November 2016 Review

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

1) Europe in crisis – an agenda for peace

Matthew Parish – We no longer have the certainties of the Cold War, but we do maintain its dangers after an illusory period of apparent monopolistic security. Understanding this confounding reality may be the key to defusing the contemporary European crisis. Where one frozen conflict can be unravelled through confidence-building measures, so might many others. The United Nations has a massive amount to do, and it requires ambitious and brave leadership. It has it. Let the work begin. Read on…

2) Abdic, Dodik, Djukanovic, Etc…

David B. Kanin – Whatever happens patronage, not notional civic politics, will remain the bedrock structure of political, economic, and social organization in the Balkans—and not just the Balkans. Successors to Djukanovic, Dodik, and Abdic will prosper (as will their patronal clients) if they learn from their predecessors’ examples, while treating the playbooks forced on them by Western viceroys and NGOs only as formal theater. Read on…

3) Embracing diversity – an agenda for the United Nations

Matthew Parish – Respect for LGBT rights within the United Nations is an essential premise of advocating the moral principles of tolerance and minority respect amidst member states. The central role played by a pivotal UN’s Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Killings is a fundamental step in renewing the UN’ human rights mandate in a bold way appropriate for the twenty-first century. Read on…

4) Trump’s daunting foreign challenges

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir – Although President-elect Trump is inexperienced and lacks the nuanced knowledge of the complex crises America is confronted with, he must now navigate his own way and develop new strategies, particularly in the areas where Obama fell short, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Sunni-Shiite war, and the civil war in Syria. Read on…

5) The Balkans and the latest twists in Transatlantic decline

David B. Kanin – Given Brexit and Trump, the relationship between Putin and Merkel increasingly will provide the fulcrum of Balkan – and European – security. Read on…

6) A European phoenix – a new role for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Matthew Parish – The goals of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe remain every bit as imperative to the future stability of Europe as they ever have been. Indeed these imperatives have suddenly found renewed urgency in a multipolar world, as Europe becomes an ever more significant locus for geopolitical stability. Read on…

7) Liberals should develop their own Stuxnet

Arik Segal – Geopolitics and the development of ICT create a fertile ground for political campaigns based on fear. An effective response would be to start thinking of technology as more than a just tool to deliver messages. Read on…

8) Is it over for Turkish democracy? Implications for regional peace

Dr. Ulas Doga Eralp – As the Erdogan government presses for a more authoritarian regime and curtails civil freedoms at home, Turkish foreign policy takes an increasingly hawkish direction. Turkey’s democracy deficit, if not managed properly, risks diminishing the impact of its peace efforts. Read on…

9) President-elect and a safer south Caucasus?

David Davidian – Whilst we don’t yet know what policies a Trump administration will ultimately pursue, one can say with little apprehension that, based on Clinton’s philosophies, the Southern Caucasus may well be spared the horror of recent US policy towards the Middle East. Read on…

10) Lieberman – demonstrate your credibility

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir – It takes a strong and determined leader to go against the current, and only by engaging Lieberman will the Palestinians be able not only to test his credibility, but change the discourse of a seven decades-old all-consuming conflict. Read on…

11) A plea for irrelevant education

Dr. Sam Ben-Meir – Education is suffocating itself with the oppressive and pervading insistence on relevance and applicability. A sure sign that the winds of change are blowing in the right direction would be if students began to demand more irrelevant education, an education which does not possess utility, but which broadens the mind, instills the sense of education as a life-long pursuit, and produces the kind of independent thinking that makes possible the public use of reason.  Read on…

Interested in writing for TransConflict? Contact us now by clicking here!