Decentralizing the Syrian peace process is a pragmatic answer to the fact that the rebels don’t have a central authority, and that it is very likely that some factions will continue fighting when an armistice is concluded.
The ethnic-oriented Dayton constitution and Sejdic-Finci imbroglio is a great example of how the ethnicization of constitutions further divides a post-conflict multi-ethnic society. Turkey and Kosovo should indeed be very focused on providing civic solutions to ethnic problems, not vice-versa.
An EU-brokered agreement to bring Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitution into accordance with the 2009 European Court of Human Rights’ Sejdic-Finci verdict does not serve to create a functional democratic system in BiH, with equal rights and opportunities for all its citizens, but is rather an attempt to appease the most narrow [...]
Kosovo Under Autonomy endeavors to provide new analyses of several controversies surrounding the relationships between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo between 1974-1990: the causes of increasing demographic disparity, the extent of Albanian aspirations for autonomy within or separation from Yugoslavia, the causes of Serbian migration from Kosovo, the degree of [...]
TransConflict is pleased to present the key findings of research into attitudes to peace walls in Northern Ireland, which show that more than three quarters of the general population (78%) in believes that segregation is common in the absence of peace walls.
The Quint would be rightly concerned over a Serbian demand to give an association its own powers, funds and representation at central level. That would be a Republika Srpska. Asking for that would go needlessly beyond what the Ahtisaari Plan already provides and would provoke Pristina and the Quint. Suggested Reading [...]
In 2012 a research team based at the University of Ulster successfully applied for research funding to the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister for funding to conduct research on Attitudes to Peace Walls. The aim of the research was to explore public awareness of and attitudes [...]
Sport has often been overlooked as a form of soft power that is able to broker moments of normality within periods of conflict between ethnic or national communities and as a form of public diplomacy or social intervention.
Leaving the northern Kosovo Serbs out of the process of determining their future leaves open the possibility that whatever Belgrade might come to accept under EU pressure would not gain the support on the ground to be implemented peacefully.
TransConflict is pleased to announce that, every Friday, it will be presenting extracts from ‘Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies: A Scholars’ Initiative (Second Edition)’. Charles Ingrao, the Initiative’s director, explains its aims and approach.