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This study explores the phenomenon of "civilizational deviation" in collective mediation processes within international conflicts, where perceived civilizational identities significantly impact outcomes. Comparing the late 19th-century Cretan Question and the 1988–1994 Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, it reveals how civilizational factors obstruct collective mediation processes. In both cases, conflicting parties held perceptions of civilizational proximity or distance to the collective mediators, diverting mediation process from established international peace frameworks. The mediation process in Crete failed to deter separatism driven by religious self-determination, resulting in a peace design incongruent with prevailing international peace framework (Richmond, Oliver P. 2022. The Grand Design: The Evolution of the International Peace Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2021. Similarly, the OSCE Minsk Group's efforts in Nagorno-Karabakh faced challenges aligning with normative mandates from the UN peace framework. This analysis illuminates complexities in mediation influenced by civilizational perceptions and highlighting the need to address civilizational deviation for international peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the coverage of conflict and peace issues in Nigerian newspapers, specifically focusing on Punch and Daily Trust. The research aims to achieve three primary objectives: assess the frequency of conflict and peace reportage in both newspapers, determine the level of prominence given to these issues by Punch and Daily Trust, and identify the categories under which such issues are reported. The study draws on the Agenda-Setting Theory and Framing Theory to provide a comprehensive analysis. Using a quantitative content analysis approach, the study examines stories related to conflict and peace issues published in the selected newspapers from January 2019 to July 2019. The key findings reveal distinct patterns in the reportage of conflict and peace matters. Punch exhibits a higher emphasis on certain categories like "Calamity/Killing," "Prevention," and "Warning," while Daily Trust places greater prominence on the "Call for Peace" theme. Moreover, the study unveils variations in the prominence given to different categories across the newspapers. The study concludes that the nuanced ways in which Punch and Daily Trust cover conflict and peace issues is based on their editorial decisions in shaping public awareness and discussions. Based on the study's outcomes, it is recommended that newspapers strategically consider their coverage of conflict and peace topics, fostering greater balance and comprehensive reporting. By adhering to these recommendations, newspapers can contribute to more informed public discourse on crucial societal matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern times, the papacy has consistently advocated peace, disarmament, and peaceful resolution of conflicts, limiting the scope of traditional just war theory, particularly in the era of weapons of mass destruction. However, no pope has gone as far as Pope Francis, who has stated that there is no such thing as just war and that "Only Peace is Just." This contribution examines how Francis expressed and developed his thought in the context of his humanitarian diplomacy and theological thinking during the first ten years of his pontificate. In the last part, I argue that the Ukraine war is a test for Pope Francis, who has repeatedly called for peace negotiations and condemned arms supply, while recognizing the moral right for Ukrainian self-defense. While this may seem contradictory, his policy shows Francis's deeper conviction that "war is always a defeat for humanity." More interested in peace-making and assisting victims than in doctrinal issues, Francis has not jettisoned the just war concept in theory, but has done so in his witness and actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activities undertaken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to realize the Olympic Truce initiative during the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998 offer a great opportunity to analyze how the IOC leadership communicated with the UN officials and political leaders of states. These endeavors included an attempt to secure vast support for the Olympic Truce resolution during the Nagano Olympics in the UN General Assembly (GA) and an attempt to secure the observance of the Olympic Truce in the light of the situation in Iraq and its conflict with the UN over the weapon of mass destruction inspections. In reference to both goals, specific patterns included communication through the intermediation of Olympic officials and communication directly by the IOC leadership. The Olympic Truce exemplifies how an international non-governmental organization, in pursuit of realizing its public diplomacy goals, engages in activities typical for traditional diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of populist leaders around the world, populism's impact on foreign policy and international affairs has come into focus. Adding to this literature, we propose the concept of 'populist peacemaking', in which key tenets of populism, in style and substance, are projected onto the sphere of international mediation. We offer an analytical framework for understanding populist peacemaking consisting of three features. Firstly, populist peacemaking is characterized by a rejection of the 'peacemaking elites' and their established rules and practices, including international norms, a refutation of context-specific knowledge, and a clean-slate approach that disregards past peacemaking attempts and alienates other international mediators. Secondly, populist peacemaking employs aggrandized rhetoric and symbolism that puts the mediator—rather than the conflict parties—in the spotlight, thus integrating domestic politics into peacemaking. Finally, populist peacemaking frames the process as representing the volonté générale , i.e. serving the interests of the 'pure people' in the conflict-affected context. We illustrate this phenomenon empirically with a case-study of United States' peacemaking efforts during the Trump era, tracing initiatives pursued by US envoys in the Israeli–Palestinian and Kosovo–Serbia conflicts. From this analysis, populist peacemaking emerges as a distinct phenomenon, not to be subsumed under the heading of 'illiberal peacemaking'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent thinking on peace, the 'local' has taken centre stage, carrying our last hopes after decades of 'failed' peacebuilding. The local can, however, denote quite a variety of different actors. How we select and define the kind of local to work with has huge implications. By developing a typology of three kinds of locals, this piece points to how installing the local as pivotal for establishing peace can take very different forms, implying vastly different policies. These different ways of conceptualising the role of the local, and what are seen as possible ways of engaging with the people who are at the receiving end of peacebuilding interventions, carry political value and reveal shifts in the political terrain of interventions. The article points to how engaging with locals might serve as an attempt at evading the political and ethical consequences of intervention, yet shows how such avoidance of political consequences fails by pointing to the political and ethical choices implied in choosing what kind of locals to work with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to explore the factors whereby some international organizations (IOs) are more effective than others in international mediation and proposes three types of hypotheses through combining quantitative and qualitative analysis. First, IOs with greater institutional capabilities for gathering, exchanging and disseminating conflict-related information are more likely to mediate effectively. IO bias is another factor of influence in this regard. Second, IOs with greater institutional capabilities for deploying field missions and guaranteeing agreement are more likely to mediate effectively and maintain durable peace. Third, IOs with higher amounts of leverage are more likely to mediate effectively. Design/methodology/approach: The study establishes two data sets: one on interstate conflict; the other on intrastate conflict, thus to cover as many research samples as possible and avoid sampling bias. Findings: Results of the statistical analysis indicate that no matter interstate or intrastate conflict, IOs with higher institutional capabilities for diplomatic interventions are more likely to bring conflict parties to an agreement and thereafter maintain short-term peace. IOs with higher institutional capabilities for economic sanctions are similarly effective. Furthermore, IOs with greater institutional capabilities for field mission deployment mediate more effectively, whether in facilitating peace agreements or maintaining short-term and long-term peace after the agreement. IO bias and preference, however, have no significant impact on mediation effectiveness. Research limitations/implications: This study has made no in-depth explorations of such existing and important research areas as different third-party comparisons of the mediation effect. Practical implications: This paper attempts to make some contributions to the topic of mediation effectiveness through applying a bargaining model to the research and performing a statistical analysis based on both an interstate conflict data set and an intrastate conflict data set. Originality/value: This paper provides an in-depth causal analysis and thoroughgoing comparison of the effectiveness of IOs in both interstate conflicts and intrastate conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the foundation of the Latin America Council of Peace Research (CLAIP in Spanish) in 1977 within the complex geopolitical conditions of military coups, lack of democracy, political refugees, Operation Condor, and economic crises. Globally, the geopolitical environment was equally complex with the Vietnam War, Watergate scandal, the School of the America's training militaries in torture, and the rise of the Taliban from the Soviet conflict in Afghanistan. In these adverse conditions, peace research and negotiation of conflicts were crucial. CLAIP developed to meet these needs over a five‐phase process of consolidation: 1. Foundational; 2. Expansion toward whole Latin America; 3. Fragmentation and specialization of peace research; 4. Development of hybrid and amalgam peace theories, and 5. The emergence of different regional approaches focusing also on gender perspective. This convergence has yielded more holistic paradigms that address the multifaceted threats to positive peace posed by the global response to COVID‐19. The article explores the potential for an integrated human, gender, and environmental, an engendered peace paradigm—called the HUGE model—to guarantee even the most marginalized women and girls a peaceful and secure future development in the subcontinent—even in the aftermath of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutral states have traditionally been seen as particularly well suited to function as international mediators. This assessment was based on the fact that both concepts – neutrality and mediation – have their roots in attempts to contain violent conflicts and thereby combine realist and idealistic dimensions of international relations. While due to these normative commonalities, the increased influence of norms in mediation might be deemed to favour the role of neutral states as mediators, a more nuanced analysis reveals a mixed impact: The new norms made mediation enter into policy fields to which neutrality does not apply. But they also increased the complexities of mediation processes which in turn could open up new opportunities for neutral states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the increasingly prominent role of regional organizations (ROs) and non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) in promoting norms in mediation processes. In particular, we seek to understand the processes by which RO and NGO mediators promote the inclusivity norm to negotiating parties and the outcomes that result. We employ the concepts of local agency and social practices in examining the normative agency of ROs and NGOs in promoting and redefining the inclusivity norm. Through illustrative case studies of peace processes in South Sudan and Myanmar, we argue that ROs' and NGOs' mediation practices reflect their claims to alternative resources of power, such as long‐standing expertise and insider status in the context, and build congruence with strong local norms. We provide nuanced theoretical insights on RO and NGO mediators' claims to agency and provide empirical illustrations on how these claims contribute to constitutive changes to norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how ideational conflicts can be managed through mediation processes by relying on methods of norm diffusion, in particular by using reframing as a distinct mediation strategy. It starts by offering a novel conceptual framework that operationalizes conflicts as a process of norm contestation. By looking at the conflicts through normative lenses, the paper expounds the link between international mediation and norm diffusion. In particular, the paper addresses how mediators may act as norm entrepreneurs, and how these activities bring to light a rather unexplored mediation strategy of reframing through which norms can be effectively diffused. The broader theoretical puzzle is illustrated through the case of EU mediation efforts in Montenegro, where the mediators used reframing strategies to effectively diffuse an unconventional norm of 55% votes in favor for the referendum to pass, that would regulate the rules and procedure of the country's referendum on independence in 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A constitutional touchstone is a document that articulates alternative constitutional proposals and is a symbolic resource in discussions of constitutional reform. Such documents keep alive opposition constitutional aspirations. Constitutional touchstones enhance understanding of the influence of constitutional history on contemporary efforts at peace and constitutional reform. Through successive constitutional reform processes, constitutional touchstones articulate future visions for reform and emerge as a reference point for political dialogue on peace and constitutional change. Through the case of Myanmar, I consider the influence of constitutional touchstones on contemporary constitution-making and trace demands for federalism through four stages of peace processes in Myanmar. Constitutional touchstones are important considerations that shape the terms of a peace process and condition, though do not determine the limits of constitutional reform. Presenting an alternative view to the idea that constitution-makers and peace negotiators in a globalized age are primarily focused on best practice or the most suitable comparative models, I draw attention to the ongoing salience and social life of past constitutional debates in contemporary peace processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant international discourse about 'fragile states' calls for external actors to build the capacity of domestic institutions as a means of overcoming poverty and insecurity in the global South. It frames the pathway to greater peace and prosperity as primarily, if not entirely, domestically constituted, thereby confining the causes of poverty and insecurity to the domestic arena as well. This article argues that by focusing so intently on the domestic capacity of these states, international peace/state-building and development interventions discount, and thereby reinforce, non-domestic factors that impede security and development. These include: external support for repressive regimes; the sale of weapons to local actors; and the preservation of international trade arrangements implicated in sustaining global inequalities. This article argues that while each of these issues have greater levers for change in the North than in the South, they are generally excluded from discourses about overcoming poverty and insecurity. Therefore, if international actors are serious about attending to these issues, there are more pressing areas for reform than the internal institutional configurations of Southern states. Intervening in domestic institutions is, however, what development and state-building agencies are structured to do, meaning that to overhaul this mandate would directly challenge their existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much literature on peacekeeping seeks to determine the effect of United Nations (UN) intervention on post-conflict peace processes, most peacekeeping operations (PKOs) are deployed to active conflicts. The limited research on peacekeeping in active civil conflicts suggests that robust PKOs reduce hostilities. Yet, if PKOs serve to extend conflict duration, even lowered hostilities can yield greater destruction over time. We thus explore the effect of peacekeeping on conflict duration. We argue that PKOs with larger troop deployments are better able to increase the cost of combat, improve information sharing between belligerents, and provide security guarantees, thus reducing the time to negotiated resolutions. Using fine-grained data on monthly peacekeeping personnel commitments and observations of ongoing conflict between combatants, we examine how variations in mission deployments affect the success of UN peacekeeping in ending civil conflicts. As expected, our findings indicate that larger troop deployments shorten war duration to negotiated resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the debate that followed the release of the Dumbarton Oaks proposals in 1944, the US government vigorously promoted the idea of international organization, partly due to fears of a resurgent isolationism. Yet as the debate progressed, it became clear that isolationism was not the main enemy, and concerns that the USA would not engage at all with the UN proved unfounded. Instead, the most active critics of the Dumbarton Oaks proposals were not those who wished to ignore the Dumbarton Oaks proposals, but those who wanted to perfect them. Calls for a more perfect international union came from across the political spectrum and for different reasons. Ultimately, the Roosevelt administration recognized that perfectionism was an issue that threatened the peace process. Fearing a repeat of the rejection of the League of Nations, the Roosevelt administration worked tirelessly to share the message of the Dumbarton Oaks proposals to the American people. But that message was mostly a cautious one, highlighting that while the proposed UN was not perfect, it was the best option for peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the representatives of the OSCE announced in Paris, in January 2019, the firm intention to move forward for a peace compromise on the long-standing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. The prospect of peace however triggered anxieties among the Armenians fearful of losing the territories gained in war, as well as among the inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh, while the Azerbaijanis maintain that any future peace compromise cannot start without the withdrawal of the Armenian forces from these lands. Peace became a source of anxiety and entrenched attachment to old narratives overcame, for the moment, the optimist rhetoric shift of state leaders. The article thus looks into the possible reasons for a peace process to fail 'from the inside', to be rejected by the very populations affected by an abiding conflict, bringing insides from cognitive approaches to conflict and security, namely from the ontological security body of literature to this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the strategy of Secretary-General António Guterres for modernizing the United Nation (U.N.), and examines how he can help define the contemporary role of the intergovernmental organization and prepare it for the challenges of the future. Topics discussed include the organizational restructuring of the U.N., Guterres' efforts to build confidence in his leadership, and his advancement of a preventive platform that promotes global peace and security. Also mentioned are proposals in Guterres' 2018 report which include the appointment of a victims rights advocate, the adoption of a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and the establishment of a High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation.

This paper attempts to find the dynamism in Afghanistan's relations with Central Asian states. It is explained that prosperity without security is not possible and ongoing imbroglio in Afghanistan is directly affecting Central Asian states. The Central Asian states are surrounded by China, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. These states (with significant influence of India and Turkey) are the key regional players and their socioeconomic and political interests are converged on various issues. The political conditions in Afghanistan would directly impact the interests of Central Asian states. Drug trafficking, illegal migration, religious extremism, a ramified corrupt network, porous border and terrorism are subverting peace in Afghanistan and its spillover effects are dangerous for Central Asian states. The military and security situation in Afghanistan has a direct impact on the production and transport of energy from Central Asia to the rest of the world. The response of the regional organizations, particularly the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), with certain commonalities, towards these issues often contrasts with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This paper focuses on the efforts of major powers (Russia, China, and the US) along with neighbouring countries in the peacebuilding in Afghanistan to avoid its spillover effects over Central Asian states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyse the power and the impact of social media on internal polarization and political mobilization by observing the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. Based on a theoretical framework on polarization, populism, and political mobilization, the article discusses the link between the use of social media and the support or rejection of the normalization of relations between the two countries. The analysis focuses on the most sensitive phase of the dialogue, in order to identify and examine the polarizing messages, populist content, and political mobilization used by institutional and opposition leaders in Kosovo. The results of this research show that Kosovo leaders follow conflicting and contrasting goals, viewpoints and positions, creating deep divisions among the public opinion and society internally, which will significantly undermine the prospects for a sustainable peace with Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the anniversary of the Korean War armistice. Topics including the devastating impact of the war; the challenges in achieving a peace settlement; and the interests of major powers such as the United States and China are explored. It also explores the history of rivalry between North and South Korea.

Culture is a significant factor in peace negotiation processes. It frames the parties’ perspectives and strategies to managing the conflict. This study explores the role of culture in the peace negotiation processes of the Dagbon ethnopolitical conflict of Northern Ghana. Twelve elders from the Dagbon Traditional Area with an in-depth understanding of the traditions and culture of Dagbon were interviewed using an unstructured interview guide. Similar to most findings on cross-cultural negotiation processes in high-context cultures, all the negotiators were men. The issues negotiated were largely based on the culture and traditions of Dagbon, and the interest and priorities of the negotiators were culturally defined. As with many other ethnopolitical conflicts, the culture of Dagbon was key in shaping the process and outcome of the peace negotiations. It is imperative for cultural issues to be properly understood and addressed satisfactorily in order not to undermine peace negotiation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myanmar is in the midst of a complex peace process following nearly 70 years of civil conflict that has left the country severely underdeveloped. Despite the presence of influential women’s organisations that attend to everyday needs as well as larger political projects, women are not well represented in the peace process. This article uses qualitative data to examine the influence that women do have on the peace process, albeit informally. Findings show that although women are not making it into peace negotiations in Myanmar, nevertheless they are key players in peacebuilding because of their civil society activism, organised through ethnic women’s organisations, which places them around the table, if not at the table. The paper concludes that women’s activism does have an effect on peacebuilding and that a shift in perspective is required to recognise their contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peace research has abandoned the pursuit of positive peace because of a profound commitment to an ontology of violence. By assuming that the world is shaped by arbitrary power relations, scholars working on liberal and post-liberal peace end up focusing their research on negative peace. This article develops a critique of this ontology of violence assumed by the Realist, Liberal, and Critical traditions which conceals the possibility of positive peace. Following the lead of Charles Taylor, it locates the philosophical shackles that stifle peace research in the immanent frame that underpins the political work of Hobbes and his contemporaries. The article outlines the contours of an ontology of peace and revisits the concept of eirenism to conceptualise positive peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-civil war agreement phase is vulnerable to credible commitment problems, a lack of government capacity to implement, and/or mutual vulnerability to retribution from violating the agreement. This study’s main contribution is to demonstrate the combined utility of mediation and UN peacekeeping. Mediation builds trust and confidence and works with the parties to design an efficacious agreement conducive to, among other features, tamping down post-agreement violence. Peacekeeping stems violence and facilitates the implementation of the agreement. Agreements that are mediated and followed by UN peacekeeping are expected to be more robust in terms of staving off violence. We report the effects of the mediation–peacekeeping interaction using a method correcting for a common misinterpretation of interaction terms. We test logit and hazard models using a sample of full and partial civil war peace agreements signed between 1975 and 2011. Controlling for agreement design, democracy, and income per capita, the results indicate mediation and its interaction with peacekeeping reduce the probability of renewed/continuing violence and have a positive impact on agreement duration. We also report brief case study evidence from the 1990s peace process in Guatemala. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Whilst sexual violence has been an offence associated both with war- and peacetime throughout history, its rise to the tables where international peace and security are negotiated, represents a significant shift. This article continues the scholarly conversation about conflict-related sexual violence and its emergence as a 'hot topic' on academic, political, and activist agendas. Specifically, we ask how and why criminal law constitutes the ultimately meaningful response to such violence. Building on frame analysis, we address how the fight against conflict-related sexual violence has become the fight against impunity. We examine what imageries of victims and perpetrators, causes and consequences key actors within interstate diplomacy and human rights advocacy evoke to drive this development. We argue that these narratives shape the political discourse on conflict-related sexual violence, which may in turn influence the perceived political maneuverability in the face of such harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Richard Wagner, a "second-generation" peace psychologist, reflects on events that led to his professional career in peace psychology. He describes how his early life, college and graduate school experiences, and work within SPSSI and multidisciplinary associations, as well as in the Maine community, resulted in his involvement in the Division (48) of Peace Psychology, and culminated in his editorship of this Journal from 2000 to 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until it began waning due to economic crisis and political turmoil on the domestic front, in Brazil's rapidly expanding South-South development, cooperation often has been promoted by government officials as contributing to stability and prosperity in partner states. It is unclear, however, how this development cooperation intersects with the country's involvement in UN peace operations. This article examines the role of Brazilian South-South technical cooperation across two contexts. In Haiti, Brazil has led the military component of the MINUSTAH, whereas in Guinea-Bissau, it has helped to spearhead peacebuilding efforts by the international community. In both cases, Brazil has tried to substantiate its critique of the UN's securitization by providing technical cooperation across a variety of sectors. The analysis shows that this cooperation is too fragmented, subject to interruptions, and disconnected from UN-led efforts to make a considerable contribution to a sustainable peace. However, better internal coordination and stronger ties to UN initiatives could boost the contribution of Brazil's Brazilian South-South development cooperation to a lasting peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article systematically examines the varying effectiveness of African and non-African third parties in mediating civil wars in Africa. Drawing on data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, supplemented with unique data on mediation efforts, which together cover all mediation efforts in civil wars in Africa between 1960 and 2012, this article presents quantitative evidence supporting the effectiveness of African third parties. Compared to non-African third parties, African third parties are far more likely to conclude peace agreements and these peace agreements are more likely to be durable. Most effective, however, are mixed mediation efforts in which there is coordination between African and non-African third parties, but in which African third parties take the lead. The phrase, ‘African solutions to African challenges’ should thus be understood as a division of labour and responsibilities, rather than an excuse for non-African third parties to ignore Africa’s problems or African third parties acting on their own. Indeed, whilst African third parties should take the lead in mediation processes in African civil wars, non-African third parties should support these processes by lending additional strength. Through supplementing each other’s comparative advantages, African and non-African third parties can more effectively resolve civil wars in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]