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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is intractable in many ways, and water is not exempted from this. Water occupies a core place in the history of Israel who has securitized its access in four periods: Zionist aspirations from the pre-1948 period, Zionism alive from 1948-1967, then Israeli domination era from 1967-1995 and since 1995, the Israeli hegemony era. This pre-Oslo period has been qualified as an activated hegemonic power because the existing 'order of things' is taken as the natural order of things, providing Palestine near-formal equality with its former occupier in spite of an asymmetry of power or control over transboundary flows. It reflects upon the prospects of peace and development of a reliable Palestinian water sector. The dissertation discusses the concepts of violence and power reviewing the meaning of peace, cooperation and conflict in a constructivist approach. It revisits Foucault and Arendt's literature on power and violence using Galtung's positive definition of peace. It gathers historical evidence and field observations of the Palestinian water sector to translate their meaning into acts. It reveals the 'hidden politics' of the Israeli discursive domination over International Organizations (IOs) and the Palestinian Authority trying to impose another view of water security. Evidence from IOs' humanitarian interventions demonstrates the hegemonic constrains for the Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (EWASH) United Nations cluster to assess the needs and provide the appropriate response to water scarcity and quality issues. The relative success of their strategy also proves that the discursive speech act of securitization is embedded in practices, in this case: tools, thresholds setting and coordination among the members of the EWASH cluster.

A council for all seasons : the creation of the Security Council and its relevance today / Edward C. Luck -- The charter limitations on the use of force : theory and practice / Christine Gray -- Proposals for UN standing forces : a critical history / Adam Roberts -- The Security Council and the great powers / Nico Krisch -- The Security Council, the General Assembly, and war : the uniting for peace resolution / Dominik Zaum -- The Security Council and peacekeeping / Mats Berdal -- The sanctions era : themes and trends in UN Security Council sanctions since 1990 / David Cortright, George A. Lopez, and Linda Gerber-Stellingwerf -- The Security Council's authorization of regional arrangements to use force : the case of NATO / Dan Sarooshi -- The Security Council in the post-Cold War world / Jeremy Greenstock -- The United Nations, the Security Council, and the Korean War / William Stueck -- The Suez crisis and the British dilemma at the United Nations / Wm. Roger Louis -- The Security Council and the Arab-Israeli wars : responsibility without power / Bruce D. Jones -- The Security Council and the India-Pakistan wars / Rahul Roychaudhury -- The Security Council and East Timor / Peter Carey with Pat Walsh -- The Security Council and the Iran-Iraq war / Charles Tripp -- The Security Council and the 1991 and 2003 wars in Iraq / James Cockayne and David M. Malone -- The Security Council and the wars in the former Yugoslavia / Susan L. Woodward -- The Security Council and the Bosnian conflict : a practitioner's view / Rupert Smith -- The Security Council and Afghanistan / Gilles Dorronsoro -- The Security Council and three wars in West Africa / Adekeye Adebajo -- The Security Council in the wings : exploring the Security Council's non-involvement in wars / J.P.D. Dunbabin -- The different functions of the Security Council with respect to humanitarian law / Georg Nolte -- The Security Council and humanitarian intervention / Jennifer M. Welsh -- The Security Council and the administration of war-torn and contested territories / Richard Caplan -- The Security Council and international law on military occupations / David Scheffer -- The Security Council and terrorism / Jane Boulden -- The Security Council and the use of private force / Sarah V. Percy

Abstract: According to realist approach, three most modern influential states Russia, China and US strive to gain maximum freedom in the international arena while retaining independence in domestic policies. The author suggests that a different constructivist approach should be used. Paying attention to the peculiarities of norms and acknowledging the influence of domestic policy on the norms, this approach allows to explain the differences in understanding sovereignty in different states. The political elites of Russia and China tend to consider that the strong central power secures the Westphalian sovereignty, while the historic experience of the US formed the ideal of decentralized power. Aiming at population protection, democracy promotion, terrorist persecution and maintaining US hegemony, American liberal internationalists and neocons are in general eager to step away from the traditional understanding of sovereignty. Russia and China consider sovereignty from the absolutist standpoint, though they have made a number of concessions to the changing norms of territorial integrity and humanitarian intervention. The article proves that the Russian, American and Chinese understanding of sovereignty (both domestic sovereignty and interdependence sovereignty in S.Krasner's terms) is changing with the emergence of common interests and the necessity to counteract new global threats. ; Abstract: According to realist approach, three most modern influential states Russia, China and US strive to gain maximum freedom in the international arena while retaining independence in domestic policies. The author suggests that a different constructivist approach should be used. Paying attention to the peculiarities of norms and acknowledging the influence of domestic policy on the norms, this approach allows to explain the differences in understanding sovereignty in different states. The political elites of Russia and China tend to consider that the strong central power secures the Westphalian sovereignty, while the historic experience of the US formed the ideal of decentralized power. Aiming at population protection, democracy promotion, terrorist persecution and maintaining US hegemony, American liberal internationalists and neocons are in general eager to step away from the traditional understanding of sovereignty. Russia and China consider sovereignty from the absolutist standpoint, though they have made a number of concessions to the changing norms of territorial integrity and humanitarian intervention. The article proves that the Russian, American and Chinese understanding of sovereignty (both domestic sovereignty and interdependence sovereignty in S.Krasner's terms) is changing with the emergence of common interests and the necessity to counteract new global threats.

The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict brings together leading interdisciplinary scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to address a complex range of challenges, contexts, geographies, and issues that arise for women and men in the context of armed conflict. The Handbook addresses war and peace, humanitarian intervention, countering violence and extremism, the United Nations Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, sexual violence, criminal accountability, autonomous weapons, peacekeeping, refugee and internally displaced person (IDP) status, the political economy of war, the economics of conflict, as well as health and economic security. It begins with theoretical approaches to gender and conflict, drawing on the areas of international, peace and conflict, feminist, and masculinities studies. The Handbook explores how women and men's pre-war societal, economic, and legal status relates to their conflict experiences, affecting the ways in which they are treated in the post-conflict transitional phase. In addition to examining these conflict and post-conflict experiences, the Handbook addresses the differing roles of multiple national and international actors, as well as the UN led Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. Contributions survey the regulatory framework and gendered dimensions of international humanitarian and international human rights law in situations of conflict and occupation as well as addressing, and critiquing, the gendered nature and content of international criminal law. The Handbook also includes grounded country case studies exploring different gendered experiences of conflict in various regions. As a whole, this Handbook seeks to critically examine the contemporary gender-based challenges that emerge in conflict and post-conflicts contexts.

"This book asserts that, under international humanitarian law (IHL), military necessity neither obligates nor prohibits. Rather, it merely - and therefore indifferently - permits. This new theory challenges two influential views that currently exist on the subject. According to one, IHL bans unnecessary acts even if they do not violate any of its specific rules. Although IHL endeavours to accommodate war necessities, it does not make it its business to save incompetent belligerents from themselves. The other view holds that neither military necessity nor humanity justifies breaches of unqualified IHL rules. Military necessity clearly does not, but humanitarian imperatives may. Conversely, gross inhumanity may become unlawful even where no IHL rule specifically prohibits it"--

"Why Nation-Building Matters establishes a framework for building security forces, economic development, and political consolidation that blends soft and hard power into a deployable and effective package"--

Background and Significance: The subject of human rights discourses and humanitarian intervention, limb disability and amputation are among the leading causes of disability in the developing world. From a comparative perspective, over 80% of the world's amputees, yet only 2-5% have access to appropriate prosthetic and rehabilitative services. Aims: 1.) To investigate discursive constructions of (im)mobility and the value of prostheses from the perspective of humanitarian mobility workers and 2.) to examine representational politics and the moral economy of prosthetic limb supplementation in the developing world. Research Questions: This dissertation asks, "What are ways in which humanitarian workers conceive of mobility, and why are they invested in mobilizing amputees in the developing world? How do they create meaning, purpose, and value for themselves and potential donors?" Sample: Four U.S.-based humanitarian mobility organizations served as discursive sites for my study. Methods: From January 2016-2018, I pursued three strands of qualitative research: 1.) Twenty hours of ethnographic fieldwork at five humanitarian fundraising events, 2.) twenty-five hours of primary semi-structured qualitative interviews with sixteen U.S. mobility workers and board members from the four organizations of study, two informal interviews, and analysis of transcripts from four secondary interviews, and 3.) discourse analysis of one monograph, 60 blogs and social media posts, 20 photographs, and over three hours of promotional and documentary video footage. I analyzed all data using situational analysis. Findings: Study participants characterized mobilities as manifold, drawing upon their own experiences of immobility to mobilize others. Moreover, they confronted their privilege and criticized the social, cultural, and economic forces that generate and perpetuate immobility in the developing world; their initial tourist expeditions evolving into activist undertakings. Finally, they leveraged distinct representational strategies to appeal to an imagined, able-bodied, American donor public and garner funds to mobilize their work. Conclusions: This research offers a nuanced portrait of (im)mobility in the lives of humanitarian mobility workers, shifting the gaze from amputees in the developing world to the movements and emotional attachments of mobility workers themselves.

Intro -- Petulant and Contrary: Approaches by the Permanent Five Members of the UN Security Council to the Concept of 'threat to the peace' under Article 39 of the UN Charter -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introductory Overview -- Part 1: Theory and Methodology -- 1 Law and Politics in the Time of the Prohibition on the Use of Force -- 2 Critical Discourse Analysis and Case Study Selection -- Part 2: Case Studies -- 3 Spain 1946 (Resolutions 4 (1946), 7 (1946) and 10 (1946)) -- 4 Palestine 1948 (Resolution 54 (1948)) -- 5 Portuguese African Territories 1963 (Resolution 180 (1963)) -- 6 Apartheid in South Africa 1963-77 (Resolutions 181, 182 (1963), 190, 191 (1964), 282 (1973), 311 (1972), 417 and 418 (1977)) -- 7 Vietnamese Intervention into Cambodia 1978-79 -- 8 US-Iran Hostage Crisis 1979 (Resolutions 457 and 461 (1979)) -- 9 Namibian Occupation by South Africa 1981-83 (Resolutions 532 and 539 (1983)) -- 10 Repression of a Civilian Population-Iraq 1991 (Resolution 688 (1991)) -- 11 Civil War in Yugoslavia 1991 (Resolution 713 (1991)) -- 12 The Coup in Haiti 1991-93 (Resolution 841) -- 13 Extradition of Pan Am Flight 103 Bombing Suspects and Access to Information Related to UTA flight 772 Bombing, 1992 (Resolutions 731 and 748 (1992)) -- 14 Rwandan Civil War and Genocide 1993-94 (Resolutions 812 (1993), 846 (1993), 872 (1993), 893 (1994), 909 (1994), 912 (1994), and 918 (1994)) -- 15 Afghanistan 1999 (Resolution 1267) -- 16 East Timor Intervention 1999 (Resolution 1264) -- 17 Small Arms Trade (Resolution 2117 (2013) and the Arms Trade Treaty) -- 18 AIDS Epidemic in Africa and Peacekeeping Operations 2000-05 -- 19 Non-Proliferation of WMDS: Resolutions 1441 (2002), 1540 (2004), 1696 (2006), 1718 (2006) -- 20 UK and US Use of Force against Iraq 2003.

This volume explores in a novel and challenging way the emerging norm of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), initially adopted by the United Nations World Summit in 2005 following significant debate throughout the preceding decade. This work seeks to uncover whether this norm and its founding values have resonance and grounding within diverse cultures and within the experiences of societies that have directly been torn apart by mass atrocity crimes. The contributors to this collection analyze the responsibility to protect through multiple disciplines-philosophy, religion and spirituality, anthropology, and aesthetics in addition to international relations and law-to explore what light alternative perspectives outside of political science and international relations shed upon this emerging norm. In each case, the disciplinary analysis emanates from the global South and from scholars located within countries that experienced violent political upheaval. Hence, they draw upon not only theory but also the first-hand experience with conscience-shocking crimes. Their retrospective and prospective analyses could and should help shape the future implementation of R2P in accordance with insights from vastly different contexts. Offering a cutting edge contribution to thinking in the area, this is essential reading for all those with an interest in humanitarian intervention, peace and conflict studies, critical security studies and peacebuilding.

BACKGROUND: Following the West Africa Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak (2013–2016), WHO developed a preparedness checklist for its member states. This checklist is currently being applied for the first time on a large and systematic scale to prepare for the cross border importation of the ongoing EVD outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo hence the need to document the lessons learnt from this experience. This is more pertinent considering the complex humanitarian context and weak health system under which some of the countries such as the Republic of South Sudan are implementing their EVD preparedness interventions. MAIN TEXT: We identified four main lessons from the ongoing EVD preparedness efforts in the Republic South Sudan. First, EVD preparedness is possible in complex humanitarian settings such as the Republic of South Sudan by using a longer-term health system strengthening approach. Second, the Republic of South Sudan is at risk of both domestic and cross border transmission of EVD and several other infectious disease outbreaks hence the need for an integrated and sustainable approach to outbreak preparedness in the country. Third, a phased and well-prioritized approach is required for EVD preparedness in complex humanitarian settings given the costs associated with preparedness and the difficulties in the accurate prediction of outbreaks in such settings. Fourth, EVD preparedness in complex humanitarian settings is a massive undertaking that requires effective and decentralized coordination. CONCLUSION: Despite a very challenging context, the Republic of South Sudan made significant progress in its EVD preparedness drive demonstrating that it is possible to rapidly scale up preparedness efforts in complex humanitarian contexts if appropriate and context-specific approaches are used. Further research, systematic reviews and evaluation of the ongoing preparedness efforts are required to ensure comprehensive documentation and application of the lessons learnt for future EVD outbreak preparedness ...

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimates that over 50 million people across the globe are displaced as a result of urban conflicts, or armed conflict taking place within their cities. Such conflict situations place at risk not only civilian lives but civilian infrastructure and critical services as well. Given that over 50 per cent of the world's population lives in cities, this is indeed a cause for concern. South Africa's legislative capital, Cape Town, has had its fair share of this global nemesis, flowing from protracted gang 'wars' in the Cape Flats and years of government failure to contain the situation. The suffering of urban civilians in the Cape Flats area has been widely documented on various media platforms across South Africa and has even attracted the attention of Parliament. In response to this new urban scourge, some politicians called upon the national government to assist the obviously overwhelmed local law enforcement agencies by deploying the military to tackle gang-related violence. These calls were met with ambivalent responses from various sectors of society, with some supporting it, whilst others vehemently opposed the intervention of the armed forces in civilian following operations. The challenges flowing from the involvement of the army bring to bear the question(s): Is the army well suited for the fight against gang violence in the Cape Town urban area? What international regime regulates the deployment of military personnel in civilian policing functions? This article, through a desktop analysis of reports on gangsterism in the Cape Flats, seeks to close existing gaps in the literature on urban conflict and the use of the army in civilian policing functions; particularly in instances of what is termed 'other situations of violence'.