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Der Beitrag präsentiert die Ergebnisse einer Feldforschung in Aserbaidschan zu den dortigen traditionellen Institutionen der Klans und regionalen Kameradschaften bzw. der post-sowjetischen Staatsstrukturen und ihren (informellen) Netzwerken. Nach einer Bestimmung der Schlüsselbegriffe (Klan, Stamm usw.) gliedern sich die Ausführungen in die folgenden Aspekte: (1) Charakteristiken der regionalen Gruppierungen als neues soziales Phänomen, (2) die Grenzen der Gruppen, (3) die Struktur der Gruppierungen, (4) das Sowjeterbe, der Staat und regionale Gruppierungen, (5) systembildende Faktoren der Gruppierungen sowie (6) die Stabilität des Staates, das Konfliktpotential und die soziale Effizienz. Die Studie erlaubt drei wichtige Schlussfolgerungen: Erstens besteht ein substanzieller Unterschied zwischen dem klassischen regionalen Zusammenschluss und dem neuen sozialen Phänomen der regionalen Gruppierung darin, dass letztere als eine Strategie zur Gewinnung von Ressourcen zu verstehen sind, die hauptsächlich in der Domäne des Staates entsteht und existiert, während der Staat durch einen hohen Grad an Klientelismus charakterisiert ist. Zweitens besteht ein ebenso wichtiger Aspekt in der Untrennbarkeit von regionalen Gruppierungen und Staat. Drittens ist es zweifelhaft, ob sich Aserbaidschan kurz- oder mittelfristig dem Risiko der sozialen Instabilität aussetzen wird. (ICG2)

"A qualitative study of Austria's national strategy against violence in the public school system introduced in 2008. The national strategy developed by researchers consists of six activity domains with specific goals and projects defined for each. The evaluation (1) analyzes how the realized projects contributed to the six activity domains, (2) evaluates the national strategy at a general level, and (3) provides future recommendations. Eight members of the steering committee were interviewed at two points in the implementation process. The systematic interviews were coded according to the goals of the activity domains. According to the interviewees most of the projects have been satisfactorily implemented. Networking and cooperation with the different actors in the field of violence prevention and cooperation among steering committee members have been improved. However, the national strategy has not achieved the intended public recognition. The lessons learned from the evaluation and its results are discussed." (author's abstract)

This article argues that ASEAN's policy toward Myanmar has been predominantly responsive, dictated by China's activism in the region. It posits three arguments: First, that the release of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, may have been a tactical move to convince ASEAN to award it the 2014 chairmanship and thereby consolidate the legitimacy of the current regime; second, that Thein Sein's suspension of the Myitsone Dam was a strategic move intended to please both domestic and ASEAN constituencies; and third, that Myanmar's chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014 will help justify the organisation's past approach to Burma as well as accelerate the process of community-building. The paper argues that in spite of the growing interconnectedness between ASEAN and China, ASEAN is locked in a strategic tug-of-war with China over Myanmar. Myanmar has, on multiple occasions, played upon ASEAN's suspicion of China by playing the "China card," as I term it, forcing ASEAN to continually legitimise it through public statements.

"The study analyses research on violence in the Northeast and Southeast Asia with respect to four types: political, urban, domestic and youth violence, highlighting current research themes, tendencies and gaps in violence research on and in the region, and identifying needs for further research. Commonalities and differences between countries and subregions are examined, along with a treatment of the colonial experience that influenced political violence in postcolonial countries." (author's abstract)

In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled that the Preah Vihear temple lies within Cambodian territory. The status of the 4.6 km2 of land surrounding the temple, however, remained unclear. When UNESCO declared the Preah Vihear temple a Cambodian World Heritage Site in July 2008, the situation was exacerbated. Several firefights between October 2008 and April/May 2011 claimed at least 34 lives. The border dispute became a rollercoaster ride along the way: Talks between Thailand and Cambodia were regularly interrupted by exchanges of fire, only to be resumed a little later. This prevented a resolution of the conflict. The essay explores how Thailand's and Cambodia's conflict behaviour can be explained from a first-image perspective. In doing so, uncovering the motives of both countries' prime ministers is crucial to understanding Bangkok's and Phnom Penh's actions in the border area. The paper argues that in low-intensity border conflicts, motivations are different from those underlying heads of government's behaviour in high-intensity border conflicts. While this complicates an agreement on the Preah Vihear question, it also means that escalation to a manifest border war is very unlikely.

"Regional conflict systems are characterized by their complexity of actors, causes, structural conditions and dynamics. Such complexity poses difficulties to those looking to undertake scientific analysis of the regional dynamics of violence. It is still quite unclear how militant violence diffuses in regions and under which conditions a regional conflict system can emerge. This review of existing approaches to regional conflict dynamics in international studies and peace and conflict studies focuses on how the regional conflict dynamics and the causal mechanisms behind the development of regional conflict systems are dealt with, considering process dynamics in space and time as well as in the interactions between possible causal factors. The primary gaps in existing research are identified and possible new research directions sketched out. Regional conflict systems are characterized by their complexity of actors, causes, structural conditions and dynamics. Such complexity, however, poses difficulties to those looking to undertake scientific analysis of these processes. In the present paper existing approaches to regional conflict dynamics in international studies and peace and conflict studies are reviewed. Of particular interest is the question how these approaches dealt with regional violence in areas with limited or no statehood as this is one of the striking conditions for the emergence and diffusion of regional conflict systems. Starting from this question, the main research gaps that exist in the current literature on regional conflicts will be detected. Furthermore, new research directions will be pointed out." (author's abstract)

"This focus section of the International Journal of Conflict and Violence is dedicated to violence and violence research in the Global South. It examines the causes, forms, perpetrators, processes, and outcomes of violence. While the contributions go into detail on what is commonly understood as politically motivated violence, they also examine societal, criminal, urban, and gendered violence, as well as the involvement of youth. Four articles explore the significance of violence in specific regions: Africa south of the Sahara, West Asia and North Africa, East Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The authors describe and assess the state of research within and about the different countries. Two further articles review the body of research on the causes of civil war, which has been the dominant issue in much violence-related research on the global South since the end of the Cold War." (author's abstract)

This article examines the connections between refugeeism and the crisis of development in which Africa has been immersed in the past two decades. Exploring the causes of conflict that lie at the core of the generation of refugees, it critiques the position that tribalism is the cause of refugeeism. Based on a critique of the "tribal thesis", it demonstrates that the cause of conflict lies in material conditions and the contradictions thrown up by authoritarianism, intra-elite squabbles and inequitable access to power and resources. At the end the paper suggests that the rights dimension is a critical aspect of the democracy-development nexus, which would also set the stage for the end of the scourge of refugeeism in Africa. (NJIA - Nigerian Inst Int Aff/DÜI)