Peace and Conflict Studies

With US president-elect Joe Biden pledging to restore the ‘rules-based order’, international lawyers have extolled the triumph of a peaceful new world over its war-torn forerunner. This article scrutinises this narrative through the work of two recent propagators. It explores the relationship between international law and imperialism, looking back over the broad arc of international legal history, from the world of Hugo Grotius, through interwar efforts to outlaw war, to the present day of NATO bombs and US sanctions. Lamenting the emergence of yet more consoling homilies for liberal imperialism, it argues for imperialism as the structuring logic of international law.

This is a descriptive research using qualitative method of data collection. Most of the respondents are regularly self-employed farmers dominated by males, while some have a sideline work like driving jeepneys and vans; but farming was the main economic activity in the locale of study. The affirmation of peace and development overwhelmed the responses. Peace for them is a greatest achievement towards development. Struggle of the respondents towards peace signifies a good start towards changed. The effects of war to Muslim families did not stop even with the armed clashing rested temporarily. The residents in the area suffered from the very limited freedom the war had given them. The war-torn environment forced the people to take refuge in the sub-human condition at the evacuation centers where food and water supply problems and very insufficient health services apparently caused the death of some children while in the evacuation centers. Most of the people in the community received assistance from government and non-government organizations in the form of relief goods or medical services at the time of war. The research interview revealed that both the government and the community have done their relative contribution to peace and peace building activity in their locale. Most of the respondents expressed there lost of trust in the peace process initiated by the government. Majority of the respondents recommended that the solution for the conflict between warring groups be done through dialogues and peace talks while the idea that the government should reform its leadership and its political perspective, ranks second.

Presentation on "Conflict and International Relations: The Impact of Terrorism and Extremism on the Middle Eastern International Politics Agenda" as invited speaker in the Middle East session, 14 April 2021, at the congress "Beyond the West: Politics of the Global South" organized by the Political Science and International Relations Studies Association (NECPRI) and held online 12-14 April 2021.

Afghanistan has suffered more than four decades of war and violent conflict. The primary objective of this research is to assess the psychological and mental effects of this decades-old war, and how this may become consequential for any peace process and the likelihood of peace. It is a qualitative inquiry with a sample size of 16 people who have suffered serious losses in any phases of the conflict from 1978 to 2020. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from individuals who were selected through the snowball method. The findings reveal symptoms and signs of a grief reaction, PTSD, and depression in participants. Also, war-related violence has had devastating impact on their families, that have shown as psychological disorders in the family members and in some cases resulted into death.  The negative consequence has been at most if the victim was breadwinner and head of the family. The loss has brought about serious poverty, and in some cases, grieving members of the family have resorted to drug misuse and addiction. In general, war traumas have severe aftermaths for those directly affected and their family members in terms of problem-solving capabilities and have also debilitated their social competencies. In cases where the government had provided support and fulfilled what is expected from it after the violent event, the psychological pain and suffering had relieved partially. The victims expect the government to provide security as well as extend emotional and material support for them. They insist to know the truth about the incident and the perpetrators have to be captured and brought to justice.  However, they see their government as weak and unable to meet these expectations. They harshly spoke of their hatred towards the perpetrators and the urge for revenge is high in them. The majority of the participants did not receive any psycho-social support or any healing and therapeutic program. As a result, they are pessimistic and in some cases bitter about the peace process, and some see peace negotiations as a humiliation to victims. This is a warning that war traumas and wounds can hinder peace, and even if peace negotiations succeed, without a comprehensive and long healing process of traumas, sustainable peace seems unlikely. The hatred and wishes for revenge can fuel the next cycle of violent conflict.  Therefore, chronic and unhealed trauma is an effective obstacle for social acceptance of peace and building public support for peace with the insurgents and successful peace process. As long as the government and other conflict parties do not pay meaningful attention to the needs, perspectives, and expectations of victims, the likelihood of positive and long-term peace is minimum.

Este artículo analiza cómo, en el contexto de Buenaventura atravesado por una diversidad de violencias entre 2005 y 2015, algunos colectivos y plataformas de convergencia organizativas, integradas en su mayoría por jóvenes y mujeres, logran defender la vida e imaginar el futuro. El artículo avanza, a partir de perspectivas críticas contemporáneas en la teoría social, en la construcción de dos categorías analíticas: reexistencia y geografías violentadas. El diseño metodológico incluyó un trabajo cualitativo de observación in situ, mapeo de casos, análisis de contexto y entrevistas a líderes y protagonistas locales. Se propone una lectura del contexto de Buenaventura como un territorio paradojal donde se entretejen órdenes armados y regímenes sociales y económicos de violencia que son desafiados y reinventados por prácticas de reexistencia mediante repertorios políticos, creativos y cotidianos.

This article presents an overview of the role of the media in nationalism and identity-shaping in post-crisis societies experiencing conflict, focusing on the impact of the recent economic crisis on diversity in political news reporting. The research is based on a time series analysis (2000–2019) of diversity in traditional and online political news reporting, framed by a thematic analysis of journalists’ interviews. Cyprus is used as a case-study, as an example of a ‘divided’ country. Findings suggest that news diversity in societies experiencing conflict significantly reduced after the economic crisis in traditional media but increased in online media. At the same time, representations of nationalism in the news media seem to be taking alternative directions. The study challenges the way(s) in which media history is read in post-crisis societies experiencing conflict where the media play a significant role in assessing notions of togetherness as opposed to images of separatism.