Violent conflict is very old in human society. The development of military technology brought with itself the worst tragedies loss of human live and material devastation in the second half of 20th century in the Horn of Africa. This region is one of the centers of various political violent conflicts in the world, according to length of these violent conflicts, the number of death of people, mainly civilian, refugees and internal displaced persons (IDP). This study elucidates the root causes of long wars in the Horn of Africa focusing mainly on South Sudan and Somalia. It also illustrates how the Super Powers during the Cold War helped their client states to prolong the suffering of people in the region. When Socialist system disappeared from Eastern Europe, Mengistu Haile Mariam's and Siyad Barre's regime ignominiously collapsed. In Ethiopia Amhara power elite, who ruled the Empire state from 1889 to 1991 lost their state power and Tigrian guerrilla fighters captured it through the power of the gun, Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia, South Sudan is emerging from long heinous war to independence. The violent conflict in Somalia transformed after the old regime demise in 1991 and the new leaders unable to build new central government. Somalia is fragmented and became the good example of failed state in the theory of contemporary political sociology. The paper tries to explain these complex violent conflicts in this part of Africa.
The study deals with the so far mostly unaccented problem of the conflict in Northeastern Sudan. In contrast to the Darfur crisis, the conflict in NE Sudan is in progress without attracting any greater amount of international attention. In the text, I examine the development of the general marginalization of the inhabitants of the region in the context of the Sudanese politics since independence until the present time. The main issues of the study are the ethnicization & economization of the conflict & its international consequences. These consequences are still only latent, but the lack of conflict management might contribute to the spread of tensions abroad, as was the case with Darfur. I then argue that the passivity of the international society, as in the case of Darfur, makes certain that there is no chance for the NE Sudan conflict to be quickly resolved. As a conclusion, I suggest a solution to the crisis in the form of a broader engagement of regional organizations & states, especially IGAD (Inter-Governmental Agency for Development). Adapted from the source document.
The aim of this article is to analyse the efforts made by the OSCE to contribute to the political settlement of the Transdniestran conflict. As the OSCE is one of the mediators in this conflict, the article begins by considering theories of international mediation and explains the factors that influence the success or failure of mediation efforts. Following this theoretical part, the article continues with an analysis of these factors with respect to the conflict in Transdniestria. It deals with the nature of the Transdniestrian conflict and its causes, describes the parties involved, explains the historical background of the conflict, and analyses its international context, i.e. the role of third parties. The following chapter focuses on the nature of the mediator (i.e. the OSCE) and its mediation activities, and attempts to explain the OSCE's mediation efforts. The article concludes that the absence of a political settlement to the conflict results from a combination of factors that are both embedded in the nature of the conflict and in the nature of the mediator. Adapted from the source document.
This article provides an analysis of the of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping, one of the hottest topics in international politics of the post-cold war era. Numerous books, articles, and Ph.D. thesis have already been written about UN peacekeeping operations. Although differing vastly in their scope and quality, most of the recent critiques have pointed out the pressing need to re-define and strengthen the cold war era concept of UN peacekeeping so that it becomes a viable conflict resolution method in the 21st century. Some scholars have, however, expressed serious doubts about the actual conflict resolution capabilities of UN peacekeeping operations. They argue that premature, short-tenn and under funded UN peacekeeping operations may well do more damage than good. One of the few things the majority of conflict resolution scholars and practitioners can nowadays agree on is that no UN intervention can bring peace to a place where it is not wanted.This article aims to enrich the current peace research by introducing an alternative analytical approach to the study of the UN peacekeeping. It is divided into seven sections. The introduction is followed by a theoretical section where I briefly summarize two basic theoretical approaches to the study of the UN peacekeeping (Conflict Management & Conflict Resolution). The third section provides an analysis of the changing nature of armed conflicts in the post-cold war period. The fourth section deals with the adjustments that were made to the concept of UN peacekeeping operations in reaction to the changes in the nature of current armed conflicts. The analytical concept Capabilities versus Expectations Gap is introduced in the fifth chapter, followed by the core section of this article -- the analysis of the United Nations peacekeeping using the analytical concept Capabilities versus Expectations Gap. The analytical concept Capabilities versus Expectations Gap was first introduced by Christopher Hill in 1992 as a handy tool for analyzing the evolving European Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The unique advantage of this concept is that it provides a sensible assessment of both the actual and potential UN capabilities. By comparing these with the existing UN expectations, the Capabilities versus Expectations Gap analysis of UN peacekeeping enables us to sketch a more realistic picture of what the UN is capable of doing in the area of conflict resolution than that presented either by its more enthusiastic supporters or by the demanders among the UN Member States. Consequently, building further on this realistic picture of the UN conflict resolution capabilities, I attempt to answer the key research question of this article: Is the UN, with the current level of its conflict resolution capabilities, capable of providing high quality treatment to as many conflicts as it nowadays attempts to provide? Based on the findings of the Capabilities versus Expectations Gap analysis of the UN peacekeeping problematic, I argue that since the end of the cold war, the UN has several times attempted to carry out more peacekeeping operations than it was capable of performing well in light of the current level of its conflict resolution capabilities. In other words, the most important conclusion of this article is that there is a gap between the UN capabilities and expectations in the area of conflict resolution and that the only option how to bridge this gap in the foreseeable future is to decrease the excessive UN expectations to meet the currently available UN capabilities. As paradoxical as it may sound, in practical terms this means that the United Nations is nowadays more likely to succeed in meeting its basic function ("to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war") by carrying out fewer but high quality peacekeeping operations. Adapted from the source document.
UN peacekeeping operations are viewed as a relevant instrument of conflict resolution in the post-Cold War era. A significant part of them operates in Africa, the place with the largest "demand" for conflict resolution. Why are some operations successful, while others not? What are the determinants of their success? The author focuses on six determinants relevant for the outcome of peacekeeping operations: support of the UN Security Council, a clear & feasible mandate, equipment & size of the operation, duration of the operation, will of the belligerents to end the conflict peacefully & support of an African regional organization. Based on case studies representing ten UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, the author evaluates the determinants of success & thus shows the difficult striving of UN peacekeeping for success. Adapted from the source document.
For several decades, the territory of Ogaden in Ethiopia has witnessed bloody conflicts between various groups that have claimed control over this region throughout history. In this study, the authors analyze the sources of the incompatibility of the goals of the main actors, the escalatory event that resulted in open conflict, attempts at internal and external mediation and their success, and the success of attempts to de-escalate the conflict. The study reaches the conclusion that the domestic conflict over the status of the Ogaden province follows a logic that is common to most armed conflicts. Adapted from the source document.
A decade ago there emerged the idea that environmental cooperation is able to initiate and sustain a dialogue between the parties of a conflict and facilitates conflict transformation and peacebuilding. This article tests three hypotheses which stipulate conditions and effects of environmental cooperation in conflict-prone areas. The article shows that environmental cooperation can emerge even during a conflict, but only at a time when the intensity of the violence is low. The emergence and development of environmental cooperative projects also depends on the support of external actors, and the intensity of environmental cooperations in conflict-prone areas remains weak even after many years. Adapted from the source document.
The present study deals with mediation as a possible tool for peaceful conflict resolution. Mediation is a non-violent intervention of a third party in a conflict. It is aimed at finding a solution to the conflict that would be acceptable for both sides, which are incapable of finding such a solution on their own. The existing theoretical frameworks of mediation analyse mainly its static aspects. Thus the author seeks to analyse its dynamic aspects and define the necessary conditions which may lead to a peaceful resolution of a conflict. As an example, the article presents a case study based on the civil war in Liberia, which lasted more than six years. It took several rounds of mediation and thirteen signed peace accords until a peace resolution of the first civil war was finally achieved. Through his qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of these peace accords, the author concludes with a general assessment of mediation for peace resolutions of African conflicts. Adapted from the source document.
This study argues that due to a lack of attention paid to the national interest of actors in international politics the mainstream international conflict resolution studies fail in their prescriptive & descriptive aspects; particularly when conflicts are complicated by geopolitics. The case study of the long-standing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh is used to highlight the strengths of geopolitical analysis, aimed at a proper understanding of a conflict's causes & the identities & interests of the actors directly & indirectly involved. This understanding is a prerequisite for coordinated international action directed towards the creation of the structural conditions for peace which would lead the prime actors of the conflict to choose peaceful resolution as a means to escape the hurting stalemate situation. In the case of Nagorno-Karabakh -- a conflict whose resolution has been impeded mainly by Azerbaijani & Armenian ethnic nationalism, coupled with fierce competition between the major powers in Central Eurasia -- a geopolitical analysis leads to the conclusion that the key to the resolution of the conflict lies in the hands of Russia. Such a resolution therefore presupposes a redefinition of Russia's interests, which would be based on the rational calculation that a deliberate destabilization of the South Caucasus will, in long term, hurt her interests. Adapted from the source document.
