Unending Conflict Research Articles

War, the State and Peace in two Sudans

Knowledge of African history aptly suggests that the quest for political independence in the continent is generally driven by the idea that such independence leads to statehood. By statehood, here, I refer to the ability of a sovereign country to exercise effective control over its territory, govern its people, and engage in international relations. Yet, political independence in Africa seldom leads to statehood without the experience of internal conflicts such as coup d’état or civil war. The three reviewed books, The Politics of Fear in South Sudan: Generating Chaos, Creating Conflict by Daniel Akech Thiong, When Peace Kills Politics: International Intervention and Unending Wars in the Sudans by Sharath Srinivasan, and Leadership, Nation-Building and War in South Sudan: The Problems of Statehood and Collective Will by Sonja Theron, attempt to explain why the quest for statehood in Sudan and South Sudan is characterized by diverse forms of conflicts and how the seemingly unending conflicts could be resolved. While the primary focus of each of the books differ, their respective positions concerning the key factors and actors fueling and sustaining violent conflicts in both Sudan and South Sudan are complementary.

THE PERSONAL AND THE COLLECTIVE: A STUDY OF THE EXILE OF KASHMIRI PANDITS THROUGH MULTIPLE GENRES

This paper will probe the meaning of “home” as a subjective category for healing through a comparative examination of selected poems by Lalita Pandit Hogan (1950- ) and two documentaries Tell them: ‘The Tree they had planted has now Grown’ and The Lost Paradise : A documentary on plight of Kashmiri Pandits by Ajay Raina and Akshay Labroo respectively. Both the poems and the documentaries summon the notion of Home as a potential “end”, with the latter deliberately invested in the double meaning of loss and purpose. In identifying the “end” of return to home, the two genres fuse the personal with the trans-personal, blend the concrete with the political, mix the haunting memory of past with a confusing present and an uncertain future. The welding of diverse poles in each evokes the tragedy of the unending conflict in modern Kashmir. While the erasure of hope in the “end” of home is strongly present in Lalita Pandit’s poems, the documentaries appeal to the political establishment to rend the wall between the despair of present and the free home of the future. For Raina and Labroo, as with Pandit, the present is rife with desolation and fear. However, while documentaries hint at the transience of the Now, Pandit, rooted in the fear of the radical other in the altered political scenario, evokes the permanent migration of the Self from the healing home. Both cautiously present the past as far more adjusting and accommodative than the insularly exclusivist perceptions of the present saturated with the growing cries of liberation from a country with which her Hindu community has deep cultural connections. In all, personal expression transcends the individual limits to acquire a putative representative voice for their respective cultural configurations. Neither is dedicated to a narrow essentialist rendering of those configurations.

The war that doesn't say its name: the unending conflict in the Congo

The war that doesn't say its name: the unending conflict in the Congo

Implications of Proliferation of Arms and Ammunition for West Africa Sub-Regional Development

The transfer of weapons and ammunition between non-state groups has grown significantly in West Africa. The consequences of these for regional security and their cross-border impacts have made it more likely that many other security issues would arise. The problem has gotten worse. In recent times and this raises questions about the sub-region’s security as a whole. The implication of proliferation of arms and ammunitions was examined qualitatively in this study. The research uses content analysis thereby limit the data to secondary data. The paper identified factors that motivate arms acquisition in the region, the most significant of which are unending conflicts and inability of governmental to control it. The work highlights the various efforts at eradicating the threat of the proliferation of illegal arms. The efforts were been hindered by a number of challenges namely lack of transparency, corruption on the part paramilitary officer, effect of globalization among others. The paper concludes and recommend more proactive response to curb the proliferation of arms and to maintain some level of security and a secure sub-region. An extensive strategy is advised to ensure the complete eradication of illegal dealing in arms.

Kartarpur Corridor: Re-defining Security in South Asian Region

Relations between India and Pakistan have been a securitizing factor in South Asian Region, witnessing several breakdowns, a history of mistrust, broken promises, and unending conflicts. These conflicts de-securities the whole region. This paper seeks to analyze Indo-Pak relations in the context of security and conflict in the South Asian Region in an attempt to understand the national security paradigm and view the Kartarpur corridor as a ‘Corridor of hope’. This paper is a qualitative theoretical study that uses the methodology of discourse analysis and implies the theoretical framework of Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) to re-examine the security concept. The Kartarpur corridor provides an opportunity to transform Indo-Pak relations from a military aspect to new concerns of security such as political, economic, social, and environmental changes, paving the way towards better diplomatic relations, greater economic ties, regional peace, and securitizing the region. The international security paradigm explicitly reveals that the Kartarpur corridor is a gesture of goodwill from Pakistan. In this paper, the RSCT model broadens the security definition, redefines the security dilemma among historical rivals -India and Pakistan- and highlights Kartarpur Corridor’s prospects that enhance cooperation and peace in the region.

Resolving the Kashmir Dispute: Blending Realism with Justice.

The resumption of India-Pakistan peace dialogue after a hiatus of nearly eighteen months resulting from the Mumbai terrorist attacks, has revived interest in different formulas, proposals and options that have been made from time to time to resolve the Kashmir dispute, the root-cause of “unending conflict” between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. This paper attempts to make a contribution towards this ongoing exploration of feasible ideas by highlighting the relevance of the Difference Principle expounded by John Rawls in his Theory of Justice as a key component of a lasting India-Pakistan peace deal on Kashmir. The paper begins with a brief account of the historical background of the Kashmir dispute, its evolution and a summary of the competing Indian and Pakistani claims to the disputed territory. Section two of the paper provides a descriptive account of the various solutions that have been proposed and the attempts made by India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute. The last section of the paper offers a summary of the main tenets of Rawls’s theory of Justice and examines the relevance of the Difference Principle as a guide to finding a just resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

Ontological Roots of the Schism in Economics and the Origins of the Conflicts between Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy

This paper discusses the roots of the unending conflicts between Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy in economics, including the paradigms behind the main disagreements. Historically, it is impossible to define any school of economics and thought – in Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy – via homogeneous and monolith terms, concepts, outlines, definitions, and ideas. The most essential and obvious fact of the economy (and the especially central fact of political economy) is the "transformation of economics," including concepts, methodologies, understanding, and even perception(s). Since the early 19th Century, the "concept of economics" has transformed and changed. This process has been advancing on controversial studies based on concrete facts and phenomena in human life (especially inflation, unemployment, growth, wealth, poverty, development, etc.). But just like the methodologies and understanding of the facts, thoughts, and focuses of economic studies, the concepts (and outcomes of these concepts) have also been transforming. Unfortunately, most economists still choose to label themselves via one of the "poles" (Orthodox or Heterodox) and become part of/this polarization. And the economy has much more profound and solid polarization than any other social sciences and natural sciences (math, statistics, physics, chemistry, etc.). Also, this polarization means more than just methodologic differentiation. It also includes biases and, most of the time, ideologic backgrounds. This fact makes "the schism" much deep, unique and vital, especially in critical periods (such as like financial crisis in 2007, Covid19 in 2019, and many others). Also, unlike other social sciences, economics is directly related to daily life (and political dilemmas).

Political Readings of the Hagar Narratives in Poems By Jewish Women

Abstract: The biblical story of Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian maidservant, whom she gave to her husband, Abraham, as a concubine, appears in the Book of Genesis, Chapters 16 and 20. This article discusses poems written by modern Jewish women poets that use the Hagar narrative to comment on the conflict between the Jews, the descendants of Sarah, and the Arabs, the descendants of Hagar. Two themes are prominent: The conflict between Sarah and Hagar, and their common motherhood. Through these themes, which are both manifest in the biblical story, the poets give expression to their own worldviews regarding the ethnic tensions between Jews and Arabs. Some of the poems discussed here conceive of the Hagar narrative as symbolizing the root of the unending conflict between Arabs and Jews. They are interested in rectifying the historical injustice that began, as it were, when Sarah banished her Egyptian maidservant Hagar to the wilderness with her son Ishmael. Other poems offer a gentler understanding of Hagar, seeking to understand and empathize with her through a common femininity/maternity and in this way to overcome the political implications of the story. These themes stand in contrast with the midrashic tradition that sees Ishmael as a symbol of the enemy and Hagar as the symbolic mother of the enemy. A third group of poems uses the Hagar story to reflect on the dynamic between Arabs and Jews, moving between violence and eroticism. This article will discuss poems by Dahlia Ravikovitch, Zerubavela Sasonkin, Nava Semel, Bracha Serri, Shirley Kaufman, Lynn Gottlieb, Lally Alexander, Hava Pinhas-Cohen and Rivka Miriam.

Tension between science and religion in Carl Sagan's contact

This paper tackles Carl Sagan's 1985's science fiction novel Contact which examines the connection and the relation between religious faith and science, focusing on technology and its significance in human existence. Contact's most lasting impression on readers is its enthralling representation of the unending conflict between science and faith. At numerous points in the novel, the reader is given the impression that religion and science might have a good relationship. The two are usually considered structurally related and, in some circumstances, even dependent on one another. This paper is to discover the tension between the science and faith the author Carl Sagan presents in his Contact with relating to the postmodern theory in literary criticism.

The War that doesn’t Say its Name. The Unending Conflict in the Congo , Jason K. Stearns, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2022, 328 pages

The War that doesn’t Say its Name. The Unending Conflict in the Congo , Jason K. Stearns, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2022, 328 pages

From front lines to fun runs: revitalizing the exception through official discourse at Guantánamo Bay

ABSTRACT When the detention programme at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay (GTMO) started in 2002, the Bush administration described it as an essential front in the War on Terror. A few years later, the programme was widely seen as a liability. As political discourse about GTMO grew more critical, how did the detention programme’s official discourse evolve? What does this discourse tell us about the endurance of states of exception? Scholarship on GTMO emphasizes the exceptional status of the site, but often overlooks the broader military system of which the base is one part, as well as the ways GTMO has changed over time. To examine changes in the official discourse of the detention programme, this article undertakes visual and discourse analysis of 438 issues of The Wire, the official newspaper of the programme. The analysis identifies various changes, most notably that the newspaper switched format in late 2006, from military bulletin to lifestyle magazine. The Wire shifted from situating GTMO on the front lines of the War on Terror, to characterizing the base as a site of recreation. The Wire also changed from emphasizing the exceptional events of the War on Terror, to situating the detention programme within a longer history of unending conflict. These changes revitalized the exception of indefinite detention and perpetual warfare. This study shows that systems of exceptional violence are perpetuated not just through banal, normalizing processes, but also through discourses of leisure, therapy, and personal achievement.

Legitimate Confines of Powers of the National Judicial Council in Appointment of Substantive Chief Judges for States in Nigeria: Gombe State as a Case Study

Since Nigeria`s return to democratic rule in 1999, there has been persistent face-off between the National Judicial Council (NJC) and State Governors in Nigeria over appointment of substantive Chief Judges (CJ’s) for States in Nigeria. While the NJC appears to prefer that the most senior judge in each State State be appointed the substantive CJ on each occasion, the State Governors insist that their appointing powers under the Constitution are discretionary. This standoff which on each occasion polarizes stakeholders, usually leads to tension within and outside the legal profession. In 2014, a face-off between the NJC and the Rivers State Governor in this respect almost led to a constitutional breakdown in the State. Then there was the case of Cross River State in 2020-2021, among others, the most recent being in Gombe State where the NJC in November 2020 rejected the list of names sent to it by the Gombe State Judicial Service Commission on grounds that the list did not contain the name of the most senior judge in the State. This paper is the second part of a two-winged analysis of all issues surrounding this seemingly unending conflict, the aim of the authors being to expose the actual position of law on the subject and to recommend solutions founded on rule of law, realism and democratic constitutionalism. first part titled, The Convention-Constitution Standoff: Resolving the Most-Senior-Judge Conundrum in Appointment of Substantive Chief Judges for States in Nigeria, is devoted to a discussion of the best way out of this intractable conflict between Conventionalism and the Constitutionalism while the present part focuses on delineating the exact scope and boundaries of lawful powers of the JC in the entire process. Acknowledging NJC’s powers to reject a list on deserving occasions, and taking Gombe State as a case study, this paper examines some salient questions: is the NJC under an obligation to offer reasons for rejecting such a list? Can the validity of NJC`s rejection of any such list be impaired by the legality or otherwise of the reasons so offered? paper thus offers clarifications and recommendations with a view to encouraging all stakeholders to keep within the legitimate confines of their respective powers in order to avoid or minimize tensions, interruptions and distractions.

Hindu-Muslim relations in Kashmir: A critical evaluation

India was under British colonial rule for a good number of years with her plural ethno-religious background and identity, which was to become the basis of an unending conflict. Several pre-colonial and post-colonial conditioning antecedents have been marshalled to buttress the premise leading to the conclusion that the British colonial era laid the time bomb along ethno-religious contours which exploded in 1947 thereby giving rise to the balkanisation of India into two separate states, that is India and Pakistan. Two major religious groups that is Hindus and Muslims became the gladiators in India’s partition. The Kashmir region of India, a town of religious confluence, has a history of conflicts that is perceived by different people as politico-religious and socio-economic. This article focuses on religion as a core tenet of every cultural worldview and its significance to both Hindus and Muslims, and how it has become the progressively vital central marker of identity and a smouldering keg of gun powder for conflict in Kashmir. Furthermore, this article contends that religion plays a key role in the conflict between Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir because of its significance and influence on both religions. India that is known as a mother to various religions cannot relegate the primary role of religion in their political and socio-economic affairs. Therefore, it is right to acknowledge politico-religious and socio-economic factors in the Hindu–Muslim conflict in the state of Kashmir. And, it will not be wrong to affirm that religion plays a key role in the conflict between Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir. Contribution: The article is a contribution in religious issues in India. It reveals how political power and sociopolitical antecedents are mostly recognised by religious scholars and historians as the reason for the fracas between Hindus and Muslims. It explains the influence and implication of religion in the Hindu-Muslim relations in Kashmir region.

The Convention-Constitution Standoff: Resolving the Most-Senior-Judge Conundrum in Appointment of Substantive Chief Judges for States in Nigeria

The head of the High Court of a State in Nigeria is known as the Chief Judge of the State. Section 271(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 provides that the appointment of a person to the office of substantive Chief Judge of a State shall be made by the Governor of the State on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council subject to confirmation of the appointment by the House of Assembly of the State. By virtue of section 271(4) of the Constitution, if the office of Chief Judge of a State becomes vacant or if the person holding the office is for any reason unable to perform the functions of the office, then until a person has been appointed to and has assumed the functions of that office, or until the person holding the office has resumed those functions, the Governor of the State shall appoint the most senior Judge of the State High Court to perform those functions. However, the Governor as the appointing authority and the National Judicial Council as the recommending authority, have always been at loggerheads over the latter`s insistence that the most senior judge in a State be appointed the substantive Chief Judge of the State. The position of the NJC is based on the convention within the legal profession, which places great premium on adherence to seniority and professional hierarchy. On the other hand, State Governors believe they possess a constitutional discretionary powers to appoint as the substantive Chief Judge of the State, any person qualified for such appointment, irrespective of whether such a person is or is not the most senior judge in the State. The insistence of the NJC that the convention pertaining to seniority must be respected, has more often than not, set the NJC on a collision course with various State Governors in Nigeria, usually leading to stalemates in the process of such appointments which, in turn adversely affect the smooth operations of affected State High Courts and the administration of justice in general. The latest of such conflicts was in Gombe State of Nigeria where the NJC insistence on seniority (conventionalism) and the Gombe State Governor’s insistence on constitutionalism has left the State without a substantive Chief Judge up to the time of this paper. This paper is the first part of a two-armed dispassionate examination of all issues surrounding this seemingly unending conflict, the aim of the authors being to expose the actual position of extant law on the subject with a view to recommending solutions founded on rule of law, realism and democratic constitutionalism. Using the scenario in Gombe State as a case study, and drawing from provisions of the National Judicial policy, the paper discusses the position of rule of law, and why religious adherence to the supremacy of rule of law is the best way out of the persistent logjam. The second part of this discussion, already concluded and sent for publication, is titled “Limits of the Recommending Powers of the National Judicial Council in the Process of Appointment of State Chief Judges in Nigeria: Gombe State as a Case Study”

Reconnoitring the past while shaping the future: The identity crisis, internal displacement and the way forward in the Democratic Republic of Congo

ABSTRACT The conflict that has embroiled the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for decades has been one of the most vexing problems in the political history of Africa and the larger international community. The grave clashes predominantly in the eastern parts of the country have occasioned various challenges for the state and the world at large, chief among them a record of the internally displaced persons in the state. The forces that have led to internal displacement vary but this paper takes the view that it is a result of the identity crisis, a colonial sarcoma triggered by the arbitrary drawing of borders in the African continent, and in the context of the DRC, forcing 250 different ethnic groups to be embedded in a new state. The paper divulges that the identity crisis is one of the key attributing factors to the unending skirmishes in the DRC, which has led to the escalation of the forcibly displaced people. Without giving attention to such a convoluted historical problem through the establishment of a system based on equality at the national level, the DRC will continuously be infused with unending conflicts which will further precipitate numbers of the forcibly displaced in the country.

Theoretical Underpinnings of India–Pakistan Relations

The India–Pakistan relations have historically been marked by mistrust, broken promises, unresolved issues and unending conflicts. A number of divisive factors shaped and influenced the nature of this relationship which inter alia includes large-scale violence at the time of partition, perceptual enmity and numerous unresolved issues including Kashmir. Due to all these reasons, the two countries have found themselves locked in a complex situation that could best be described using zero-sum two-person game. The author argues that perceptions play an important role in shaping the nature of bilateral relations. He goes on to identify six different prisms—three each in India and Pakistan—through which one can understand the nature and direction of this otherwise difficult relationship.

SAHEL İHTİLAFINDA ZOR BARIŞ VE KONTROLSÜZ ALANIN ETKİSİ

The Sahel region has become synonymous with violence
 over the last three decades. Poverty, rapid population growth, food insecurity,
 climate change, human trafficking, migration, and poor governance have
 dominated the literature on the causes of instability in a region also referred
 to as ‘the corridor of conflict. Of concern has been the rapid increase in
 terror-related attacks as well as violent extremism. According to the Global
 Terrorism Index ranking, Mali, Niger, and Chad, as well as the neighboring
 Libya and Nigeria, are among the top 30 countries affected by terrorism. This
 paper seeks to examine the instability in the Sahel through the ungoverned
 space theory lenses. It interogates the evolution of the crisis, and the
 relationship between the ungoverned spaces in the region and the unending conflict.
 It argues that years of systematic marginalization and ineffective
 administration have created pockets of ungoverned territories which are being
 exploited by armed groups. Based on the findings, this paper recommends a
 multidimensional approach that combines military, social and economic reforms, as well as inclusivity in proportional means to
 achieve peace and stability in the region

Delayed Peace and Tranquillity in Africa’s ‘Last Colony’: What Next for Western Sahara?

The conflicts in Western Sahara have not been resolved conclusively for 43 years now with some referring to them as ‘frozen’ conflicts in Africa’s last colony. A clear case of decolonisation turned out to be a genesis of displacement and protracted suffering of the Saharawi people from the former coloniser to another handler arguably backed by some invisible external hegemons. This study is a qualitative research using secondary data and thematic analysis to investigate Western Sahara’s unending conflicts and the way forward. Located in the conflict theory, findings indicate that the past failed interventions by the United Nations have been a result of the influence of superpowers wielding levers of power in the United Nations Security Council with vested interests in the country. Morocco the new coloniser is a neighbouring country reluctant to cede power while taping the mineral and water resources which Western Sahara is abundantly endowed with. As the Saharawi people are not obliged to give in, the conflict rages on unabated. The latest United Nations intervention could avert the conflict situation as it appears that those who had vested interests are now recoiling. The situation should not be tolerated any further and the Sahrawis deserve better, peace and tranquillity in their homeland. It is recommended that, in the letter and spirit of multilateralism, the African Union and regional economic communities across Africa should swiftly intervene even though it is now late than never.

Shelley’s Revolt in the Mediterranean: Writing Restoration

ABSTRACTThe geopolitics of Shelley’s Laon and Cythna and The Revolt of Islam revolve around its half-mythical, half-historical Mediterranean setting. Centred in Argolis and the Golden City, the poem’s geography is a translation both of the clashing forces that shaped the French Revolution in the 1790s and of the mounting tensions between Greece and Turkey in the 1810s. It also references a broader Continental panorama of imperial–national struggles instigated by the restoration process decreed by the Congress of Vienna. Throwing light on Shelley’s engagement with Restoration-era politics, this essay reads the poem’s geography and recursive narrative structure as thematic-formal vehicles for reflecting on the Napoleonic aftermath as another episode in the unending conflict between freedom and ‘anarchy’ that the poet saw as the core engine of universal history.

The Need of Efficient Water Management in Pakistan

Water is a sign of life, all living beings need it to remain alive. It is natural commodity and three fourth of this planet is water. Still not all is suitable for human consumption and sufficient to meet the ever increasing demands. Availability and supply of water is getting scarce with increasing population of states especially the developing societies. If we look at the history of life on this planet, we find that the humanity has suffered disasters on acquisition and possession of natural resources which are vital for survival of one group, may be at the cost of others. Water falls in that category where if not properly managed its scarcity and stress would lead to unending conflicts and wars till demands equals the supply with the destruction of extra consumptions. Solution to the disastrous situation is in efficient management of water. The efficient and effective management combines awareness and justified storage and distribution of water by the states within their domains. Modern technology and management provides solutions for this efficient management of water by the states.