Suchergebnisse

Several years ago a devastating civil war that raged in Sri Lanka for 3 decades between the state army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), finally ended. One of the immediate issues that the country had to face in the aftermath of the war was dealing with the remnants of the LTTE combatants. For that purpose, the state launched the program of Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR). The program appeared to be unique in many ways, different from the DDR programs initiated and conducted by the UN in other countries recovering from civil war. One of such features distinctive for Sri Lanka, was that DDR was launched in the absence of the ceasefire or peace agreement between belligerents, in the condition of a total victory of the state army. What has attracted the attention of the international community, was the full monopoly on the development and execution of the program by the government of Sri Lanka, with the UN left outside. In this research project I look into how DDR in Sri Lanka is different from the conventional vision on DDR. I bring up a question on whether the Sri Lankan DDR is simply a tool for maintaining the political influence, or it challenges the very understanding of the concept. To analyse the data collected during the fieldwork in Sri Lanka, I employ theories on statehood, human security and peacebuilding.

A key component of peace process and post-conflict reconstruction is the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants. I argue that DDR programs imply multiple transitions: from the combatants who lay down their weapons, to the governments that seek and end to armed conflict, to the communities that receive - or reject - these demobilized fighters. At each level, these transitions imply a complex equation between the demands of peace and the clamor for justice. However, traditional approaches to DDR have focused on military and security objectives, which have resulted in these programs being developed in relative isolation from the field of transitional justice and its concerns with historical clarification, justice, reparations, and reconciliation. Drawing upon my research with former combatants in Columbia, I argue that successful reintegration not only requires fusing the processes and goals of DDR programs with transitional justice measures, but that both DDR and transitional justice require a gendered analysis that includes an examination of the salient links between weapons, masculinities, and violence. Constructing certain forms of masculinity is not incidental to militarism: rather, it is essential to maintenance. What might it mean to 'add gender' to DDR and transitional justice processes if one defined gender to include men and masculinities, thus making these forms of identity visible and a focus of research and intervention? I explore how one might 'add gender' to the DDR program in Columbia as one step toward successful reintegration, peace-building and sustainable social change. (Human Rights Quarterly)

Pädagogische Auslandsarbeit der DDR in Entwicklungsländern als Instrument der ideologischen Beeinflußung im Sinne der klassenkämpferischen Auseinandersetzung. Politisch geographischer Hauptadressat dieser Aktivitäten: Entwicklungsländer der sog. sozialistischen Orientierung. Positive und negative Resultate dieser kulturorientierten Entwicklungshilfe

Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR). Includes discussion of German identity and television programs on West Germany.

Untersucht werden Probleme des "Friedensaufgebotes" der FDJ. Dazu wurden im Winter 1983 drei schriftliche Gruppenbefragungen bei ca. 2.500 Jugendlichen durchgeführt. Die offene Hauptfrage lautete: "Auf welche ganz persönliche Art und Weise würden Sie Ihre Zustimmung zur Friedenspolitik der DDR in der Öffentlichkeit zum Ausdruck bringen?" Bei einer Antwortquote von sechzig v.H. wurden vielfältige friedenssichernde Aktivitäten genannt, von ca. 170 Jugendlichen aber auch negative Positionen vorgetragen. Insgesamt wurde deutlich, "daß die Identifikation der Jugendlichen mit der Friedenspolitik von Partei und Regierung" (der DDR) "in einem sehr umfassenden Maße ausgeprägt ist", was vom Verfasser als Argument gegen eine unabhängige Friedensbewegung in der DDR angeführt wird. (pbb)

Although it is common for armed groups to splinter (or "fragment") during contexts of multi-party civil war, current guidance on Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) does not address the challenges that arise when recalcitrant fighters, unwilling to report to DDR, break ranks and form new armed groups. This Practice Note addresses this issue, drawing lessons from the multi-party context of the DRC and from the experiences of former members of three armed groups: the Rally for Congolese Democracy-Goma (RCD-Goma), the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), and the DRC national army (FARDC). While the findings indicate that the fragmentation of armed groups may encourage desertion and subsequent participation in DDR, they also show that active armed groups may monitor DDR programs and track those who demobilize. Remobilization may follow, either as active armed groups target ex-combatants for forced re-recruitment or as ex-combatants remobilize in armed groups of their own choice. Given these dynamics, practitioners in settings of partial peace may find it useful to consider non-traditional methods of DDR such as the use of mobile patrols and mobile disarmament units. The temporary relocation of ex-combatants to safe areas free from armed groups, or to protected transitional assistance camps, may also help to minimize remobilization during the reintegration phase.

Die DDR-Führung nutzte das Massenmedium Fernsehen als ein politisches Instrument zur Ernährungsprävention. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung steht der konkrete Zusammenhang zwischen der Versorgungssituation der DDR in den 1980er Jahren und der ernährungsbezogenen Gesundheitsaufklärung anhand der Ratgebersendung HAUSHALTS-ALLERLEI PRAKTISCH SERVIERT (HAPS) im Fokus. Die Sendereihe ist dabei als Teil einer gesundheitspolitischen Strategie der DDR einzuordnen, die darauf abzielte, althergebrachte ungünstige Ernährungsmuster aufzubrechen, um nicht zuletzt die Kosten der Gesundheitsversorgung zu reduzieren. In allen vier exemplarisch analysierten Sendungen von 1984, 1987, 1989 und 1990 konnten explizit vermittelte Ernährungsbotschaften eruiert werden. Neben sachlich-informativen konnten allerdings auch unterhaltende Sendungselemente identifiziert werden, die nicht durchgehend zur Gesundheitsförderung beitragen.

Die empirische Untersuchung über Informationsstand und Einstellung von Jugendlichen in der DDR zum Thema Frieden und Sozialismus wurde Anfang 1983 durchgeführt. Befragt wurden insgesamt 3200 Jugendliche, Schüler, Studenten, Lehrlinge und junge Berufstätige. Der erste Teil der Studie enthält Ergebnisse zur Haltung der Jugendlichen zu Grundfragen von Krieg und Frieden. Im zweiten Teil geht es um die Ausprägung der Verbundenheit der Jugendlichen mit dem Sozialismus, insbesondere mit der DDR und der Sowjetunion. Im dritten Teil steht die aktive Teilnahme am "Friedensaufgebot der FDJ" im Mittelpunkt. Ein Anhang enthält Angaben zur Population sowie ausgewählte Befragungsergebnisse zu aktuellen Themen. Im Mittelpunkt der Befragung steht die Haltung der Jugendlichen zur Stationierung neuer nuklearer Waffensysteme der USA in Westeuropa. (pka)

Female Ex-Combatants, Empowerment, and Reintegration investigates the role of United Nations-led Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programs in undermining female ex-combatants⁰́₉ empowerment. The participation of female combatants in conflict has increasingly been recognized in feminist literatures and in policies and programs concerned with reintegrating ex-combatants and building peace. This has illustrated that female ex-combatants often experience "empowerment" through their role as combatant; however, this empowerment is often lost upon reintegration. UN-led DDR plays an important role in the broader peacebuilding process, as it is one of the largest interventions and directly aims to reintegrate ex-combatants into civilian life. This book draws on extensive field research and interviews with female ex-combatants and DDR officials in Liberia and Nepal to develop a nuanced and comprehensive picture of female ex-combatants⁰́₉ empowerment and how this is undermined by DDR. Through reconceptualized frameworks of empowerment and an emancipatory peace, the book explores the pivotal role that DDR programs play in undermining female ex-combatants⁰́₉ empowerment. The author argues that this is detrimental to peacebuilding, because DDR officials and documentation narrate female ex-combatants in limited and gendered ways, which reproduces gendered inequalities and define how female ex-combatants should behave. This book will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners working on gender, conflict, peace, security, and development.

"Demobilization Challenges After Armed Conflict" published on by Oxford University Press.

Abstract
The article deals with the issue of countertrades, GDR foreign commerce enterprises contracted with western firms in order to secure the modernizing of its economy. It discusses the argument of whether those contracts could establish new forms of European East-Westintegration between Comecon and EEC economies.
Starting from rather unfavorable general trading conditions in the 1950s and early 1960s, East Germany could intensify its trade relations with western countries in the late 1960s. Based on its international recognition in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it also got easier access to western credits to finance large-scale investment programs in the economy. With varying success and in order to refinance those imports from the West, GDR officials tried to conclude contracts pre-engaging western partners to accept mandatory deliveries by East German enterprises in return. The author defines three major forms of such contracts, distinguishable by the level and the type of GDR counter deliveries, agreed on by the contracting partners.
Since East Germany failed to put through high levels of its own counter deliveries, these projects contributed to its long-term indebtedness. Moreover, this kind of business, unintentionally created potential losses in the GDR's foreign trade firms due to various factors. Western companies themselves started to market East German products received in fulfillment of countertrade contracts. Western deliverers of investment goods managed to secure higher prices for their deliveries and lower ones for East German goods in order to subsidize the marketing of East German products they had taken over. That put additional pressure on the already decreasing competitiveness of East German export goods. Finally, the article presents a judgment on the advantages and disadvantages of the countertrade concept for East Germany itself.