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The incentive for international agencies to promote 'local' peacebuilding is commonly premised on the hope that micro-level interventions can nourish grassroots activism and participatory citizenship. Tracing reconciliation processes across Iraq following the defeat of ISIL provides a window through which to view the transactional relationships between 'national' and 'local' forms of politics, conflict and peace in post-Ba'athist Iraq. This paper focuses on the example of Yathrib, Salah al-Din province, where over ninety per cent of residents were displaced in 2014, and an estimated eighty-five per cent subsequently returned following peace negotiations. The paper uses qualitative interview findings to demonstrate on the one hand that seemingly 'local' tribal solutions are built into national-level 'peace strategies', while on the other, state capture and power politics is infused into the management of apparently parochial disputes. While these observations are not an indictment of international efforts to intervene at the subnational level, they serve to thoroughly 'de-romanticise' the local.

This paper departs from the contested nature of the border that separates each side in secessionist conflict – the parent state considers this as an internal administrative line; the de facto state, conversely, sees this as an international border. The argument made builds upon the theoretical aspects of the bordering practices in the current literature, and then examines three cross-border cases – Mainland China-Taiwan, Cyprus-Northern Cyprus and Moldova-Transnistria, to demonstrate different patterns of cross-border interactions and their achieved outcomes. It questions why border-crossing practices have either brought about normalization in degrees, or with a questionable value? This paper makes the conclusion that although border-crossing practices have normalized relations between adversaries, they have also simultaneously brought along self-perpetuating separation as most of the divisions still persist today. Redefining borders and facilitating cross-border interactions has only had a limited contribution to conflict management.

Promotion and presence of partnerships have been growing within information and communication technology for development (ICT4D). Yet – despite limited analytical literature on this topic – it is clear that the reality of ICT4D partnerships often undershoots the potential, with frequent reports of failure, particularly arising from conflict between partners. This paper addresses calls for more and better-conceptualized research into ICT4D partnerships, with a specific focus on understanding the roots and management of conflict in such partnerships. We use qualitative field data from a Malaysian IT “impact sourcing” public–private partnership case study, viewed through the lens of institutional logics and conflict management strategies. Analysis of three vignettes from the negotiation of the initiative shows one partner always used a competitive approach to conflict management. This led issues to remain unresolved and led the partnership arrangement to steadily loosen. The outcome was always domination of private logic over public logic. As a result, and lacking an overt advocate, welfare goals of the partnership were somewhat sidelined. Our paper contributes by showing (a) how institutional logics helps explain the outcome of ICT4D partnerships, and (b) how the conflict management strategies framework helps explain the practice of conflicting institutional logics in such partnerships.

This paper examines the interaction between ethnic politics and conflict management in Guinea. The country belongs to the category of nations characterized in the literature as ‘deeply divided societies’ which, according to much literature, constitute a high-risk variable for ethnically induced armed conflicts. Yet Guinea has not succumbed to large-scale violence, giving rise to the question as to why armed conflict has not been a feature in Guinea despite its population being deeply divided along ethnicity and regional affiliation. The paper explores how various constructions of identity have been actively used by political agents to sustain stability through delicate ethnic balancing in a society characterized by its deep ethnic divisions. It is concluded that in contrast to findings in much of the existing literature where deep ethnic division is strongly linked with the onset of large-scale violent civil conflicts, Guinea’s deep ethnic divisions has been actually an impetus for stability rathe...

This paper asks why the United States (US), China and the European Union (EU) have intervened in a number of armed conflicts in Africa in the twenty-first century. Scrutiny and comparison of the motivations and interests of the three non-African actors in intervening in African crises are assumed to contribute to understanding the changing geopolitical environment and the current conditions for conflict management in Africa. The focus is not on trade and aid. The paper launches the hypothesis that the explanations why the US, China and the EU have intervened are basically identical. In spite of different evaluations of the specific crisis situations, the interventions have been about taking care of the ‘national interest’ of each of the three non-African actors. National interest is defined as either ‘hard core’ (security) or ‘core’ concerns (security and economic wealth).

This paper assesses the role of the European Union in the Libyan crisis (2011) and critically considers the implications for its evolution as an international security actor. Employing role theory, the paper reviews the historical development of the Union's security actorness and sheds specific light on the balance between self-conception and external expectations in the case of the Libyan crisis. Its central argument is that, despite external expectations and European narratives of a ‘comprehensive power role’, the Libyan crisis showed that the Union still acts in line with its traditional role as a civilian power. The inability to go beyond civilian power stemmed from internal dissonance on a potential hard power role and a corresponding lack of material capabilities. The growing gap between expectations about comprehensive actorness on the one hand and performance on the other is likely to damage the Union's future credibility as an international security actor.

This paper reviews the emergence of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in Ireland and examines the incidence in firms of ADR practices addressing individual and group grievances and disputes. The paper reveals the limited diffusion to date of ADR practices and shows that the uptake of ADR is associated with the degree to which firms have adopted high-commitment HRM practices. Organizations that place importance on developing people-centred HRM policies are more likely to be disposed to adopting state-of-the-art conflict management practices designed to solve workplace problems quickly and fairly.

Two noted American geographers specializing in water resource management introduce a series of papers in a Eurasian Geography and Economics symposium on water security and hydro-politics by outlining the diverse regional constructs (e.g., river basins, nation-states, global regions) that have been utilized in water management efforts in the past. The authors suggest that the "problemshed" concept may represent the real context of contemporary regional water struggles and management, and may appear in such forms as water security regions, "water wars" between neighboring states, water-energy-food regions, and virtual water regions and footprints. They conclude by reviewing the ways in which the three symposium papers that follow contribute to a deeper understanding of transboundary water use and conflict management.

How to create a peacemaking change in the Israeli–Palestinian struggle? The consensus solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is a ‘two-state solution’, which means separation between two major identity groups. This paper points to the necessity to shift the emphasis in the peacemaking discussion. Instead of manufacturing solutions in a peacemaking laboratory, it would be better to focus on finding the social conditions that have the potential to create an effective peacemaking process. This paper suggests establishing a major Israeli–Palestinian public negotiating congress that has the potential to create a peacemaking revolution. The vision is based on the multi-party talks that had been conducted in Apartheid South Africa and Northern Ireland during the ‘troubles’ and the Minds of Peace Experiment – a small-scale Israeli–Palestinian public negotiating congress – that has been conducted in various locations around the world.

Prevailing approaches to managing international relations are heavily influenced by the European legacy and associated understandings of diplomacy and order. To explore possibilities for expanding beyond these approaches, this paper examines an exchange that is particularly curious and provocative from an Australian vantage: the longstanding seafaring connection between Australian Aboriginal people of northeast Arnhem Land and people of what is present-day Eastern Indonesia. First, the paper makes an argument for moving beyond the developmentalist view that modern diplomacy and conflict management arise with the expansion of European influence. It then introduces a conceptual frame which opens to other ways of approaching political life and relations across difference by thinking in terms of three distinct yet overlapping forms of socio-political order – the traditional-mythical, the prophetic-religious and the modern-bureaucratic. Turning to the Aboriginal–Indonesian connection, I provide an ove...

Reconciling diverse forest values within policy and decision-making processes is an ongoing challenge in forestry. The use of environmental impact assessment (EIA) provides potential for improving forest management and making it more responsive to diverse interests. This paper examines EIA in Canadian and Finnish forest planning. In Finland there has been a reluctance to see EIA as a tool for forest planning while in Canada some provinces have long applied EIA to forest management. Ontario, Canada, provides one example of applying EIA to forest planning at a range of scales in order to advance integrated planning and help conflict management. The paper provides a brief analysis of the Finnish forest planning system, an illustration of the Ontario EIA forest management experience, and then considers the application of EIA to Finnish forest management. The paper concludes that EIA may be workable for Finnish state forests and would likely enhance planning and management, but given the existing institutional...

This paper considers the foundational role of self-care in illuminating and ameliorating relationship conflicts. Through a detailed consideration of the various ways in which self-care may help individuals to understand and work with conflict in their relationships, it presents a case for therapist encouragement of self-care practices alongside (and after) the therapeutic process. It also encourages reflective self-care as a practice for therapists themselves, including reflexive engagement with their own conflicts. The paper draws on traditional conflict management, relationship therapy and psychological understandings, as well as theories of conflict and self-care from existential philosophy, Buddhist mindfulness and social constructionism.

This paper examines the conditions under which warring parties will accept an outside party's offer to mediate. Specifically, we explore variation in the incentives for accepting third-party offers in interstate conflicts as compared to civil wars. We argue that since mediation in civil wars transfers legitimacy to the non-state actor and can generate a precedent of exceptions to the norm of sovereignty, the political cost associated with accepting international mediation will be substantially higher in civil wars compared to international conflicts. States should therefore only accept mediation in the most serious disputes, or when the costs of legitimizing an opponent are outweighed by the benefits of conflict resolution. Building on this theoretical reasoning, the paper analyzes the implications of differences in incentive structures between inter- and intrastate conflicts for offer and acceptance of mediation. We find an empirical discrepancy between interstate and civil wars in regard to demand-side ...

On many construction projects, conflict occurs and to varying degrees. On international projects, generally cultural differences are considered to be a potential source of conflict, and culture is considered to influence the way conflict is dealt with. To this end, the paper examines the relationship between culture and the way conflict is handled in a construction context. The paper reports an exploratory study conducted ontwo distinctly different cultural groups - Australian and Vietnamese - within the Vietnamese construction industry. Counter-intuitively, it was found that, despite predictive cultural differences between the two groups, they tended to adopt a similar integrative or collaborative conflict handling style when working together. The groups displayed cultural characteristics that were different from what is widely predicted in literature. The study results could be interpreted as showing that, in some cases, there may be no merit in adopting an East-West cultural classification; int...

This paper concentrates on a controversy between conservationist and economic interests in Western Finland. The situation has emerged due to the recovery of the grey seal population and today this previously endangered population causes severe economic losses to fishermen. As a response, regional actors in the area started collaborative activities to create a common understanding and solutions to the problem. We ask how the conflicting parties have built the cooperative activity in spite of their contradictory interests and what factors contributed to this effort. Before that, we start the paper by introducing some basic theoretical concepts relevant for understanding social dilemmas and we discuss what kind of cooperation is needed to overcome them. In the case-study, we identified three essential factors that promoted cooperation: (1) interdependence between the actors and a sense of reciprocity, (2) the ways the grey seal was framed in the process, and (3) the mediating role of the ‘right leve...

This paper reports on the findings of a content analysis of strategic management (SM) syllabi collected from tourism and hospitality schools. Important similarities were found among the content analyzed undergraduate and graduate SM syllabi in terms of their course objectives; content and teaching methods. The research findings indicate that the contents of SM do not really reflect recent and advanced developments in the generic strategy field. The paper suggests that faculty teaching SM should include more recent and advanced strategy topics including resource-based view, managing change, complexity theory, conflict management, business ethics and knowledge management. In relation to teaching methods, rather than relying on traditional lecture and case study teaching methods alone, more innovative and flexible methods including problem-based learning, company projects and role plays should be used so that students can develop and improve their skills in decision making, problem solving and handl...

In this paper, we explore the process by which initially reluctant protagonists come to accept diplomacy to resolve their conflicts; we refer to this as “softening up.” Although some studies exploring mediation and negotiation initiation have identified a number of important factors, they have produced largely modest results. These modest findings may reflect the fact that the conditions that promote diplomacy do so only after disputants have been softened up, thereby producing results that are statistically significant, but not substantively strong, unless one controls for a softening effect. In this paper, we develop and test a model of softening up. We do so by studying all pairs of rival states in the period 1946–1995.

This article is an empirical analysis of the cases of preventive diplomacy practiced for conflicts during the post-Cold War era. It focuses on establishing and verifying the hypotheses on the successes and failures of preventive diplomacy. For an analytical framework, it accesses the definition and theory of preventive diplomacy, along with three case studies: denuclearization of the former Soviet republics, civil war in East Timor, and the North Korean nuclear crisis. This research found that the definition of the concept hardly reflects the reality and has some limitations in its application to empirical study. For this reason, it has taken preventive diplomacy as the PKO activities, which make it possible to easily collect data and clearly identify the beginning of intervention and the number of participating actors. Then it verifies the hypotheses on the successes of preventive diplomacy based on the conflict data over a 10-year period during the post-Cold War era. For the empirical analysis, this paper selected three of Lund’s success factors—timing of intervention, support from major powers, and state autonomy —and added another factor: namely geographical region. The main findings of this paper are as follows: First, timing is a vital factor. PKO intervention was most successful at the latent level of conflict. Second, intervention of major powers is also significant. The intervention of the United States yielded a high rate of success. Third, state autonomy is not a critical factor. Domestic and international conflicts showed no differences in the success of PKO. Fourth, geographical region proved to be an important factor.

This paper considers the role of gossip and social interaction among the Kelabit of Sarawak, Malaysia. Focusing on gossip in everyday life, the paper explores the tension between desires for individual privacy, concerns for group cohesion and, more broadly, desires to adopt a more modern style of living and social interaction. These tensions are vividly manifested in discourses about the problematic nature of gossip in the Kelabit community. Critical to this is a discussion of Kelabit styles of interpersonal interaction and conflict management, including the role of mediation. Offering a range of examples illustrating the social contexts of Kelabit gossip, this paper focuses on meta-discourses of gossip, contestations of community life, and gossip as a motivating force affecting decisions relating to choices of group affiliation.

This paper presents the findings of an action research project designed to examine the dynamics of classroom relationships and perceptions of how rights and identities operate in an all boys' comprehensive school in the English West Midlands. The principal aims of the research were to examine the feasibility of adopting a human rights framework as a basis for school life and to evaluate subsequent relationships and identities. The first section of this paper examines the potential of human rights education to promote constructive relationships and manage conflict. It takes the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as its framework for action. We then outline the methodology adopted and consider how the classroom environment affects and is affected by those working within it. We reflect on the expression of identities and understandings of rights and responsibilities in the classroom by both students and teachers and the impact of these understandings and of masculine identities on clas...

Canada's participates extensively in both conflict management structures and international financial institutions. This paper explores the potential synergies from these two seemingly disparate areas of foreign policy by discussing the potential role of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in countries with civil conflict, latent or realized. The paper reviews the current literature and examines the role that these institutions may have in both pre‐conflict and post‐conflict countries. In addition to analyzing the ability of these institutions to contribute to the amelioration of conflict, some of the policy implications for Canada are identified.

This paper discusses the origins and the political legacy of the 1990-97 complex political emergency (CPE) in Liberia. The paper distinguishes between the 1989-90 crisis of the state and the 1990-97 CPE. It argues that the 1989-90 crisis can be explained in terms of a final breakdown in the system of conflict management. This breakdown is explained partly by inherent weaknesses of the system and partly by historically specific stresses and contingencies. That the 1989-90 crisis led to a CPE is explained as an outcome of the intervention of regional powers. The paper then turns to the political legacy of the CPE and examines the emerging conflict management practices of the new regime. It suggests that these demonstrate significant similarities to those operated before the CPE and risk a recurrence of crisis. Finally, the absence of 'governance conditionality' in the aid programme of the United Nations is noted and criticised.

Contextual and interpersonal factors contribute to the nature of children's conflicts. This study examines the effect of resource availability on dyadic interaction of African American 3–5 year-olds in a painting activity that required the resource. Forty-eight, same-sex dyads were videotaped in two resource conditions: a Limited Condition with one brush and one piece of paper and a Plentiful Condition with two brushes and two pieces of paper. The Limited Condition promoted more resource and task conflict, while the Plentiful Condition promoted more nonconflictive social and task interactions. Boys engaged in more resource, while girls engaged in more social behavior. Contingent probability analyses of interactive behavior in the Limited Condition showed that cooperative offers and waits, and competitive grasps were the most successful strategies. The interdependence of children's strategies generated unilateral and mutual oppositions. Mutual goal attainment occurred by sharing the resource and engaging i...

This paper provides a meta-synthesis review of land conflict management measures in peri-urban areas and categorizes them into: (a) containment measures; (b) controller measures; (c) moderator meas...

This paper reports on a study aimed at integrating an important but neglected behavioral issue-group development-into group decision support systems (gdss) research. Group development is based on the fact that most groups have a past and a future, and this affects group outcomes. However, most gdss studies have investigated only a single group session. This study examined the behavior of groups using a gdss over multiple sessions.The study reported in this paper specifically examined the following two questions: (1) does computer support affect the development of decision-making groups? and (2) do the patterns of development differ over time between computer-supported and manual groups? These two questions were studied using a two-factorial repeated measures research design. Results showed significant differences in development patterns between computer-supported groups and manual groups in terms of conflict management and degree of cohesiveness. Mter adapting to gdss, computer-supported groups d...

Peter Fenn, Spon Press, London, 2011 165 pp., ISBN 978 0 415 57828 8, £19.99 (pb) A friend once told me that writing journal papers is hard, but writing a 12-chapter book is like writing 12 papers ...

Negotiation and conflict management skills have been identified as critical skills for students as part of their business education. In this paper, we have combined research on negotiation self-eff...

Contestation over land, resource access and rents has long underpinned both sub-national conflicts and centre-periphery tensions in Indonesia. This paper explores resource conflict manageme...

This paper examines the pursuit of legitimacy by the self-proclaimed “republics” in Ukraine. While these “republics” are illegal, questions of their legitimacy are commonly discussed almost...

This paper aims to shed light on Turkey’s conflict management role after the Cold War using a three-layered framework consisting of the layers of actorness, approaches and tools. In doing so, it se...

Conflict over land is a serious social problem in rural Ethiopia. This paper analyses diverse challenges to managing land-related social conflicts in East Hararghe Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia. The study was based on descriptive case analysis. The data required for the study were generated from a group of practitioners, government officers, elders, and community representatives through one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions. In addition, cases were selected and assessed. Inductive approach was used to generate meanings from the diverse data collected from the respondents and analysis of dynamic conflict cases. The study revealed that multiple social, cultural, economic, and institutional factors interact and affect smooth management of land-related social conflicts. The implication is that the effort to minimize the frequency as well as intensity of land-related conflicts in the study area should take into consideration the broader context within which conflicts occur and the processes that sustain their recurrence.

This paper addresses whether Germany, France and the UK (the EU3) – with the EU in the background – can shape their own approach to a common Europeanised position or even a European role conception regarding the Iranian Nuclear Programme. As the EU3 initiative appears situated between Europeanisation and national role conceptions, it seems that the EU3 members – after a coherent start – were finally inclined to readapt themselves to certain of their national role conceptions, resulting in a “mix” of national and European role patterns in the process leading up to 2016. Currently, this mix hints at still-prevailing hindrances involved in genuine European conflict management, although this outcome holds the promise of greater European coherence in the future.Abbreviations: E3: Germany, France and UK (without formal support of the EU); EU: European Union; EU3: Germany, France, UK and the “High Representative for the Common Security and Foreign Policy of the European Union”; EU3 + 3: official designat...

The study assessed the effectiveness of an intervention for handling interpersonal conflicts at work. In contrast to the mainstream approach in the healthcare industry, which focuses on developing formal systems of conflict resolution, our intervention consisted of enhancing healthcare workers’ conflict management skills through training. A pre- and post-test non-equivalent comparison group design was used (intervention group = 258 workers; comparison group = 243 workers). Participants perceived that the training was successful in reducing the number and intensity of conflicts with co-workers, patients and patients’ relatives. Moreover, organisational indicators calculated on the basis of data obtained from Human Resources (HR) records show that the intervention was effective, insofar as the number of requests for third-party interventions to mediate conflicts at work, the number of patients’ complaints, and the level of absenteeism all decreased for trained workers, whereas workers from the comparison group exhibited no corresponding changes over time. In light of these results, this paper discusses the design of conflict management measures which could help improve both employees’ well-being and organisational productivity. info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

The high incidence of conflict in the world today, and the overwhelming influence of religion on man and his society, have resulted in an increasing engagement of religion in conflict management. However, in spite of its high profile in managing conflict, religion can sometimes form a barrier to conflict resolution. The Nigeria–Biafra war was one of those wars in which religion, as an instrument of conflict management, played a double-edged sword. This paper examines the reaction of the parties to this conflict to the role of the Catholic Church in managing the conflict. The involvement of the Catholic Church in the Nigeria–Biafra war has ever remained one of the highly controversial themes of this war. While the role played by the church appeared to be a welcome development on the part of the Biafran Government, the Federal Military Government of Nigeria (FMG) was against the church and its activities, particularly its relief programme in Biafra during the war. From the available evidence, the church’s r...

Indonesia is often regarded as the natural leader of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in light of its geographical dimensions, large population, strategic position and natural resources. The country has felt entitled to a position of leadership and has generally been recognized by the other ASEAN members as first among equals. While the de facto leadership of Indonesia has traditionally been accepted as conventional wisdom, little attention has been given to the extent to which Jakarta has actually succeeded in exercising leadership in ASEAN and how its attempt to do so has been perceived by the other Southeast Asian states. The paper explores this question by focusing on Indonesia's ability to provide international public goods in the areas of security and economics, engage in conflict management and promote institution building. It argues that the country has sought to establish a stable and autonomous security environment, to conduct conflict meditation efforts in the Cambodia...

To understand resilience to climate and environmental changes in fragile and conflict-affected societies is particularly important but equally challenging. In this paper, we first develop a conceptual framework to explore the climate-fragility-conflict and climate-resilience-peace nexus. Second, we discuss approaches to promote pathways from climatic changes to peace. We draw on the relevant literature and International Alert's experience in fragile and conflict-affected societies to stress the key role of resilience. To build resilience, climate, development, peacebuilding, and government actors would have to overcome bureaucratic and institutional barriers and cooperate across thematic and regional silos.

The rise of India and the EU as global actors has sparked growing interest in their peace-building approaches. This paper compares the objectives and effects of the EU's and India's engagement in different conflict contexts within and alongside their borders. It examines whether their practices of conflict resolution or peace-building strive for more than conflict management or ‘governmentality’. This article asks whether there is sufficient consistency across either actors' governance interventions to even speak of a distinct ‘strategy’ or ‘governance culture’. It illustrates the close relationship between governance and conflict response initiatives but finds that the relationship is often dysfunctional.

This article seeks to make a preliminary assessment of the surrender and rehabilitation policy being adopted towards Naxalites. The examples/experiences cited in this paper refer largely to cadres and leaders of Communist Party of India (Maoist), or CPI (Maoist). It is part of a multi-pronged conflict management and resolution strategy and is required to be implemented along with firm action by police against those who follow the path of violence. This article argues that (a) the various affected states should evince interest to obtain surrenders; (b) put in place a robust surrender and rehabilitation policy, preferably at the national level; (c) secure surrenders on a case-by-case basis; (d) intensify security operations; and (e) policy implementation should be effective and closely monitored.

In this paper, the authors analyse current spending priorities of the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF)-funded security sector reform (SSR) programmes. They conclude that these spending priorities do not appear to support traditional components of SSR and underfund programmes needed for the development of local public administration and civil society. This is observed despite the published commitments of UN PBF funding priorities to include the strengthening of national institutions in the context of support to the wider security and justice sectors.1 The underfunding of civil society and local administration has been shown to undermine PBF's goals for the type of liberal democratic reform upon which peace-building, conflict management and conflict prevention rests. Focusing on the importance of accountability, the authors build on the scholarship of the rule of law literature to explore wider concerns associated with limited support to local public institutions and civil society. Drawing on empirical research on ...

After only ten years in existence, the African Union (AU) has already made its mark on the landscape of peace and security in Africa. This paper seeks to explore the relationship between the AU's leading collaborative interstate security policy, the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), and sustainable peace in the Horn of Africa. It examines four countries – Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Kenya – and how engaging with the APSA through early warning systems can contribute to developing the elements necessary for sustainable peace, namely regional stability, conflict management, and good governance.

Drawing on the theories that underpin systems theory and conflict management,this paper considers the main role or purpose of botanic gardens in Australia which is based on three perspectives: those of visitors to gardens; garden volunteers; and gardens as organizations. Using a multi-methods approach including written questionnaires, focus groups, and document analysis, a number of key roles were identified by each stakeholder group: recreation (visitors);education (volunteers); and conservation (gardens as organizations). In view of these findings, it is suggested that garden management would benefit from increased attention to visitor wants and needs through an understanding of the main activities undertaken at gardens, their perceptions of visitor service quality,and the values that people place on gardens Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This paper examines the role of governance in environmental inequality in the Niger Delta. Fair access to environmental resources could help to guarantee human security and mitigate violence. Root causes of environmental inequality in Nigeria’s Niger Delta can be linked to government policies and laws such as the Land Use Act and the negative impacts of the activities of multinational oil corporations. Environmental inequality and its concomitant effects produce a trend to conflict in the Niger Delta.

Personal mommy bloggers create deliberately small-scale, emotionally reciprocal intimate publics through their authoring and commenting practices. This paper employs literary close reading of two individual personal mommy blogging posts, and the comments generated in response to these posts, to demonstrate the compositional strategies by which both bloggers and commenters mitigate the potential conflict arising from the articulation of controversial or taboo ideas and feelings. Members of these publics employ deliberate social strategies to achieve a balance between perfectly honest self-expression and the need for compromise and moderation of views required for fruitful social interaction and the maintenance or extension of relationships. Using phatic statements of general well-wishing, diversion or deflection, humour, and reciprocal emotional disclosure, the bloggers and commenters examined here put into practice the ideals of community, self-expression, and support earlier research has demonstrated the...

International police now contribute the second largest proportion of personnel to peacekeeping missions after militaries. They are thus key contributors to post-conflict transitions in developing countries. In the past decade Australian police have played a major role in a range of international missions in the Asia-Pacific region, partially funded by Australia's international development budget. Increasingly the Australian Federal Police, as Australia's lead agency in this area, has explicitly adopted the development language of capacity building to describe a significant part of their role. This paper considers the contribution of Australian police to building or developing the capacity of new and/or re-formed police forces following conflict. It also examines the degree to which international police missions are able to contribute to broader development goals and achievements within these settings. In doing so, it engages with the question of ‘outsiders’ (non-development professionals) perform...

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was adopted in October 2000 with a view to ensuring that all aspects of conflict management, post-conflict reconstruction and peacebuilding be undertaken with a sensitivity towards gender as an axis of exclusion. In this paper, I do not dwell on the successes and shortcomings of UNSCR 1325 for long, instead using a discussion of the Resolution as a platform for analysis of subsequent Resolutions, including UNSCRs 1820 (2008), 1882 (2009), 1888 (2009) and 1889 (2009). This last relates specifically to the participation of women in peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction and is the most recent pronouncement of the Security Council on the issue of ‘women and peace and security’. Through this analysis, I draw attention to the expectations of and pressures on (some) women in the arena of peace and security, which can only be alleviated through discursive and material change in attitudes towards equality and empowerment. I argue that the Council is beginnin...

This paper explicates the implications of my research on conflict management for self improvement and for practitioners who work to improve the conflict management of others. I also note how my experiences with practitioners have informed my research.

Most accounts of European integration stress the positive role that EU conditionality and other accession tools play in the process of institutional adjustment to EU standards. This paper explores whether the EU can influence the domestic politics of conflict management in divided societies within the framework of European accession. It examines the role of the EU in the failed negotiation process of constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005–2006. The EU's role is analysed on two dimensions: as a traditional third-party player in conflict management; and as an agent imposing conditionality in the process of European integration. Drawing from personal interviews and documentary research, the article claims that the failed constitutional reform outcome not only was driven by irreconcilable domestic differences, but also was a product of the weak leverage of the EU despite its assumed conditionality power. The EU's inability to secure constitutional reform was shaped by the uncertainties that h...

This article explores the EU's role in ethnic conflict management in Macedonia—once a favourite success story, now a case whose outcome appears increasingly uncertain. Through a historic and conceptual overview of the relations between EU/EEC and the Republic of Macedonia, this study analyses whether the EU's intervention can be considered a success. The paper examines the impact of the EU during the pre-conflict period, in the armed conflict in 2001 itself, in shaping the mediation effort leading to the Ohrid Framework Agreement, and in the management of the post-conflict phase. The EU's role as a power broker in de-escalating the armed conflict in 2001 and in securing the Ohrid Agreement occurred, it is argued, because of the EU's promotion of a perception that Macedonia had a clear perspective for EU membership. The prolonged stalemate in the accession process between Macedonia and the EU since the agreement has induced widespread scepticism about the credibility of the EU's incentives for compliance a...

Stakeholder involvement is recognised as an important factor in the successful implementation of water management plans, particularly when efforts are made to resolve competing and conflicting demands in areas facing water scarcity. Involving stakeholders enables, first, a better understanding of different parties that have an interest in water management problems; second, the process can articulate more clearly the context of agreements and disagreements; and finally it can also significantly contribute to conflict management or conflict resolution. This paper deals with the development of urban water management plans through stakeholder participation in the decision-making process in the Cycladic island of Paros, Greece. In almost all Aegean islands, water scarcity is a critical factor in the management of water resources, resulting in problems related to allocating water and meeting increasing urban water demands. The present approach places a major emphasis on the identification and selection of prima...

The impact of decentralization on conflict dynamics is as important as its impact on service delivery and growth, as violent conflict can undo development gains. This paper argues that the impact of decentralization has been twofold. It has relieved centre–periphery tensions around long-standing grievances towards nationalist agendas in Indonesia. The evidence suggests, through examining the case of conflict-affected Central Sulawesi, that decentralization has also to some extent addressed long-standing inter-group tensions and horizontal inequalities at the local level, particularly where geographically concentrated ethnoreligious groups have previously been marginalized from government. It has also reduced grievances by increasing local autonomy and participation in decision-making through direct elections of district heads, now a hotly contested arena of local politics. However, significant structural and institutional change can result in new tensions, particularly when poorly planned for or monitored...