Suchergebnisse

Countries that sign a peace agreement to emerge from protracted violent conflict often begin reconstructing their societies amidst continued high levels of violence. Responding to this situation, national security policies often identify core threats primarily from a state perspective, disregarding local community perceptions of threat and insecurity. This paper is based on interviews conducted in Colombia with members of three rural communities that have undergone and still suffer from different forms of post-accord violence. Differentiating between measurable and lived security threats, it identifies the communities' perceptions of threats to their current security situation and compares them to those of the state security actors stationed in the communities. Embedded in the call for more pragmatic, bottom-up peacebuilding, we argue that security is context-specific and stress the importance of understanding the diversity of local community perspectives on security for building sustainable peace under conditions of ongoing violence. Final policy recommendations thus underline the need for a more differentiated approach towards improving security levels that meets the specific threat perceptions and security concerns of local communities and improves cooperation between the communities and state security actors to bring sustainable, localized peace to context-specific security environments.

The concept of hybrid threats plays an increasingly important role in the security studies agenda, as it raises awareness about the multidimensional nature of contemporary security. Hybrid threats are considered hostile activities that involve the simultaneous use of two or more types of threats and are controlled or coordinated by a specific actor, whether state or non-state. Some experts may argue that hybrid threats are the most prevalent type of threat in the European security landscape at present. As a result, the focus of research has shifted to an investigation into this phenomenon and the vulnerabilities that make a country weaker in the face of emerging hybrid threats. However, much less attention has been paid to the subjective perception of hybrid threats in particular societal and historical contexts, as well as their impact on security policy-making. This article analyses the perceptions of Latvian society in regard to its vulnerability to hybrid threats, as well as how these perceptions are reflected in the main security policy documents. It is concluded that the Latvian population recognises certain hybrid threats as being current in their security agenda. This is especially true of information and cyber threats. On the other hand, the analysis of the key national security documents reveals the lack of a well-defined agenda for preventing and combating hybrid threats.

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to determine the relative impact of positive and negative face threats in conflict scenarios on the relational quality between disputants. This study also sought to determine whether the contextual variables of relational distance and power differential mediated this relationship as predicted by politeness theory.


Design/methodology/approach
To test the hypotheses, a 2 × 2 × 2 design was implemented manipulating the variables face (positive and negative), relational distance (business and personal) and power differential (high and low power differential). Participants read one of the eight scenarios, then responded to the dependent variables which focused on the impact of the face threats on relational quality between the participants. Subjects were recruited using the M-Turk, Amazon platform. Manipulation checks were carefully constructed to ensure subjects understood them.


Findings
The results of this study indicated that positive face threats have significantly more impact on relational quality between disputants than negative face threats. Moreover, context did not mediate these results. Neither relational distance nor power differential impacted the extent to which positive face threats compromised the relationship between the disputants.


Research limitations/implications
This is the first study to explore the impact of face threats on relational outcomes in conflict. Prior studies focused only on the extent to which contextual variables would impact the choice of face threats that disputants might make in response to power and relational distance differences. This result suggests that face threats play a significant role in determining relational outcomes in conflict settings.


Practical implications
This study suggests that practitioners, such as mediators or group facilitators, should take steps to limit the kinds of positive face threats that disputants exchange during conflict. If positive face threats are allowed to escalate, then they can severely compromise the willingness of disputants to trust and continue to work toward an integrative solution.


Social implications
Political divisions often appear to widen in the context of positive face threats as individuals seek to belittle the identities of their opponents. As these face threats escalate, they can result in polarizing language that disempowers these individuals from wanting to work together in a trusting relationship to accomplish important social goals.


Originality/value
This is the first study to explore the relative impact of positive and negative face threats on the relational quality of disputants in conflict. It is also the first to explore the extent to which context mediates the impact of face threats.

Cover -- Titel -- Vorwort zur Reihe "Bedrohte Ordnungen" -- Table of Contents -- Ewald Frie, Thomas Kohl and Mischa Meier: Dynamics of Social Change and Perceptions of Threat. An Introduction -- I. Framing Situations of Social Change and Threat in Contemporary Society -- Andreas Hasenclever: Introduction: Taking the Cultural Contexts of Group Mobilization Seriously -- Holger Stritzel: The Travelling Concept of Organized Crime as a Threat to Political and Social Orders -- Jan Sändig: Framing Non-Violence : MASSOB and the Puzzling Non-Escalation of the Struggle for Biafra in Nigeria -- II. Urban Unrest, Power and the Internal Dynamics of Social Change, c. 1050-1550 -- Klaus Ridder: Introduction -- Thomas Kohl: Violence, Power and Social Change : European Cities c. 1050-1120 -- Hannah Skoda: Threatened Orders in Paris, Oxford and Heidelberg -- Beatrice von Lüpke: The Nuremberg Shrovetide Plays and their Perception of Social (Dis-)Order -- III. Making Sense of Threat - Systems of Belief under Threat, c. 200-800 -- Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner: Introduction -- Matthias Becker: Communication of Threat and the Construction of Meaning - Framing the Christians as Sophists in Porphyry's Contra Christianos -- Phil Booth: "Liturgification" and Dissent in the Crisis of the East Roman Empire (6th-8th Centuries) -- IV. Disasters and Social Change, 19th-20th c. -- Klaus Gestwa: Introduction -- Anna Ananieva and Rolf Haaser: Coping with Floods: The Imaginary Community of the "Elegant World" and the Hungarian Flood Disaster of 1838 -- Rebecca Jones: Understanding the Conundrum of Drought in Australia -- V. The End of Threat: Diverging perspectives on Social Change during the 'Sattelzeit' (c. 1750-1850) -- Renate Dürr: Introduction -- Dennis Schmidt: 'Daß alles beym Alten bleibet'. Josephinism and Religious Orders in Inner Austria.