The Oman of Sultan Qaboos represents a case study of modernization and political development initiated from the top. But unlike the case of Kemal’s Turkey, the changes have come incrementally and at a very slow pace.

Beyond the question of what exactly the Western powers expect of Russia and how likely it is that Russia will meet those expectations there is a more fundamental question that should be asked. Why should the west care what happens with Crimea? What US national interests, for example, are at […]

The Security Council should urge states and armed non-state groups to refrain from using schools for military purposes and incorporate clear protections for schools from military use in their legislation, and military doctrine and policies.

TransConflict is pleased to present the sixth part of a chapter of “Confronting the Yugoslav controversies – a scholars’ initiative”, entitled “Independence and the Fate of Minorities (1991-1992).”

Russia will create an atmosphere in which European countries – unsure of their relationship with Russia and Ukraine – will question not only Crimea’s right to self-determination but also all of eastern Ukraine. In this atmosphere Putin will obscure the very fact that Russia has invaded a foreign country with […]

Fule’s criticism of BiH politicians’ unwillingness to change the constitution and his criticism of political leaders for the economic, political and social failures in Bosnia are connected. In both cases, the criticism of Fule go back to a serious disconnect between the West and political realities in Bosnia.

The process of integration into the European Union, which has been stagnant for a decade now, has exposed the sad reality of a total lack of political will on the part of Europe. 

The deployment of a UN Force Intervention Brigade (FIB), authorized to undertake “all necessary measures” to neutralize armed groups, represents an important step in the evolution of UN peacekeeping missions.

The US might form its policy around building and maintaining multilateral commitment to prevent, diffuse and contain conflicts, using its sense of right and wrong as the basis of a proactive and consistent diplomacy informed by local realities, sensitive to the interests, values and motivations of others and backed up […]

Protests over identity cards and economic anguish once again have shown that – by themselves – neither street action nor breathless rhetoric from full-time activists or outside commentators can overcome the basic structural underpinnings of informal, patronage based social and economic networks.