Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development

Executive Summary

Can and should the Syrian conflict be defined as genocide? This policy paper outlines a new conceptual framework to define the concept of genocide. This new framework is based on the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the different critiques it has received over the years. The framework gives an extended definition of the concept of genocide to fit the need of modern warfare. It is then applied it to the cases of the sieges of eastern Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta.

The report starts by outlining the conceptual framework, defining each element that determines the act of genocide: group, intent and scale. It then analyses the sieges of Aleppo and Ghouta based on the given definition. The report then concludes that the sieges should be defined as acts of genocide perpetrated by the regime. There are different actors that hold the power and the responsibility to make the regime accountable for its acts. The policy paper recommends that international organizations take a stand as they did for the Rwandan genocide. International organizations are key to reconstruction and they can apply pressure to the government. At the same time, international governments – being the donors of international aid – also have a part to play as they can put conditions into their funding. Finally, any element of the reconciliation and reconstruction process must be inclusive and allow for every member of the Syrian society, no matter who they support, to be consulted and heard.

To find the paper as published on The Aleppo Project website, click here: https://www.thealeppoproject.com/papers/the-barriers-and-limitations-of-the-modern-approach-to-recognizing-genocide-in-syria-a-case-study-of-the-sieges-of-eastern-aleppo-and-eastern-ghouta/

As a contribution to political sociology and the sociology of policing, this thesis addresses the socio-political negotiations and tensions of post-conflict order practices. These are carried out by a plurality of actors, who often resist dualities such as state/non-state, formal/informal, and public/private. Plural policing in Ivory Coast is historically constructed through a negotiation process that highlights localized tensions of order-making. These arrangements and transactions of a plurality of actors were in display in the years following the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011. These processes express reconfigurations in state-society relations, not necessarily a weakening of the state. Concurrently, a reinvestment of the state in the police institution and the persistence of plural policing have been observed. These dynamics are studied through two complementary case studies, via ethnography, with a three-step approach: 1) the observation of the historical evolution of order practices and the production of authority in Ivory Coast ; 2) a sociology of local order-making ; and 3) the study of negotiations and tensions in post-conflict state-society relations.

The vigilance committees in the working-class neighborhoods of the Abobo commune in Abidjan were set up in response to the perception of a post-conflict security crisis, in a context of powerlessness on the part of the public police and mistrust between the police and the population. These configurations oscillate between discharge and delegation, on a continuum between inclusion and exclusion from the state, and are derived from ambiguous coercive moral communities. In the rural west, dozo hunters symbolize the legacy of war. The presence of these actors is perceived by many as a form of domination in the post-conflict period, in a context of deep resentment related to land conflicts and violence during the post-election crisis of 2010-2011. In this context of tension and politicization, the Dozos needed to find new legitimacy, to negotiate their insertion in the field of security, and to develop new opportunities.

These different actors produced politico-vigilante configurations based on the construction of a form of recognition at the local level. These order practices thus rely on resources and repertoires of action, producing particular social trajectories. By refocusing on the question of order to understand the post-conflict, by seeking to show its complexity (social order, moral order, political order), its malleability, the logics of interdependence between actors and the tensions between cooperation and competition, this thesis aims to be a contribution to the study of the postcolonial state, to global policing studies, and to the analysis of a transition between war and peace.

En un contexto nacional donde la historia del conflicto armado interno de Guatemala (1960-1996) y la violencia que ha generado han sido históricamente ignoradas, las exhumaciones se han convertido en un elemento clave para el reconocimiento de las 200 000 víctimas masacradas o desplazadas, en su mayoría indígenas. La aparición de los restos óseos actúa como evidencia y las transformaciones de los restos (exhumación, identificación, reinhumación) afectan al paisaje social y geográfico. Se ha prestado menos atención a los casos en los que no aparecen restos. En este ensayo analizo la forma en que la violencia silenciada permanece en la vida cotidiana de los sobrevivientes, arraigada en la tierra, como un indicador de las profundas desigualdades sociales que afectan a los vivos y los muertos.

Private Security Companies are held in high esteem in as far as maintaining law and order in crisis situations are concerned, however, many views have emerged on these very important peace building organizations. Do they really stand for peace or they are there to destroy the peace they should have been building?

Il saggio riflette sulla natura “sponsored” dei film realizzati dalla Incom su commissione della Fiat per documentare il raid transafricano del pilota Paolo Butti, da Algeri a Città del Capo a bordo di un fuoristrada ‘Campagnola’. Le riprese furono montate in tre servizi e un numero speciale del cinegiornale “La Settimana Incom” e ri-montate dalla Fiat per un corto promozionale. Confrontando le tre edizioni si ricostruirà la sponsorship come “contratto negoziale” tra committente e compagnia cinegiornalistica e come agency istutizionale sottesa al racconto del
viaggio.

Post-conflict reconstruction (PCR) has come away from a dynamic reading of the role of the state within contemporary reflections on peacebuilding. This article introduces the framework of developmental PCR that draws on the developmental state paradigm to offer a lens for understanding the role of the state and its complex interlinkages with other milieus such as the market in PCR. Developmental PCR is premised on three tenets: interdependence between economic development and security; the importance of state–market interdependencies within industrial development, as reconstruction; and how characterisations of statehood interact with reconstruction. The deployment of developmental PCR in the case study of the Nigerian Civil War illuminates certain realities such as the significance of economic nationalism to security, complex interdependencies across the state and market that underpinned key elements of industrial policy during reconstruction, and the nuances in the characterisation of the Nigerian state as strong on account of military regimes.

The major concern of this study is the assessment on the current reconstruction and rehabilitation of Marawi based on the perception of agencies representatives and especially the internally displaced persons after 5-month battle against the ISIS-inspired Maute Group. This study had 221 IDP key informants and employed cross-sectional survey as research design and simple random sampling through house-to-house basis of interview using a self-structured questionnaire as a tool for data gathering. The results revealed that respondents have positively perceived that government is doing its best effort and has given much attention to complete the rehabilitation. Thus, rehabilitation program has specific direction. Also, respondents perceived that corruption of funds can greatly affect the implementation of the program while insufficient numbers of personnel and lack of advanced technologies can slow down the rehabilitation and reconstruction process. It was also revealed that respondents feel the sense of security and safety in the provided shelters and families of 6 members are fit enough to it. Thus, respondents demonstrate satisfaction on the effectiveness of shelters as well as its location. Lastly, respondents have faced problems in the temporary shelters such as lack of health facilities and health personnel and no livelihood program being provided for them. On a final note, the rehabilitation and reconstruction process of the government is behind on track and people are gradually losing trust as a result of overdue delay. Recommendation of this study stressed out to religiously employ the participatory approach and efficiently implement the blueprinted plan for Marawi to effectively expedite the rehabilitation, thus trust and confidence of people towards government will not be disregarded.

The field of transitional justice lacks a comprehensive understanding of the role that social solidarity plays in transitional justice contexts. There is a lack of knowledge of the means through which victims can exercise their social agency to explore mechanisms of reparation beyond truth commissions, tribunals, and trials. This article argues that social solidarity is a crucial dimension and a novel perspective from which to develop transitional justice processes from a victims’ point of view in post-conflict societies. Employing a participative action research method, this article’s importance rests in the idea that Colombian victims’ groups from Eastern Antioquia view social solidarity as a crucial dimension of transitional justice in developing the project Cartography and Identification of Mass Graves. It establishes that this effort is a powerful novel mechanism to claim justice, reparation, recognition, and guarantees of non-recurrence from an unofficial angle. It demonstrates that comprehending social solidarity as a vital dimension of transitional justice stresses the importance of victims’ social agency to conduct collaborative collective actions in order to support inclusive processes of disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) beyond official agendas and narratives

The current relationship between Syria and the West cripples any real prospect for reconstruction. Western sanctions on reconstruction as a political tool seeking regime transition or concessions are aimed at accountability, influencing the direction of the war, and protecting civilians. In reality however they have wide-ranging negative impacts on the civilian population both within Syria and in exile--while having little hope of success. For agriculture the repercussions of
Western sanctions on reconstruction are particularly severe, affecting refugee returns, livelihood recovery, food security and stabilization. This article examines the priority dilemma of Western sanctions on agricultural reconstruction, and argues that they are counterproductive, particularly given that the war is now larger and more problematic than what a reformed government's relationship with civil society could resolve.

Lecture to MA students - Conservation Studies and Conservation of Historic Buildings, and Stained Glass conservation, Dept of Archaeology, York University, February 2021:

"This is just to follow and hopefully complement the lecture you have already had on conservation of cultural heritage in the post-conflict scenario. What we are going to look at this afternoon is the wider context of cultural heritage and conflict, to give you some idea of the wider socio-political complications of protecting and conserving cultural heritage during the (post-) conflict situation, and how these affect it, even in the long-term. I am going to mostly focus built heritage and on the Middle East as that is where my experience is, but I am also going to give you some historic examples, such as from Germany and the Balkans. We’ll also take a look at more locally-driven work in Iraq and Yemen, as opposed to big internationally-funded projects. "

La Misión de Verificación de Naciones Unidas en Colombia y la organización de derechos humanos Human Rights Watch han registrado el asesinato de 261 excombatientes de las FARC y de más de 400 defensores de derechos humanos y líderes sociales desde 2016.

A pesar de los llamamientos de las Naciones Unidas y el Parlamento Europeo para que el Gobierno colombiano tome medidas urgentes para proteger a los civiles, es evidente que no está haciendo nada concreto para brindar una solución que frene el asesinato y las masacres a defensores de derechos humanos, excombatientes y líderes sociales.

The chapter discusses the challenges of reconstructing cityscapes featuring heritage of multiple groups after conflict and urbicide. The two cities discussed are Beirut and Sarajevo, which share the urban imaginary of a cosmopolitan past with Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities living side by side (the latter now largely gone), followed by long years of urban warfare and segregation, and then by contested processes of post-war architectural and political reconstruction. The chapter examines how war and reconstruction in the late twentieth century have challenged the cosmopolitan imaginary of the two cities. First, it discusses the emergence of this urban imaginary, while analyzing the correspondence of the spatial and social histories of Beirut and Sarajevo. Second, it examines the destruction of cosmopolitan heritage during the recent wars, discussing its conceptualization as urbicide. In a third section,  the focus is on the process of post-war reconstruction. The chapter contrasts the two cities with regards to the political arrangements of the post-war era and the different approaches on memory of war, discussing their impacts on reconstruction. It analyses the tools of urban reconstruction, the uses of ‘intentional’ architecture, urban memory and monuments in reshaping the cityscapes. Moreover, it reflects on how the cosmopolitan imaginary of the pre-war populations is challenged by the presence of mostly rural refugees, perceived as antagonistic to cosmopolitanism by the former, leading to what I call “exclusionary cosmopolitanism”.

This essay reviews the following works:
Criminal Enterprises and Governance in Latin America and the Caribbean. By Enrique Desmond Arias. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Pp. ix + 301. $75.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781107153936.
Sharing This Walk: An Ethnography of Prison Life and the PCC in Brazil. By Karina Biondi. Edited and translated by John F. Collins. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016. Pp. vii + 194. $24.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781469623405.
Los Zetas Inc.: Criminal Corporations, Energy, and Civil War in Mexico. By Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017. Pp. ix + 379. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781477312759.
The Killing Consensus: Police, Organized Crime, and the Regulation of Life and Death in Urban Brazil. By Graham Denyer Willis. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015. Pp. ix +192. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780520285712.
The Politics of Drug Violence: Criminals, Cops, and Politicians in Colombia and Mexico. By Angélica Durán-Martínez. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. 328. $29.95, paperback. ISBN: 9780190695965.
Making Peace in Drug Wars: Crackdowns and Cartels in Latin America. By Benjamin Lessing. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. vii + 326. $34.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781316648964.
En la niebla de la guerra: Los ciudadanos ante la violencia criminal organizada. By Andreas Schedler. Mexico City: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, 2015. Pp. 282. $17.99 paperback. ISBN: 9786079367480.
Mano Dura: The Politics of Gang Control in El Salvador. By Sonja Wolf. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017. Pp. vii + 304. $29.95 paper. ISBN: 9781477311660.