Since 1814 Sweden has avoided involvement in armed conflicts and carried out policies of non-alignment in peacetime and neutrality during war. Even though the Swedish government often describes Sweden as a 'nation of peace', in 2004 the 200-year anniversary of that peace passed by with barely any attention. Despite its extraordinary longevity, research about the Swedish experience of enduring peace is underdeveloped. 200 Years of Peace places this long period of peace in broader academic and public discussions surrounding claimed Swedish exceptionality as it is represented in the nation's social policies, expansive welfare state, eugenics, gender equality programs, and peace.

Rethinking the Roots of Terrorism seeks to explain why terrorism occurs. This study provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary survey that investigates the motivations, reasons and causes of terrorism at all levels in society, and more specifically in the context of the Middle East. The author is critical of what he describes as 'orthodox' terrorism discourse and the conventional understanding of terrorism, which he argues does little to address its root causes. He seeks to open up the debate on the causes of terrorism by aligning it with the causes of conflict and thus using the methods and approaches provided by conflict resolution to rethink the roots of terrorist violence. Franks reveals the multifarious and multilevel political, social, and economic causes and motivations that generate terrorism, which tend to be obscured - or worse, purposefully ignored - by the orthodox approach.

Sound, music and storytelling are important tools of resistance, resilience and reconciliation in creative practice from protracted conflict to post-conflict contexts. When they are used in a socially engaged participatory capacity, they can create counter-narratives to conflict. Based on original research in three continents, this book advances an interdisciplinary, comparative approach to exploring the role of sonic and creative practices in addressing the effects of conflict. Each case study illustrates how participatory arts genres are variously employed by musicians, arts facilitators, theatre practitioners, community activists and other stakeholders as a means of 'strategic creativity' to transform trauma and promote empowerment. This research further highlights the complex dynamics of delivering and managing creativity among those who have experienced violence, as they seek opportunities to generate alternative arenas for engagement, healing and transformation.

This up-to-date encyclopedia examines the conflict between India and Pakistan from Independence to the present day, with an authoritative treatment that presents the issues evenhandedly and from both countries' perspectives. Tensions between India and Pakistan are deeply rooted. Many go back to 1947 or earlier, when, with the partitioning of the provinces of Punjab and Bengal, British India was succeeded by two independent countries: a primarily Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan. Subsequently, the two countries have fought three wars and come close to open war several other times, especially over Kashmir. Conflict Between India and Pakistan begins with a discussion of the partition of India and those who figured prominently in it, notably: Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Clem Attlee, the last viceroy, Admiral Louis Mountbatten, and Jawaharlal Nehru. Then, in a series of evenhanded, carefully crafted portraits, it describes the people, political parties, foreign and domestic policies, and economic, religious, and cultural pressures that have played a role in the conflicts between these nations from 1947 to the present. Detailed entries deal with towns, cities, and geographic areas, including Jammu, Srinigar, and the Siachen Glacier; major figures involved in the conflict, including General Pervez Musharraf; the religious divide between Hindus and Muslims; and the dispute over Kashmir A thorough chronology provides year-by-year treatment of the main issues in Indo-Pakistan relations

Terrorism Awareness: Understanding the Threat and How You Can Protect Yourself provides readers a foundational understanding of the threats that face us every day. The goal is to introduce readers to different tactics and techniques used by terrorists-both international and domestic-to better understand personal protection concepts and, if necessary, take actions to make themselves "hard targets" that terrorist organizations will want to avoid. This includes providing a background on understanding how terrorists operate, and, more specifically, how to recognize the pre-incident indicators associated with terrorist operations. Coverage includes situation awareness of the phases of terrorist operations, common attacks, surveillance and targeting tactics, kidnapping and hostage situations, bombings and blast effects, hijacking, armed assaults, and more. With such awareness, readers can be alert to common cues to avoid dangerous situations, as well as familiarize themselves with various actions they can take to better protect themselves. Sometimes certain events may arise which are unavoidable and, in those cases, learning how to best mitigate those scenarios can mean life or death and provide the best opportunity for safety and survival. Terrorism Awareness is a helpful guide to provide anyone working or traveling in the United States or overseas-particularly in potentially volatile places subject to terrorism or civil unrest-the tools they need to recognize potential threats and to keep themselves, and those they are with, safe.

"Peace interventions can promote violence, while conflict may be a crucial means for constraining and preventing it. This book explores these statements, re-thinking the relationships between peace, conflict and violence. From this perspective it reinterprets several phenomena that challenge the "peace process" in Northern Ireland"--

The end of the Cold War has regrettably not brought an end to all the major confrontations of the last century. One such confrontation is the stand-off across the Taiwan Strait. Despite increasingly interwoven economic links between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan in recent years, the tension between the two has not dissipated. Tsang and a group of international experts examine the subject of peace and security across the Taiwan Strait and suggest models for peace.

The end of the Cold War, the Revolution in Military Affairs, 9/11 and the War on Terror have radically altered the nature of conflict and security in the twenty-first century. This book considers how developments in technology could and are effecting the prosecution of war and what the changing nature of warfare means for human rights and civil society.

In this book, Simpson offers a reflective and theoretical explanation of the ways in which unionists conceive of the past in the present post-conflict environment. He considers the ways in which scholarly literature has often painted an outdated and inaccurate portrait of a highly complex people.

The fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the United Nations was commemorated in 1995 with a number of conferences and publications which assessed the history and contemporary role of this paramount international organisation. This book is the result of a meeting of scholars and specialists who wished to further understanding of the challenges faced by the United Nations in its efforts to intervene in post-cold war conflict. In particular the experiences in Bosnia, Somalia and in Rwanda, where UN peacekeepers seemed powerless to act in the face of acts of genocide, gross violations of human rights and the widespread suffering caused by war, makes such an analysis timely and important.

As peace operations become the primary mechanism of conflict management used by the UN and regional organizations, understanding their problems and potential is essential for a more secure world. In this revised and updated second edition, Paul Diehl and Alexandru Balas provide a cutting-edge analysis of the central issues surrounding the development, operation, and effectiveness of peace operations. Among many features, the book: * Traces the historical development of peace operations from their origins in the early 20th century through the development of modern peacebuilding missions and multiple simultaneous peace operations. * Tracks changes over time in the size, mission and organization of peace operations. * Analyses different organizational, financial, and troop provisions for peace operations, as well as assessing alternatives. * Lays out criteria for evaluating peace operations and details the conditions under which such operations are successful. Drawing on a wide range of examples from those between Israel and her neighbours to more recent operations in Bosnia, Somalia, Darfur, East Timor, and the Congo, this new edition brings together the body of scholarly research on peace operations to address those concerns. It will be an indispensable guide for students, practitioners and general readers wanting to broaden their knowledge of the possibilities and limits of peace operations today.

When we take a look back at the way Western states have fought terrorist organizations in the last 20 years, it is difficult not to think that these alternatives to war might have been more ethical than the decisions to invade Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and in 2003. These cases speak for themselves as they have both led to the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, which is highly paradoxical in light of the logic that supported these interventions. There is a need to think of alternatives to war that will imply the legitimization of proactive sets of measures that would allow states to effectively prevent terrorist attacks through the use of kinetic force in a limited extent as a way to avoid the terrible and unpredictable effects of wars. Violent Alternatives to War: Justifying Actions Against Contemporary Terrorism engages in a moral discussion of the challenges associated with violent alternatives to war when confronting terrorism and suggests a comprehensive approach to how this form of violence can be legitimized and how it ought to be used against this contemporary threat.

This book analyses the evolving geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific region and explains how Djibouti fits in the global strategies of four major powers-the US, China, Japan, and France. It shows how Djibouti is emerging as a key nation in the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific, explores the interconnections between Djibouti and the Indian as well as Pacific Oceans, and through Djibouti examines broader trends in contemporary great power politics in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Belt and Road Initiative of China. Moving beyond contemporary works on the region, the author integrates Africa and the Middle East with discussions on the Indo-Pacific to illustrate the coalescing of strategic geography from Eastern Africa to the Western coast of the Americas. A major intervention, the volume will be essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and researchers of politics and international relations, security studies, African studies, peace and conflict studies, and maritime studies.

This book examines the shape, sources and dangers of information warfare (IW) as it pertains to military, diplomatic and civilian stakeholders. Cyber warfare and information warfare are different beasts. Both concern information, but where the former does so exclusively in its digitized and operationalized form, the latter does so in a much broader sense: with IW, information itself is the weapon. The present work aims to help scholars, analysts and policymakers understand IW within the context of cyber conflict. Specifically, the chapters in the volume address the shape of influence campaigns waged across digital infrastructure and in the psychology of democratic populations in recent years by belligerent state actors, from the Russian Federation to the Islamic Republic of Iran. In marshalling evidence on the shape and evolution of IW as a broad-scoped phenomenon aimed at societies writ large, the authors in this book present timely empirical investigations into the global landscape of influence operations, legal and strategic analyses of their role in international politics, and insightful examinations of the potential for democratic process to overcome pervasive foreign manipulation. This book will be of much interest to students of cybersecurity, national security, strategic studies, defence studies and International Relations in general.

Can war be justified? Pacifists answer that it cannot; they oppose war and advocate for nonviolent alternatives to war. But defenders of just war theory argue that in some circumstances, when the effectiveness of nonviolence is limited, wars can be justified. In this book, two philosophers debate this question, drawing on contemporary scholarship and new developments in thinking about pacifism and just war theory. Andrew Fiala defends the pacifist position, while Jennifer Kling defends just war traditions. Fiala argues that pacifism follows from the awful reality of war and the nonviolent goal of building a more just and peaceful world. Kling argues that war is sometimes justified when it is a last-ditch, necessary effort to defend people and their communities from utter destruction and death. Pulling from global traditions and histories, their debate will captivate anyone who has wondered or worried about the morality of political violence and military force. Topics discussed include ethical questions of self-defense and other-defense, the great analogy between individuals and states, evolving technologies and methods of warfighting, moral injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, broader political and communal issues, and the problem of regional security in a globalizing world. The authors consider cultural and religious issues as well as the fundamental question of moral obligation in a world saturated in military conflict. The book was written in the aftermath of the war on terrorism and includes reflection on lessons learned from the past decades of war, as well as hopes for the future in light of emerging threats in Europe and elsewhere. The book is organized in a user-friendly fashion. Each author presents a self-contained argument, which is followed by a series of responses, replies, and counter-arguments. Throughout, the authors model civil discourse by emphasizing points of agreement and remaining areas of disagreement. The book includes reader-friendly summaries, a glossary of key concepts, and suggestions for further study. All of this will help students and scholars follow the authors' dialogue so they may develop their own answer to the question of whether war can be justified. Key Features Summarizes the debate between pacifism and just war theory Considers historical and traditional sources as well as contemporary scholarship and applications Models philosophical dialogue and civil discourse, while seeking common ground Discusses issues of concern in contemporary warfighting and peacemaking, while offering an analysis of the war on terrorism

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 volume provides materials for active learning about peacebuilding and conflict management in the context of complex stability operations. Today, America faces security challenges unlike any it has faced before, many of which requiring lengthy U.S. involvement in stability operations. These challenges are exceedingly dynamic and complex because of the ever changing mix and number of actors involved, the pace with which the strategic and operational environments change, and the constraints placed on response options. This volume presents a series of case studies to inspire active learning about peacebuilding and conflict management in the context of complex stability operations. The case studies highlight dilemmas pertaining to the story of the case (case dilemma) and to its larger policy implications (policy dilemma). The cases stimulate readers to "get inside the heads" of case protagonists with widely differing cultural backgrounds, professional experiences, and individual and organisational interests. Overall, Understanding Complex Military Operations challenges the reader to recognize the importance of specific national security related issues and their inherent dilemmas, deduce policy implications, and discern lessons that might apply to other - perhaps even non-security related - areas of public policy, administration, and management. This volume will be of much interest to students of conflict prevention, transitional justice, peacebuilding, security studies and professionals conducting field-based operations in potentially hazardous environments.

This book uses machine-learning to identify the causes of conflict from among the top predictors of conflict. This methodology elevates some complex causal pathways that cause civil conflict over others, thus teasing out the complex interrelationships between the most important variables that cause civil conflict. Success in this realm will lead to scientific theories of conflict that will be useful in preventing and ending civil conflict. After setting out a current review of the literature and a case for using machine learning to analyze and predict civil conflict, the authors lay out the data set, important variables, and investigative strategy of their methodology. The authors then investigate institutional causes, economic causes, and sociological causes for civil conflict, and how that feeds into their model. The methodology provides an identifiable pathway for specifying causal models. This book will be of interest to scholars in the areas of economics, political science, sociology, and artificial intelligence who want to learn more about leveraging machine learning technologies to solve problems and who are invested in preventing civil conflict.

This unique text challenges the notion that absence of conflict is the foundation and norm of a stable political environment. Combining complexity theory and the notion of signature with case studies, it argues that political processes need to be understood within their social and cultural contexts. It thus develops the idea of enduring conflict, referring to both the enduring nature of political conflict and the endurance of people in conflict-ridden societies, looking at countries involved in conflict transformation, such as Northern Ireland, Cambodia, Indonesia, and South Africa. Examining debates around trauma, memory, and reconciliation, the work shows how conflicts are so socially and culturally ingrained and protracted that political agreements alone cannot bring substantive change. In addition, key texts, such as peace agreements, along with interviews of politicians, participants, and NGOs help identify the conditions under which notions like peace, democracy, and conflict resolution can even be conceived - let alone implemented. This innovative text is a significant contribution to the literature as it highlights the limitations of conflict resolution strategies and identifies the issues that pertain to conflicts throughout global politics. Written in an accessible manner, it will be highly attractive to students in conflict processes, peace studies, and international relations theory.

This innovative and timely consideration of the European Union's crisis response mechanisms brings together scholars from a range of disciplinary backgrounds to examine how and why the EU responds to crises on its borders and further afield. The work is based on extensive fieldwork in - among other places - Afghanistan, Libya, Mali and Iraq. The book considers the construction of crises and how some issues are deemed crises and others not. A major finding from this comparative study is that EU crisis response interventions have been placing increasing emphasis on security and stabilisation and less emphasis on human rights and democratisation. This changes - quite fundamentally - the EU's stance as an international actor and leads to questions about the nature of the European Union and how it perceives itself and is perceived by others. -- .

* The book is a unique contribution to an emerging interdisciplinary and international field, with no English-language competitors in its focus and genre. * The interdisciplinary nature of the topic will provide insight for a variety of fields and courses, such as linguistics, translation studies, intercultural communication, psychology, and business communication, with potential appeal for research groups, NGOs, and working professionals beyond student readerships. * Intercultural communication is a growing field for which this handbook offers a definitive theoretical grounding point in an important sub-field.

The need for constructive solutions to worldwide conflict and violence has stimulated some extremely productive research leading both to a clearer understanding of conflict and to the development of new modes of intervention. This Unesco Yearbook, which is drawn from an international symposium organized by the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) in collaboration with Unesco, distills current knowledge of the subject in twelve original studies of subnational and regional conflicts in societies ranging from nineteenth-century Europe to present-day South Africa. The introduction provides an overview of the different theoretical perspectives and empirical frameworks that have contributed to the work. Five essays focus on historical conflicts linked to political, social, cultural, or economic domination. The specific topics covered are landlord domination in nineteenth-century Ireland, peasant conflicts in pre-revolutionary Russia and China, European anti-semitism, and labor revolts in the Caribbean in the 1930s. The remaining chapters examine current conflicts related to ethnic and racial violence, human rights, genocide, the emergence of nations, and social pluralism, and explore international and regional responses to conflict. Several approaches to conflict resolution are described, and the goals and policy implications of each are discussed in detail. The authors make it clear that the importance of conflict resolution lies less in avoiding or suppressing conflict than in offering the means of using it creatively as an instrument of needed social change. Integrating historical and sociological modes of analysis with a thorough grasp of empirical detail, this work represents a landmark effort to come to grips with one of the most serious problems facing the world today. It will be ofinterest to academics, professionals, and policy-makers working in the areas of conflic resolution, international political economy, human rights, social change, ethnographic studies, and related fields.

Demonstrating that none of the various perspectives under review has emerged as the clear winner in the struggle for theoretical hegemony in security studies, this book shows that eclectic perspectives, like democratic realist institutionalism, can better explain peace and security in the Asian Pacific. The Asian Pacific has emerged as one of the most important regions in the world, causing scholars to pay increased attention to the various challenges, old and new, to peace and security there. Peace and Security in the Asia-Pacific: Theory and Practice is a comprehensive, critical review of the established theoretical perspectives relevant to contemporary peace and security studies in the light of recent experiences. Illuminating ongoing debates in the field, the book covers some 20 theoretical perspectives on peace and security in the Asian Pacific, including realist, liberal, socialist, peace and human security, constructivist, feminist, and nontraditional security studies. The first section of the book discusses perspectives in realist security studies, the second part covers perspectives critical of realism. The author's goal is to assess whether any of the perspectives found in nonrealist security studies are capable of undermining realism. His conclusion is that each theoretical perspective has its strengths and weaknesses, leaving eclecticism as the best way to understand the region's dynamics. An extensive bibliography covers various theoretical perspectives in the field of international relations/security studies and materials on the Asian Pacific Helpful indexes include specific countries, security issues, and theoretical perspectives