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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Peace studies
What is the role of peace support operations in managing non-traditional crises? This is the central focus of Sloan's analysis of peacekeeping and the changing nature of the international community's involvement in Bosnia following the outbreak of civil war in 1992. The key players in this drama are three institutions-the European Union, NATO, and the United Nations-and five major powers, including Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States. Sloan examines their actions and undertakings through the prism of several perspectives, including the peacekeeping, peacemaking, peace enforcement, and peace building dimensions. This study advances current thinking on peacekeeping and related operations by distinguishing key characteristics of the forms of operation and indicating how they best relate to one another. It also challenges the notion that the international response to conflict in Bosnia was haphazard or confused, suggesting instead that the international community's actions can be readily understood as a reflection of the evolution of great power interests. The overall effect is to shed light on two timely, complex, and interrelated subjects. The reader comes away with a clear understanding of what went wrong (and right) and why in Bosnia, and what lessons the experience holds for the future. This is must reading for military and peacekeeping planners and for scholars and researchers in the fields of strategic studies, international security, and international relations.
This work explores the reasons for the Allied intervention into Russia at the end of the Great War and examines the military, diplomatic and political chaos that resulted in the failure of the Allies and White Russians to defeat the Bolshevik Revolution.
William Mott examines the relationships between economic growth and international conflict in history and theory, developing and analyzing a set of observed empirical modern growth-conflict relationships over long periods, and presenting an explanation of the observations. After introducing the growth-conflict relationship as the unit of analysis, he identifies historical perceptions of the growth-conflict relationship from ancient times through the modern era. Mott offers an alternative theoretical construct for further investigation, and speculates about the impact of these results on orthodox political-economic theory. The results of this work carry powerful implications for national management of foreign direct investment and trade in both home countries and host nations.
The idea of national unification has long been a powerful mobilizing force for nationalist thinkers and ethnic entrepreneurs since the rise of nationalist ideology in the late 1700s. This phenomenon came to be known as "irredentism." During the Cold War, irredentist projects were largely subordinated to the ideological struggle between East and West. After the Cold War, however, the international system has witnessed a proliferation of such conflicts throughout Europe and Asia. Ambrosio integrates both domestic and international factors to explain both the initiation and settlement of irredentist conflicts. His central argument is that irredentist states confront two potentially contradictory forces: domestic nationalism and pressure from the international community. Irredentist leaders are forced to reconcile their nationalist policies with pressures from the international plane. At the same time, irredentist leaders exploit perceived windows of opportunity in pursuit of their nationalist goals. Ambrosio examines in depth the past, present, and possible irredentist projects of Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, and Armenia within a theoretical and comparative framework. His conclusions yield signficant theoretical findings and important policy implications for both scholars of ethnic conflicts, nationalism, and international relations and policy makers.
Understanding Peacekeeping provides a comprehensive and up to date introduction to the theory, practice and politics of contemporary peacekeeping. It evaluates the changing characteristics of the contemporary environment in which peacekeepers operate, what role peacekeeping plays in wider processes of global politics, the growing impact of non-state actors, and the major challenges facing peacekeepers in the future. Drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary case studies, including: Afghanistan; Cambodia, Cyprus; the Democratic Republic of Congo; East Timor; El Salvador; Haiti, Liberia; Rwanda; Sierra Leone; Somalia; and the former Yugoslavia, this book develops an original conceptual framework to chart the evolution of the role of peacekeeping in global politics, and highlights the unique characteristics of different types of peacekeeping operations. Part 1 examines concepts and issues related to peacekeeping in global politics. Part 2 charts the historical development of peacekeeping from 1945 to the present. In Part 3, separate chapters are devoted to different types of peacekeeping operations: traditional peacekeeping; managing transition; wider peacekeeping; peace enforcement; and peace support operations. Part 4 looks forward and examines developments in global politics that are presenting serious challenges to the concept and practice of peacekeeping, namely, globalization, the privatization of security, preventing violent conflict, and the establishment of protectorates. Understanding Peacekeeping will be essential reading for students and scholars of peace and conflict studies, security studies, and international relations.
Despite the widespread acknowledgement that how people and groups understand their history plays a key role in the formation of their social identity, there has heretofore been only limited research on the mechanisms that bring this about. This book examines the critical points in identity formation that history education helps to create. It establishes how history curricula and textbooks shape the identities of their readers through their portrayals of borders and boundaries between social groups, their depictions of relations between minority and majority groups, the value systems they embody, the leaders they hold up as exemplars, and the stories they choose to tell. Korostelina shows how all these attributes of history curricula can be harnessed to reduce conflict attitudes and intentions and create a culture of peace, beginning with the history curriculum.
Interpreting the Peace is the first full-length study of language support in multinational peace operations. Building peace depends on being able to communicate with belligerents, civilians and forces from other countries. This depends on effective and reliable mediation between languages. Yet language is frequently taken for granted in the planning and conduct of peace operations. Looking in detail at 1990s Bosnia-Herzegovina, this book shows how the UN and NATO forces addressed these issues and asks what can be learned from the experience. Drawing on more than fifty interviews with military personnel, civilian linguists and locally-recruited interpreters, the book explores problems such as the contested roles of military linguists, the challenges of improving a language service in the field, and the function of nationality and ethnicity in producing trust or mistrust. It will be of interest to readers in contemporary history, security studies, translation studies and sociolinguistics, and to practitioners working in translation and interpreting for military services and international organizations.
Corporations in conflict zones and their provision of security are particularly relevant for understanding whether private actors are increasingly sources of governance contributions that regulate public goods. Feil highlights the discrepancies between political and theoretical expectations of corporate engagement and governance contributions.
Antony Alcock recounts four stages in the history of regional cultural minority protection: protection of religious minorities and the rise of cultural nationalism before 1914; attempts to assimilate minorities between the wars together with the League of Nations' system of protection; neglect of the complex issues in minority protection after 1945, leading in many cases to violence; and finally the renaissance of cultural minorities in the west, while in the east the new states after the fall of communism have had difficulties in coming to terms with their minorities.
This book examines the implications of counterinsurgency warfare for U.S. defense policy and makes the compelling argument that the United States' default position on counterinsurgency wars should be to avoid them. Given the unsatisfactory outcomes of the counterinsurgency (COIN) wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military is now in a heated debate over whether wars involving COIN operations are worth fighting. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of COIN through key historic episodes and concludes that the answer is an emphatic "no," based on a dominant record of U.S. military or political failure, and inconsistency in the reasons for the rare cases of success. The author also examines the implications of his findings for U.S. foreign policy, defense policy, and future weapons procurement. Examines a wider breadth of historical cases than other books on counterinsurgency, allowing for more accurate assessments and conclusions about the efficacy of COIN based on the lessons learned across history Presents research-based evidence that the Unites States should get involved in counterinsurgency warfare only in the rare cases in which U.S. vital interests are at stake Provides thought-provoking discussion of the domestic negative effects resulting from overseas counterinsurgency operations Questions the effectiveness of COIN strategy by utilizing numerous historical examples covered throughout the book Covers major instances of COIN warfare in history, including the French in Algeria and Indochina, the British in Malaysia and Afghanistan, the United States in Vietnam and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and numerous others Appeals to readers and students of military history, strategy, and defense
This book provides a detailed analysis of the contributions, constraints and opportunities available for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in peacemaking and peacebuilding. This book will critically appraise both NGO assets, such as their typical idealism, organizing talents and mediation capabilities, as well as their deficits (including the NGO tendency to polarize and to politicize, to disorganize and to destabilize, and to delegitimate and at once to legitimate) and to make recommendations for more effective interventions.
This book seeks to elucidate the decisions of states that have chosen to acquire nuclear arms or inherited nuclear arsenals, and have either disarmed or elected to retain their warheads. It examines nuclear arms policy via an interconnected framework involving the eclectic use of national security based realism, economic interdependence liberalism, and nuclear weapons norms or morality based constructivism. Through the various chapters examining the nuclear munitions decisions of South Africa, Ukraine and North Korea, a case is built that a state's leadership decides whether to keep or give up "the Bomb" based on interlinked security, economic and norms governed motivations. Thereafter, frameworks evaluating the likelihood of nuclear proliferation and accessing the feasibility of disarmament are then applied to North Korea and used to examine recent Iranian nuclear negotiability. This book is an invaluable resource for international relations and security studies scholars, WMD analysts and post graduate or undergraduate candidates focusing on nuclear arms politics related courses
This book explores the history of the nuclear nonproliferation dialogue between Russia (USSR) and the United States. By looking into the particulars of bilateral cooperation on NPT, Cooperative Threat Reduction program, arms control, and other issues, the authors offer lessons to be learned in preventing nuclear confrontations in the future. The book has been prepared in coordination between Russian and American scholars and experts and is a result of a series of Track 2.5 events devoted to restoring the nonproliferation cooperation between Russia and the United States. Covering all the aspects of the bilateral partnership since 1960 until today, this book will interest scholars of great power conflicts and nonproliferation. The workshop and the consequent work on the monograph became possible thanks to generous organizational & financial support from Centre russe d`etudes politiques (Geneva) and the Center for Policy Studies in Russia (Monterey, USA).
Retaliation is associated with all forms of social and political organization, and retaliatory logics inform many different conflict resolution procedures from consensual settlement to compensation to violent escalations. This book derives a concept of retaliation from the overall notion of reciprocity, defining retaliation as the human disposition to strive for a reactive balancing of conflicts and injustices. On Retaliation presents a synthesized approach to both the violence-generating and violence-avoiding potentials of retaliation. Contributors to this volume touch upon the interaction between retaliation and violence, the state's monopoly on legitimate punishment and the factors of socio-political frameworks, religious interpretations and economic processes.
From the 494 B.C. plebeians' march out of Rome to gain improved
status, to Gandhi's nonviolent campaigns in India, to the
liberation of Poland and the Baltic nations, and the revolutions in
North Africa, nonviolent struggles have played pivotal roles in
world events for centuries. Sharp'sDictionary of Power and Struggle
is a groundbreaking reference work on this topic by the "godfather
of nonviolent resistance." In nearly 1,000 entries, the Dictionary
defines those ideologies, political systems, strategies, methods,
and concepts that form the core of nonviolent action as it has
occurred throughout history and across the globe, providing
much-needed clarification of language that is often mired in
confusion. Entries discuss everything from militarization to
censorship, guerrilla theater, pacifism, secret agents, and protest
songs. In addition, the dictionary features a foreword by Sir Adam
Roberts, President of the British Academy; an introduction by Gene
Sharp; an essay on power and realism; case studies of conflicts in
Serbia and Tunisia; and a guide for further reading. Sharp's
Dictionary of Power and Struggle is an invaluable resource for
activists, educators and anyone else curious about nonviolent
alternatives to both passivity and violent conflict.
This book explores the ways in which democracies can win counterinsurgencies when they implement a proper strategy. At a time when the USA is retrenching from two bungled foreign wars that involved deadly insurgent uprisings, this is a particularly important argument. Succumbing to the trauma of those engagements and drawing the wrong conclusions about counterinsurgency can only lead to further defeat in the future. Rather than assuming that counterinsurgency is ineffective, it is crucial to understand that a conventional response to an insurgent challenge is likely to fail. Counterinsurgency must be applied from the beginning, and if done properly can be highly effective, even when used by democratic regimes. In fact, because such regimes are often wealthier; have more experience at institution-building and functional governance; are more pluralistic in nature and therefore enjoy higher levels of legitimacy than do autocracies, democracies may have considerable advantages in counterinsurgency warfare. Rather than give up in despair, democracies should learn to leverage these advantages and implement them against future insurgencies.
Military Civic Action--U.S. troops working on nation-building tasks with troops of another country--is traced from its formal beginning under President Eisenhower and enthusiastic reception under President Kennedy, through its successes and failures during the Vietnam years, to its present status as a strategic tool. Contributing authors debate the future role of Military Civic Action as a way to retain a U.S. military presence around the world, bolster emergent democracies, assist other militaries in their transition to democratic military professionalism, reinforce the humanitarian efforts of USAID and private volunteer organizations, train U.S. units for worldwide flexible missions, and protect the world from environmental degradation and the scourge of drug abuse. Although this volume draws on the history of U.S. Military Civic Action around the world, special emphasis is placed on Latin America as the ideal focus for Military Civic Action during the 1990s. The authors argue that Military Civic Action is among the most cost effective ways of achieving U.S. strategic objectives while retaining and justifying the expense of a skilled, professional U.S. military force. Military Civic Action incorporates some of the deepest-held U.S. values and is a tool that can win the support of liberals and conservatives alike. Nonetheless, in order for it to be successful, Military Civic Action must be integrated into a fully articulated national strategy in which the Congress, the President, and the appropriate federal bureaucracies have reached consensus. This book will be of interest to military professionals and political scientists interested in foreign and defense policy.
Built on the premise that trust is one of the most important factors in intergroup relations, conflict management and resolution at large, this volume explores trust and its mechanisms and operations especially in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Significantly, this volume focuses not only on the nature of trust and distrust in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it also explores how it is possible to build and increase trust on both sides in the conflict, a necessity in order to advance the stalled peace process. As trust is a concept that is interdisciplinary by nature, so are this volume's contributors: sociologists, philosophers, sociologists, social psychologists, political scientists, as well as experts in the Middle East, Islam, Judaism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict bring together real multidisciplinary perspectives that complement each other and then provide a comprehensive picture about the nature of trust and distrust and its ramification and implications for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Divided into five thematic parts, the volume begins with by examining the theoretical basis of trust research from multiple perspectives. Then, it presents chapters on trust, distrust, and trust-building in other conflicts around the world. The third part is a unique feature of this volume as it takes a contextual approach: it emphasizes the importance of particular cultural and religious considerations on both sides of the conflict. The thrust of the book is examined in the next section. Part IV discusses and analyses various aspects of trust, and specifically distrust, in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Significantly, the chapters of this part take the perspectives of the participants in the conflict: Israeli Jews, Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. Finally, the volume concludes by providing an integrative conceptual perspective based on the principles of social and political psychology. An important goal of this volume is to not only explore trust and distrust in an intractable conflict, but also to provide practical multi-disciplinary outlooks and implications to advance trust building in two conflict ridden societies-Israeli and Palestinian, and other societies around the world.
Since the end of the Rwandan genocide, the new political elite has been challenged with building a unified nation. Reaching beyond the better-studied topics of post-conflict justice and memory, the book investigates the project of civic education, the upsurge of state-led neo-traditional institutions and activities, and the use of camps and retreats shape the "ideal" Rwandan citizen. Rwanda's ingando camps offer unique insights into the uses of dislocation and liminality in an attempt to anchor identities and desired political roles, to practically orient and symbolically place individuals in the new Rwandan order, and, ultimately, to create additional platforms for the reproduction of political power itself.
By highlighting the scope and limitations of local NGO agencies, this book presents a unique perspective of the relationship between peacebuilding theory and its application in practice, outlining how well-educated, well-connected local decision makers and thinkers navigate the uneven power dynamics of the international aid system.
This volume brings together international scholars reflecting on the theory and practice of international security, human security, natural resources and environmental change. It contributes by 'centring the margins' and privileging alternative conceptions and understandings of environmental (in)security.
"Peace and Conflict" is a biennial publication that provides key data and documents trends in national and international conflicts ranging from isolated acts of terrorism to internal civil strife to full-fledged inter-country war. A major trend it tracks is the incidence of wars beyond the protracted conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.For 2012, "Peace & Conflict" focuses on the theme of policy guidance for preventing conflict. It covers special topics with original contributions that focus on mediation, economic recovery, and the impact of elections."Peace and Conflict" is a large format reference including numerous graphs, tables, maps, and appendices dedicated to the visual presentation of data. Crisp narratives are highlighted with pull-quote extracts that summarize trends and major findings such as the continuing increase in high casualty terrorist acts and the likelihood of genocide risk in certain areas."Guest Editor"Birger Heldt is Director of Research at the Folke Bernadotte Academy (Sweden), where he focuses on the statistical study of peacekeeping and preventative diplomacy/peacemaking.
This book provides the results of a qualitative research study conducted with members of the Israeli-Palestinian peace movement, Combatants for Peace (CFP). CFP is a grass roots organization that was formed in 2005 by Palestinians who were involved in violence on behalf of Palestinian freedom but have now renounced violent means and Israelis who served as combat soldiers in the IDF but now refuse to serve in the occupied territories. In-depth interviews with members of CFP suggest that the decisions to commit to nonviolent action and to join CFP involved a mutually transformative process that influenced understanding and development of both self and Other.
Through proper engagement, identity-based conflict enhances and develops identity as a vehicle to promote creative collaboration between individuals, the groups they constitute and the systems they forge. This handbook describes the specific model that has been developed as well as various approaches and applications to identity-conflict used throughout the world.
This book argues that the US Army has made four significant shifts in the content of its capstone operations doctrine along a spectrum of war since the end of WWII: 1) in 1954 it made a shift from a doctrine focused almost exclusively on mid-intensity conventional warfare to a doctrine that added significant emphasis to high-intensity nuclear warfare; 2) in 1962 it made an even greater shift in the opposite direction toward low-intensity unconventional warfare doctrine; 3) in 1976 it shifted back to an almost exclusive focus on mid-intensity conventional warfare content; 4) and this is where Army doctrine remained for 32 years until 2008, when it made a doctrinal shift back toward low-intensity unconventional warfare - five and seven years into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan respectively. Closely tracking each of these shifts, the author zooms in on specific domestic, international and bureaucratic politics that had a direct impact on these shifts. |
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