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"Maritime and territorial disputes in Asia could trigger a military conflict between China and the United States. China has been quarreling with Japan and the Philippines over islands and islets in the East and South China Seas. Tokyo and Manila have alliance ties with Washington and the United States could be entangled in their allies' conflict. The author describes the alliance agreements that could apply and assesses what the treaties say and how the involved actors interpret them. He discusses how the disputants and the United States understand the alliances and their applicability to the disputes." (author's abstract)

At the turn of this century, a number of hybrid courts were established to prosecute the most severe crimes com­mit­ted in war­ring and post-conflict societies. It was hoped that the de­cisions would be viewed as more le­gi­ti­mate and the courts could be more ef­ficient through local inte­gration rather than the use of purely inter­national criminal courts. However, inter­ference by local elites, re­cur­rent fun­ding short­falls and a lack of owner­ship by inter­national actors quickly cooled en­thusiasm for hybrid criminal pro­se­cution. Since 2013, however, a new gen­eration of hybrid in­sti­tutions has been es­tablished. Lisbeth Zimmermann looks at what has been learned from the mis­takes of the first gen­eration, and what sig­ni­fi­cance hybrid courts could have in the future.

At the turn of this cen­tury, a number of hy­brid courts were es­ta­blished to pro­secute the most severe crimes com­mit­ted in war­ring and post-conflict societies. It was hoped that the de­cisions would be viewed as more le­gi­ti­mate and the courts could be more ef­ficient through local inte­gration rather than the use of purely inter­national criminal courts. However, inter­ference by local elites, re­cur­rent fun­ding short­falls and a lack of owner­ship by inter­national actors quickly cooled en­thusiasm for hybrid criminal pro­se­cution. Since 2013, however, a new gen­eration of hybrid in­sti­tutions has been es­tablished. Lisbeth Zimmermann looks at what has been learned from the mis­takes of the first gen­eration, and what sig­ni­fi­cance hybrid courts could have in the future.

The paper discusses the norm of self-determination as a core element of and a difficult challenge to international democracy promotion. Collective self-determination is part and parcel of the promise of democracy and, hence, of democracy promotion. Yet, at the same time, the idea that political communities should determine themselves clashes with democracy promotion's aim to shape political orders from the outside. Given the scarce attention to the question of self-determination in the academic and political debates about democracy promotion, the paper is mainly of a conceptual and theoretical nature: Its aim is to review the literature on self-determination in order to clarify the concept - or, in fact, the competing concepts - of self-determination and discuss its relation with democracy in general and democracy promotion in particular. The paper (1) shows that the claim to collective self-determination constitutes a common normative denominator between contemporary opponents and supporters of democracy promotion; (2) reviews the range of conceptions of collective self-determination from a maximalist notion of liberal-democratic self-rule to a minimalist understanding of self-determination based on a rather broad notion of popular sovereignty; and (3) discusses implications for democracy promotion understood as the promotion of democratic self-determination.

As a consequence of the Holocaust, Israel's security is officially regarded as part of Germany's 'reason of state'. Yet the criteria for a responsible relationship between Germany and Israel are by no means self-evident or without logical or practical contradictions. One of the complications is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In order to better understand this complication, I examine two familiar national narratives, one from each side, about possible connections between the Nazi era, the Holocaust, and this conflict. I also put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a broader historical context. It turns out that the examined relationships are not as obvious as the familiar narratives describe them. The origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are older than the Nazi era and the Holocaust, and they also point to broader European responsibilities more generally, to Europe's nationalism, anti-Semitism, colonialism and imperialism - with irresponsibilities towards both Jews and Arabs. In no way does such a comprehensive perspective affect Germany's special historical responsibilities resulting from the Holocaust. But it puts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a more complete and also more honest framework, with consequences for Germany's moral and political position.

"The level of violence exerted in order to safeguard control and domination is alarmingly high in the Muslim regions of the Southern Philippines. Numerous studies and reports of local politics and society hold the civil war, American colonialism and Philippine internal imperialism responsible for this phenomenon. Despite fundamental changes of the political and economic framework during previous centuries, these ancient patterns of violence have remained a crucial cornerstone of the power of the ruling elite up to today. Thus, reducing violence will only be possible if reformist Muslims and Muslim researchers face up to their own violent roots. Peter Kreuzer's investigation shows that current practices can be traced back to former centuries and identified as an essential part of social order and practices of control and domination rooted in pre-Islamic times." (author's abstract)

In 2013 the Philip­pines brought a case before the Per­manent Court of Arbi­tration (PCA) against China over ter­ritorial sove­reignty and mari­time rights in the South China Sea. Ad­mitted­ly, they were suc­ces­sful before the court, but in the after­math the ten­sions bet­ween both parties iten­si­fied drama­ti­cally - and no con­flict re­so­lution was in sight. Philip­pine President Duterte, in­au­gu­rated in 2016, as­sumed a new stance. He offered to ignore the court ruling for the time being, in­ten­si­fied eco­nomic re­lations and re-es­tab­lished bi­lateral com­muni­cation chan­nels. Kreuzer pre­sents two les­sons learned in deal­ing with China: first, that ap­plying too much pres­sure through legal in­stru­ments may in­crease China's re­sis­tance and, second, that China's be­havior can be in­fluenced through strat­egies that re­spond po­sitively to the country's core needs and pre­di­ca­ments.

Das Working Paper schafft die Grundlage für die Erarbeitung eines konzeptionellen Rahmens für die Analyse von Räumen, in denen Rebellen und Zivilisten interagieren. In Anlehnung an die Erforschung von Supportnetzwerken aufständischer Gruppen und Governancedynamiken von Rebellengruppen, wird das Konzept des Routinised Insurgent Space (RIS) entwickelt. Es soll eine systematische Beurteilung der räumlichen Anordnung der Interaktion von aufständischen Gruppen mit bereits bestehenden und potentiellen Unterstützern ermöglichen. Dieses Working Paper befasst sich mit vier spezifischen Beispielen von RIS: Justiz- und Überwachungssysteme von Rebellen, die Erbringung von Dienstleistungen, Mobilisierung in Gefängnissen und Beerdigungen. Im Wesentlichen bezieht sich der Artikel auf zwei Fallstudien, die M-19 Guerilla-Organisation in Kolumbien (Anfang der 1970er bis 1990) und die PKK in der Türkei (Mitte der 1970er bis 1999).

"For power transition theory (PTT) Germany offers a crucial case. Three wars initiated by Germany/
Prussia (the War of 1870/71, World War I and World War II) are among the chief vindications of PTTs central insight, that power transitions are prone to great power wars. In all three instances, Germany/Prussia was not only a rising power but also dissatisfied with the prevalent international
order just as PTT expects. However, between 1870 and 1939 there are two further periods in which
Germany reached parity with the dominant power in the 1920s. Peace prevailed according to PTT
because Germany was satisfied with the status quo of the international order at the time. In this
working paper, I will inquire into the Weimar Republics satisfaction status and show that PTT's
standard argument claiming that Germany was satisfied is problematic. I argue that to bring the
Weimar case in line with PTT it is necessary to adjust PTT in two ways: a) to discard the notion of
satisfaction as a dichotomous variable and b) to correct PTT's tendency to approach complex power
relations as if they were simple bilateral stand-offs. This finding has important ramifications for the interpretations of the current global power shifts and a possible future power transition." (author's abstract)

"Since the election of Rodrigo Duterte as president, the Philippines have been engulfed in a vicious campaign against drug-related crime. More than 1,500 suspects have been killed by police officers in so-called legitimate encounters. An analysis of past patterns of killings by police shows that there are widespread, if less conspicuous, antecedents to the current spate of police-perpetrated vigilante justice. In the past and now, the differences between provinces and regions are attributable to the attitudes of officials in power at the local level. The pressure exerted on local officials by the current national administration reduces their options for resisting the invitation to carry out acts of vigilante justice. The current patterns of strongman rule also exhibit disturbing similarities to the ones used by Ferdinand Marcos before the declaration of martial law in 1972 (and should be seen as an ominous portent of what lies ahead)." (author's abstract)

"The non-governmental organization Geneva Call is making history with its success. As a civil society initiative it has succeeded in becoming a norm setter and persuaded non-state armed groups to sign an agreement to eliminate and combat anti-personnel mines. What convinces non-state armed groups to bind themselves voluntarily to humanitarian norms? Using the example of one of the signatories from the Sudan, Stefanie Herr analyzes the factors which were decisive for the acceptance of the norm and thus works out suggestions for how the international community should deal with non-state armed groups." (author's abstract)