October 2014 Review

October 2014 Review

TransConflict is pleased to present a selection of articles published during October, plus updates from the Global Coalition for Conflict Transformation

 Suggested Reading Conflict Background GCCT

1) Empowering female entrepreneurs in Serbia and Kosovo

TransConflict Serbia and Democracy for Development (D4D) from Kosovo – with the support of the British Embassies in Belgrade and Pristina, respectively – organized a conference in Pristina entitled the ‘Empowering female entrepreneurs in the promotion of business opportunities between Serbia and Kosovo’, as part of an on-going project, ‘Creating a New Generation of Women Leaders in Serbia and Kosovo.’ Read on…

2) Iraq, Syria and the MidEast – what is to be done?

Gerard M. Gallucci – The essential fact of the sectarian conflicts (internal and external) that have characterized the MidEast for decades has been the artificial boundaries left behind by empire and the colonial powers. The basic question facing any political approach to restoring peace would be whether to seek to preserve those boundaries or draw new ones that would somehow recognize the ethnic and religious realities on the ground. Read on…

3) Is Komšić a better Lagumdžija?

David B. Kanin – The impact of the recent election could become more “civic” than it might appear, if politicians seeking to represent that term examine their own motives, drop their international crutch, and craft an alternative to the patronage bedrock on which the current Bosnia and Herzegovina depends. Read on…

4) Five more inconvenient truths about Kosovo

Michael Rossi – Though Kosovo’s relations with the Serbian government in Belgrade have certainly improved and a series of agreements reached in April 2013 under EU mediation committed both sides to long-term normalization of relations, questions remain as to what happens next. Officials in Pristina, Belgrade and Brussels need to address a number of additional truths that have become all too inconvenient and, like the previous five, risk keeping Kosovo in political, economic, and diplomatic limbo. Read on…

5) Breaking down barriers to peace between Israel and Palestine

Yitzhak Frankenthal – Those living in an ongoing conflict such as that between Israel and Palestine build emotional and psychological forms of self-defence that underpin its continuation and the reasons why it cannot be solved, thereby eliminating accountability for the conflict’s ongoing existence. Faced with this problem, it is necessary to resort to a psychological approach known as ‘paradoxical thinking’. Read on…

6) Commemorating genocide – an important element of the politics of memory in Rwanda

Urszula Róg – Rwanda’s ruling elites and society at large need to accept the existence of certain ‘inconvenient’ historical facts – such as the thousands of Hutu refugees killed at the hands of Rwandan troops in the eastern part of then Zaire – in order to create the collective memory which does justice to victims on all sides. Read on…

7) Serbia – back to the future

Bridget Storrie – One irony of Vladimir Putin’s visit to Belgrade is that it coincides with increasing talk of regional reconciliation in the Balkans. Yet the problem with reconciliation is that, as a concept, it is so slippery. Like any process aimed at transforming conflict, reconciliation works in a shadow land of nuance and subtlety. Read on…

8) Time for a national dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Lord Hylton – It is time for a national dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina; one that follows the pattern pioneered in Tunisia, which brought together civil society, business groups and media as well as political parties, and helped an inclusive Government emerge. Read on…

9) The criminal side of Ebola

Dr. Ian Ralby – The Health Crisis is only one effect of the Ebola outbreak. Long term effects on the region’s ability to combat crime and provide safety and security for its citizens threaten to outlast the epidemic. International efforts to approach the outbreak should take an holistic approach at addressing the effect Ebola is having on organized crime in West Africa. Read on…

10) Bosnia – stabilization stalled in negative peace

Dr. James Adams – The current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be can safely described as extant negative peace. Structural and cultural violence are endemic. The pressing problem now is what to do when a political settlement – and stabilization and reconstruction as we know it – are not enough to break a deep-rooted protracted conflict cycle. Read on…

11) Why the USA may go to war in the South China Sea

Dr. Ian Ralby – Tension in the South China Sea may make policy makers on both sides think about going to war. As China seeks to exercise its control over disputed islands and maritime waters it may seek to block US warships and military aircraft from crossing through large swathes of the South China Sea. This restriction will prove unpalatable to the US who considers it a legal right to cross these waters. Read on…

12) The dynamics of European Enlargement – the Western Balkans case

Ahmed M. Al-Soukkary – The dual question of statehood and state capacity is a specific feature of South East Europe and encourages the search for a modified, adapted approach to enlargement. The argument that border and minority issues in the applicant states are interdependent strengthens the case for a concerted regional approach to enlargement. Read on…

Global Coalition for Conflict Transformation

1) Jammu and Kashmir – a dotted line and a blotted history

Mazhar Iqbal – For Jammu and Kashmir, the Line of Control (LoC) is not only a symbol of state interference in social life, but also an emotional object representing the importance of cross-border alliances. In this sense, areas along the LoC represent a social structure where state-owned military paraphernalia is considered a symbol of authority, not protection. Read on…

2) Four reflections on the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dražen Pehar – The Bonn-powered High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina is based on four fictions – of self-constitution or self-grounding; the principled non-opposability to HR’s decisions; the immediately executive character of his decrees; and his a priori interpretive superiority. Read on…

3) Four reflections on the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina – part two

Dražen Pehar – Part two of a paper exploring how the Bonn-powered High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina is based on four fictions – of self-constitution or self-grounding; the principled non-opposability to HR’s decisions; the immediately executive character of his decrees; and his a priori interpretive superiority. Read on…

4) Elections as a form of discrimination against Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Dražen Pehar – Croats have long been discriminated against not only at the level of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, but also in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, where parties with predominant Croat electoral support have not entered government. Read on…

5) New members of the GCCT

TransConflict is pleased to welcome two new members of the Global Coalition for Conflict Transformation – Terra-1530 from Moldova and the Somali Organization for Voluntary Action (SOVA) from SomaliaRead on…


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