefore should be substituted by creative informal modalities equally applicable to both parties.

The conflict between the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE): Special emphasis on the Pretoria Agreement

ABSTRACT The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) and the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF). The war broke out in Ethiopia's Tigray National Regional State in November 2020. This war was concluded by Pretoria's cessation of hostility agreement. However, this agreement has been facing problems. Accordingly, this study examines this Conflict by placing special emphasis on the Pre-Pretoria Agreement and the challenges of the Post-Pretoria Agreement. Besides, a qualitative research approach with primary and secondary data sources was used. In view of that, the post-Pretoria peace deal has faced various problems due to the presence of contested areas such as Wolkite and Raya between the Amhara and Tigray Region; the failure of demobilization of former young fighters of the Tigray region; and the discriminatory process of the Pretoria agreement, which in turn led to the escalation of a fresh Conflict in the Amhara National Regional State. Hence, appropriate political decision based on historical evidence could answer the questions of the people, proper inclusion of all parties of the conflict in the peace process and all inclusive political negotiations could assure sustainable peace and security.

Juridical Analysis Of Regulation No. 15 Of 2020 Concerning The Termination Of Prosecution In Criminal Offenses In The Perspective Of The Criminal Justice System In Indonesia

The purpose of this study is to analyze: first, the study of Attorney General Regulation No. 15 of 2020 concerning the termination of prosecution based on restorative justice in the perspective of the criminal justice system in Indonesia. Second, the mechanism for terminating prosecution based on restorative justice based on Attorney General Regulation No. 15 of 2020 has fulfilled the requirements and objectives. This legal research uses a normative juridical approach method. The results of the study concluded that there is a contradiction between the position of Perja No. 15 of 2020 and the justice system in Indonesia. First, it shows that the findings in article 2 of Perja no 15 of 2020 "termination of prosecution based on restorative justice is carried out based on the principles of justice, public interest, proportionality, punishment as a last resort; and fast, simple, and low cost", Second, the mechanism for implementing restorative justice in embezzlement criminal cases consists of a) peace efforts. namely the peace process is carried out voluntarily, by deliberation for consensus, without pressure, coercion, and intimidation b) in the peace process, there are two possible mechanisms, namely rejection or success. The implementation of the peace agreement is divided into two ways, namely: 1) done by returning compensation 2) done by doing something.

The Dilemma of Justice: The International Criminal Court’s Political Maneuver

ABSTRACT∞ This article explores the perspectives of Afghan human rights advocates and academics on transitional justice, focused on the conundrum of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan. As a judicial entity, the ICC operates in a political environment. The tug of war of the ICC concerning what party to investigate is a testiment to this claim. In a recent twist, the new prosecutor, Karim Khan, issued a statement that his office would focus on crimes perpetrated by the Taliban and the Islamic State Khorasan Province, thus deprioritizing other parties, including the Afghan national security forces and the US military, that were determined by his predecessor. The Afghan human rights advocates and academics, while supporting accountability, criticize selective justice. The nature of war, the US–Taliban peace deal in 2020 and the collapse of the Afghan government in 2021 have furthered the dilemma of justice.

Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Africa

The complex opportunities and challenges of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda articulated in the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 of 2000, and other successive resolutions, subject themselves to the proverbial interpretation of either a cup half-empty or a cup half-full. The WPS is a progressive agenda for gender programmes in Africa. The downside is that the WPS agenda appears not known beyond policy and activist circles in the continent. This study sought to interrogate the progress made by the WPS agenda in Africa since the UNSCR 1325 was adopted using secondary research and content analysis (CA) of current literature. It was revealed that despite some challenges faced the gender perspective is not deficient in peacekeeping operations (PKOs) except in peace agreements, but that gender 1325 commitments are mirrored in the mandates of PKOs. The African Union-United Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), showed the least WPS agenda consideration but the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) significantly reflected this. For the rest of Africa, it remains unclear if the agenda is stagnating or going forward. There is a host of structural challenges rooted in masculinity issues and patriarchal mind-sets among others.

What Could the United Nations General Assembly Do When the United Nations Security Council Is Deadlocked

At a time when the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is so deadlocked that it has difficulty performing its responsibilities in international peacekeeping, conventional opinions tend to focus on reforming the UNSC to find solutions. However, when faced with these issues, the role of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) cannot be ignored. As the main organ of the United Nations, the UNGA has a wider representation with 193 member states compared to the 15 members of the UNSC, which means that the UNGA can reflect the different opinions and interests of different countries. In addition, the UNGA can provide the necessary funding for peacekeeping missions, ensure their effectiveness, and exert political pressure on Member States to resolve conflicts and facilitate peace negotiations through the recommendations it approved. These characteristics indicate that UNGA has the full potential and qualifications to play an active role in international peacekeeping operations. This work is dedicated to arguing that when the UNSC is unable to perform its duties, the UNGA has the legitimacy and rationality to assume the secondary role of maintaining peace through the application of the Uniting for Peace Resolution and the establishment of subsidiary bodies and making feasible recommendations based on these perspectives.

The Green Tree Agreement over Bakassi: The Perception of the Bakassi Inhabitants towards its Implementation

The Bakassi ruckus between Cameroon and Nigeria was primarily caused by colonialism and the discovery of natural resources in the area. This conflict was solved by the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling of October 10, 2002. To agree that they have stopped hostilities, Cameroon and Nigeria signed the Green Tree Agreement (GTA). The main thrust of this paper is to showcase the Bakassi inhabitants’ perception and views of Cameroon’s implementation of GTA. We obtained data from secondary interviews and observations. Interviews were conducted in the Bamusso, and Idabato subdivisions in Bakassi using snowball and purposive sample techniques. To analyse the data obtained, content and thematic analyses were used, as well as liaising them with the concepts of peace agreement and perception. From the paper's findings, it reveals that the level of development, security, interaction with official, and environmental problems are the inhabitants’ main views. It also reveals that, according to the people, the Cameroon government needs to do a lot on development and tackling environmental issues. The issue of security and interaction with Cameroon officials has positive thumbs up. This paper suggests that the Cameroon government should prioritize infrastructure development and address environmental issues in the Bakassi region. This will go a long way to ensure and preserve peace in the area.

No-campaigns in peace referendums

ABSTRACT Peace agreements can be more effective and durable when being supported by the broad public through a peace referendum. However, after some peace negotiations, No-campaigns succeeded in convincing voters that the peace in question was not the right solution. This study seeks to advance the discussion of campaign support in peace referendums by studying the design and content of No-campaigns, in relation to their Yes-counterparts, and their role in gathering support against peace agreements. We argue that No-campaigns can become a risk to peace agreements when they employ a coherent strategy where its different elements such as organisation, logistics, and methodologies are integrated cohesively, and where they offer a unified content in terms of the message addressed to the public. These two aims are more difficult to accomplish for Yes-campaigns. We study this argument for the cases of the peace referendums in Northern Ireland in 1998 and Colombia in 2016.

The Authority of the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency in the Legal Protection of Land Rights Holders whose Transfer of Rights is Revoked

Disputes over the transfer of land ownership rights through sales often arise in the community due to Indonesia's land registration system, which follows a negative system. This system allows for multiple legal defects in registered land rights certificates, potentially leading to cancellation requests. This research addresses two main issues: the authority of the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) in handling land cases and the form of legal protection for land rights holders whose transfers are cancelled. This normative legal research employs a statutory and case approach, using document studies for data collection and analyzing the data through descriptive methods and legal analogies (argumentum per analogy). The study concludes that the ATR/BPN's authority in handling land cases is outlined in Permen ATR/BPN No. 21 of 2020. The agency offers two alternatives for resolving disputes: judicial settlement for court decisions and mediation for a win-win solution and peace agreement. Additionally, legal protection for land rights holders, particularly third parties with certificates cancelled due to administrative defects, can be provided both preventively and repressively to ensure legal certainty and protection for all parties involved.

A simple twist of fate. An experiment on election uncertainty and democratic institutions

In this paper we study electoral systems in an experimental governance game in which citizens contribute to a public good and policymakers decide how to distribute it. In the Voting condition, citizens receive information about the policymaker performance (how much she shared of the public good with individual participants), her skills and her altruism, and vote directly for a policymaker for the next election cycle. In the Referendum condition voters receive information about the policymaker's performance before deciding whether to remove her from office in a simpler binary choice (in or out). If they decide to remove the incumbent, a new policymaker is chosen randomly from the remaining group members, in the spirit of referendums like Brexit or the plebiscite about the peace agreements in Colombia. We compare these two electoral mechanisms with two baselines in which the policymaker is never replaced (Baseline) and another one (Random) in which the policymaker is always randomly replaced by another participant. Our results show that both electoral mechanisms are largely effective in improving citizens’ earnings by generating more equitable sharing rules. Citizens in Voting and Referendum extract greater surplus from policymakers than in the other conditions and voting against a candidate (Referendum) is more effective in increasing surplus than voting for a candidate (Voting). Contributions to the public good and conditional cooperation patterns remain strikingly similar in democratic (Referendum and Voting) and non-democratic (Baseline and Random) conditions. Empirical expectations about contributions of other citizens are similar as well. However, we show that policymakers distribute the public good differently in democratic institutions, and more effectively in Referendum than in Voting, as policymakers use clientelist transfers to avoid being replaced. Overall, both democratic institutions are effective in improving citizens’ payoffs by indirectly limiting policymakers’ surplus.

Christian-Muslim Narratives and their Dialogue for Sustainable Peace and Development in the Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Christian-Muslim Narratives and their Dialogue for Sustainable Peace and Development in the Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Landscape connectivity loss after the de-escalation of armed conflict in the Colombian Amazon (2011–2021)

Rapid deforestation has been well-documented in Colombia after the 2016 peace agreement with FARC. While many analysis using remote sensing identify land cover change, structural connectivity variables are less studied for understanding landscape transformation. In this work, we used data from the Landsat archive from 2011 to 2021, the Continuous Change Detection and Classification algorithm (CCDC), and Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) to analyze deforestation, land cover change, and landscape connectivity in northwestern Colombia’s Amazon. We examined the spatial patterns in three specific subsets in the Colombian arc of deforestation, with a special focus on the surroundings of the National Natural Park Serranía de Chiribiquete. Our results confirm changes in structural connectivity linked to pasture expansion from the conversion forest to pasture during the analyzed period showing changes in the borders of Serranía de Chiribiquete National Park along rivers and roads, where cattle is transported. Before 2016, the average annual deforested area in the three study areas was 27.93 km²; after 2016, this number increased to 73.36 km². The outcomes of our study contribute to an improved understanding of pasture dynamics. They can aid decision-making in areas that play a key role in ecological networks necessary for long-term conservation efforts. Our quantitative assessments have revealed a temporal shrinking of the core area, indicative of a decline in forest cover. Concurrently, we observed an expansion of the edge and background areas, which is consistent with the proliferation of pastures. This study presents methodology and data in support of policy-making for sustainable land use and ecological connectivity to mitigate further environmental degradation in the area.

Local Wisdom-based Restorative Justice Approach to Customary Violations Committed by Children

Child protection is an effort to create conditions so that children can carry out their rights and obligations while still prioritizing their best interests. There are three things discussed in this study namely: punishment policy in the use of diversion and restorative justice, values and forms of restorative justice, and the role of custom in cases of children in conflict with the law. This study is an empirical legal study that examines the settlement of criminal cases committed by children with a restorative justice approach. The data used are primary data and secondary data. Analysis of the problems is carried out qualitatively. The policy of handling children's cases with the concept of restorative justice, which promotes peace through deliberations involving various parties, religious and traditional leaders, and the community is very much in line with the concepts of progressive law and substantive justice. To realize the settlement of cases based on restorative justice, relevant stakeholders are expected to be able to apply the values of restorative justice in practice to be able to produce peace agreements that reflect the sense of community justice. Efforts to resolve cases or customary issues carried out by deliberation by traditional elders as village peace judges, are part of the application of local Balinese wisdom and are the best step to restore the situation as before by sticking to the spirit of kinship, mutual care, compassion, and care. Keywords: Children, customary village, diversion, local Balinese wisdom, restorative justice

The web of conflict-related interactions in Colombia: exploring causal linkages between ecological and social variables by the qualitative loop analysis.

In Colombia, the long-lasting internal conflict heavily shaped the socio-ecological context and imposed relationships that persisted after the peace agreement was signed in 2016. One question of interest is whether policies or interventions conceived to attain desirable goals for the post-conflict society may be effective or, rather, if the constraints imposed by the conflict scenario might produce unintended effects, either on the environmental or the social side. To explore this issue, we envisaged the socio-ecological system as a parsimonious set of characteristic ecological and social variables within the conflict-related framework and reconstructed their interactions, exploiting elicitation-based information and the literature. We visualized the resulting interactive networks as signed digraphs. Applying the qualitative technique of loop analysis combined with numerical simulations, we predicted the response of the system to policies as drivers of change, such as subsidized credit to capital-intensive activities or policies that increase small farming competitiveness and access to markets. Highlighting causal linkages reveals that the persistence of conflict factors may produce unexpected interdependencies between licit and illicit activities and that, only in a few cases, the persistence of these mechanisms allows synergies between desirable goals.This article is part of the theme issue 'Connected interactions: enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions'.

Balance of the operation of the United Nations Multi-Donor Fund in Colombia in the 2016-2022 period

The objective of this article is to assess the operation of the United Nations Multi-Donor Fund in Colombia, established to support the implementation of the Peace Agreement with the FARC-EP, focusing on its first two phases: 2016-2022. The methodological strategy consisted of documentary analysis based on the regulations of the mechanism and its reports. Among the results, it is highlighted that there is an unstable funding dynamic, as well as that operationally preponderance was given to the Development Plans with a Territorial Approach. It is concluded that there were strong limitations in the intervention of critical problems in the territories.

The unidirectional relationship between forest disturbance and armed conflict in the Andean Paramo

The armed conflict in Colombia has profoundly transformed rural landscapes, significantly impacting local communities. Sumapaz, the world's largest paramo, is a crucial water source for over 15 million people in the central Andean region of Colombia. Historically, the paramo functioned as a strategic corridor for the leftist guerrilla Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) to gain access to Bogotá for a potential armed takeover of political power. The specific impact of the conflict between the FARC and the Colombian army in the paramo, as well as the effects of conflict de-escalation, remain understudied. By analyzing forest disturbances and records on victims and conflict events, we identified a unidirectional relationship between the intensity of armed conflict and landscape transformation. Forest disturbances were significantly higher during the armed conflict (2001-2012). In contrast, forest disturbances have markedly decreased since the beginning of peace negotiations in 2012 and the subsequent peace agreement period 2016-2020. These findings contrast with documented trends in other regions of the country, such as the Andean and Amazonian areas. Our results demonstrate that the legacy of armed confrontation between the Colombian army and FARC in the paramo negatively impacted the landscape. Importantly, these findings provide valuable insights into conservation policies and environmental management during the post-peace agreement era, offering an opportunity to develop future preservation actions and shape the future of the Andean Paramo.

Nepal-India Political Relations: A Comprehensive Analysis of Historical Dynamics, Contemporary Challenges, and Future Prospects

This research provides a comprehensive analysis of the historical dynamics, contemporary challenges, and future prospects in Nepal-India political relations. The diplomatic ties between the two nations, rooted in shared history, cultural affinities, and geographical proximity, have witnessed both cooperation and discord over the centuries. While historical documents highlight periods of mutual respect, the study delves into the complexities of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1950, solidifying diplomatic bonds. However, recent years have seen a shift in this narrative, marked by territorial disputes, economic imbalances, and evolving geopolitical dynamics. Contemporary challenges include territorial disputes leading to diplomatic intricacies and economic imbalances raising questions about the equitable nature of the bilateral relationship. The research adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining historical analysis, policy examination, and stakeholder perspectives to offer timely and relevant insights. Key informant interviews with political leaders, diplomats, and professionals provide a diverse understanding of the multifaceted issues at hand. The study identifies territorial disputes and unequal diplomatic treaties as major challenges, contributing to tensions in Nepal-India relations. It emphasizes the need for a peaceful discourse to resolve border encroachments and calls for a revision of existing treaties in light of changing regional and international circumstances. Additionally, socio cultural affinities between the two nations are explored, with strategies proposed for bridging gaps and fostering a sense of shared identity. The research concludes with strategies for future cooperation, advocating for a balanced diplomatic relationship that considers the changing global landscape. The equidistance principle is discussed, urging both nations to adapt their mindsets and refrain from micromanaging each other's domestic politics. The study underscores the importance of recognizing the historical ties between Nepal and India, emphasizing the potential for multifaceted alliances in the future.