Suchergebnisse

Over the past five years, several major international development policy statements and declarations have adopted 'political settlement' as a framing concept to guide statebuilding practice in fragile and conflict-affected states, and encouraged efforts towards achieving an inclusive, or inclusive enough, political settlement in order to underpin stability. Despite the policy enthusiasm, the concept itself remains elusive.1 This discussion paper explores how the concept 'political settlement' arose and where it came from, identifies its essential elements and the level of consensus around them and tests out some of its normative content. Finally it considers where the concept might go from here.

Evaluates existing factors and relative strength of political and military factions. Partial contents: The Zahir Shah option; Survival of the Kabul regime; Superpower involvement; Role of neighboring states; UN initiatives.

The primacy of political settlements on democracy promotion -- The political-military organizations and the emergence of mass-based grassroots organizations -- Political settlements and the re-configuration of civic and political life -- Foreign donor assistance and the political economy of settlement outcomes -- Beyond professionalization : foreign aid and transformation of the women's sectors -- Hamas after electoral victory : Fatah and the western donor community respond -- Conclusion : non-inclusive settlements and democracy's long haul in comparative perspective -- Appendix I: Interviews -- Appendix II: Foreign donors.

This Editorial introduces the Political Settlements Research Programme (PSRP) at the University of Edinburgh, and this Special Issue on Engendering Political Settlements which draws together findings and analysis from the gender theme of the PSRP.

AbstractSince 1994, Malawi's elite have constructed their political settlement in a way that has generally benefited them as a whole and individually. They have established a social contract with the population that mostly maintains enough services to sustain social conciliation, have created a workable though less‐than‐democratic governance arrangement and have done all of this while not establishing a policy environment conducive to national economic development. The paper analyses four 'critical junctures' between 1994 and 2014, which are key to Malawi's current political settlement. At each of these, institutions were laid down that have affected political and economic governance. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

After more than two decades of ongoing violent conflict, armed groups—however fleeting their existence—have become an integral feature of the eastern Congo's social-political order. They are not a temporary aberration in what is otherwise a normal society. They are at the heart of the way power is exercised and experienced. Moreover, armed groups do not stand apart from either society or the state apparatus. They are deeply embedded in social networks that regroup state and non-state actors and that stretch from the very local to the national and sometimes the sub-regional (Great Lakes area) and international levels. This report analyses the stability, inclusivity and levels of violence of both the political settlement of the Congo as a whole and of political settlements in the conflict-ridden east. It shows that in each of these political arenas, armed groups and violence play a different role, and examines how these arenas mutually influence each other. The relative importance of armed groups as either resources or threats to the power of the presidential patronage network shapes its policies towards the east, such as initiatives for military operations or negotiations. These policies influence the role that armed groups play locally. This role, in turn, shapes to what extent and how national politicians engage with armed groups; for instance, whether they support their mobilization or demobilization.