Suchergebnisse

"This report assesses the interests of the most relevant state and non-state actors in Afghanistan and Central Asia in the aftermath of the 2014 Afghan presidential election. It is guided by the premise that the armed conflict in Afghanistan should be understood as being heavily intertwined with regional politics. Its purpose is to serve as an overview of the negotiation environment in Afghanistan and Central Asia. It identifies actors, interests, and relationships that are helpful to take into consideration when sequencing and orchestrating a peace process that could de-escalate the war in Afghanistan and help build a more stable and cooperative region. The majority of the PRIF Report focuses on relevant actors and their network of relationships, and the conclusion details three future scenarios and a set of recommendations that could facilitate a coordinated negotiation process." (author's abstract)

"Machtteilung zählt zu den wichtigsten Instrumenten der Konfliktbearbeitung: Nach gut jedem zweiten Bürgerkrieg, der zwischen 1990 und 2009 endete, teilten sich die Konfliktparteien die Macht. Der Autor skizziert, wann solche machtteilenden Arrangements nach Bürgerkriegen entstanden. Der Report geht zudem der Frage nach, unter welchen Bedingungen die Machtteilung mit einem stabilen Frieden einherging und wann ein Rückfall in den Bürgerkrieg folgte. Die Befunde sprechen mehr für die Verfechter von Machtteilung als für deren Gegner." (Autorenreferat)

In theoretical terms 'peace' remains a largely contested concept. Academics propose competing definitions and conceptualizations, which possess their own normative and analytical advantages or disadvantages. Yet despite heated academic and theoretical debates, studies looking at the empirical understandings of peace and conflict-settlement strategies of different states are largely missing. The paper set out to cover this gap and ask how similarities and differences in the actors' conceptual understandings of peace play themselves out in their agreement and disagreement over the advocated 'peace strategies'. Employing qualitative/ quantitative content analysis of the statements made by the representatives of the Russian Federation and the United States at the UN Security Council, Evgeniya Bakalova and Konstanze Jüngling analyze the debates around four recent and/ or ongoing conflicts (Georgia 2008, Libya 2011, Syria 2011-2014 and Ukraine 2014). The study reveals that while agreement over the conceptualization of peace does not impede further disagreement as to the advocated peace strategies, disagreement at the conceptual level breeds deeper disagreement.

"Zwischen 1990 und 2009 endeten fast 50 Bürgerkriege weltweit. Doch in rund drei Viertel der Fälle kam es danach zu weiteren Kriegen oder bewaffneten Konflikten. Die Nachkriegsordnungen in Kroatien, Bosnien und Herzegowina sowie Kosovo erwiesen sich dagegen als recht stabil. Der Autor bilanziert die südosteuropäischen Fälle und geht der Frage nach, welche Faktoren die Chance für einen dauerhaften Frieden begünstigten und welche sie reduzierten. Die identifizierten Kontextbedingungen werden mit quantitativen Studien zu Nachbürgerkriegsgesellschaften nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg verglichen und können Hinweise darauf geben, welches Eingreifen der internationalen Gemeinschaft in Bürgerkriegsszenarien sinnvoll sein könnte." (Autorenreferat)

This paper maps out the negotiation environment of the Afghanistan conflict. So far, all attempts to end the violence between the Afghan government, insurgency, and US and NATO through negotiations have failed. Key obstacles to negotiations are the complexity of the conflict and the variety of state and non-state actors that are directly or indirectly involved. This paper explores the interests and relationships of these actors and highlights the most important alliances and connections. Finally, these connections are visualized in a network diagram.

"The international responsibility to protect and norms of international criminal justice are increasingly contested. These conflicts seem to be casting doubt on the possibilities for global governance. Are such liberal norms and rules only accepted in the political West? In order to examine the opportunities of global governance, this report investigates the influence of regional actors on the global order. When do regional security organizations contribute to fragmenting this global order and when do they strengthen it? The study finds that the acceptance of global norms and rules is primarily a matter of procedural justice. When regional actors recognize that they do not have a say in how global norms are implemented in their region, they will tend to reject these norms. The study concludes with recommendations for political practice." (author's abstract)

"Auslandseinsätze stellen internationale Sicherheitskräfte vor besondere Herausforderungen. Die Sicherheitslage in den Einsatzgebieten, internationale Normen und Demokratie verlangen von Soldaten und Polizisten, sowohl sich selbst als auch Zivilisten vor Ort gegen Gewalt zu schützen. In der Praxis bedeutet dies eine Konvergenz traditioneller militärischer und polizeilicher Rollen. Dieser Report untersucht die Schwierigkeiten der Bundeswehr und der deutschen Polizei, in Afghanistan flexibel beim Einsatz von Zwangs- und Gewaltmittel zu sein. Die Autoren zeigen, dass eine größere Flexibilität deutscher Sicherheitskräfte in Auslandseinsätzen sowohl notwendig als auch risikoreich ist, und formulieren Vorschläge, wie Deutschland mit diesem Dilemma umgehen kann." (Autorenreferat)

On March 17, 2011, the UN Security Council authorized with Resolution 1973 a humanitarian intervention in Libya. It referred to the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to preserve the civilians from massacres. Germany abstained and thereby not only sent the wrong signal with regard to peace and international order but also broke with its traditional active multilateralism on the side of its Western allies.

"Elections can contribute to peacebuilding by ensuring the representation of formerly excluded groups in parliament. When hurried and poorly designed, however, elections can also threaten the precarious peace in divided countries. This study focuses on the three main features of electoral design that crucially influence the success or failure of elections in conflict-prone divided societies: timing and sequencing, electoral administration, and electoral systems. It goes beyond purely scholarly debates and translates the general insights into specific policy recommendations for the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2015 in South Sudan; the first elections since the country torn by ethnopolitical conflict gained independence in 2011." (author's abstract)