Search

From the 1960s to the 1990s, Barabaig pastoralists sustained a vibrant grassroots social movement that agitated to reclaim the grazing land from which they had been removed under Tanzania's post-independence nationalization program; however, by the year 2000, the movement had largely fizzled out, even though many of its goals remained unmet. Why did such a long-standing movement demobilize so rapidly? Employing the mechanism-process model of analyzing social movements, I argue that its leaders' pursuit of foreign donor funds led to the depoliticization of the movement's goals and separated the leaders from their base. This caused rank-and-file members to feel alienated, leading to movement demobilization. Demonstrating the link between donor funding and movement decline adds to our understanding of causes of demobilization, an undertheorized phase of the cycles of contention., Introduction After gaining independence in the early 1960s, the government of Tanzania embarked on a national strategy for rural development that included largescale nationalization of agricultural production through parastatal farms. [...]

The civil-military-relations literature has long concentrated on domestic factors in explaining the relationship between civilians and the military. This article concentrates on the effect of an external actor, the European Union (EU), on civil-military relations in Greece and Turkey. The main findings reveal that the two countries shared similar characteristics until the mid-1970s. However, their path of civil-military relations diverged considerably as soon as Greece's EU membership prospect became tangible. While in the Greek case, 'civilianization' took place, Turkey had witnessed a mere 'demilitarization' of its regime. However, the article also shows how EU membership paves the way for the improvement of civil-military relations in the Turkish case. Keywords: civil-military relations; democratization; EU conditionalities; Greece; Turkey

This article is an in-depth analysis of civil-military relations in Nigeria's nascent democracy. It chronicles the factors responsible for the Nigerian army's descent into the abyss--once a professional body--shortly after political independence in 1960. The author argues that much still needs to be done to effectively tame the military, which has indeed become a monster. However, unless the 'contradictory pressures of depolitization and renewed political involvement' are curtailed, the hope of a consolidated democracy in Nigeria, and in virtually all other states emerging from military absolutism, will remain a mirage after all, despite all pretensions to the contrary. Keywords: democratization; demilitarization; military; coups; Nigeria

After 1918, loathing of war was deep-rooted and materially affected British government policy making--references to use of force or arms expenditure could spell political suicide. In 1922, Lloyd George's belligerent [...]

Chicago, February 27, 2002: Today, the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moves the minute hand of the 'Doomsday Clock,' the symbol of nuclear danger, from [...]

With the revival of the US national missile defence, there is a danger of jeopardising not only the existing arms control and disarmament process, but also some of the measures that are on the table in the United Nations for negotiations. Examples of these are the prevention of an arms race in outer space and the nuclear fissile materials cut-off agreement. In this paper, the missile defence issues are examined. It is suggested that, if the US builds a missile defence system that is allowed by the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the USA and Russia, it could achieve its goal of defending itself against a limited missile attack. With this kind of approach, it may be possible to save many of the long-standing bilateral and multilateral treaties and prevent the beginning of a new and much wider nuclear arms race.

A comparison between the benefits of disarmament and arms control is presented. Topics include the security gains of disarmament, and the restructuring of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention guidelines.

Various humanitarian organizations have tried to provide adequate refugee protection through traditional methods such as promoting asylum, reporting abuses or preventing attacks by being present on the scene in the absence of efficient military protection. Disarmament is also used as a means of demilitarizing the environment in which displaced persons seek refuge. There are two forms of disarmament. One is used as an integral part of a peace process and the other form is used for protection. The latter form is implemented to protect refugees and displaced persons from armed militias and criminal elements.

Experience shows that there is a close interrelationship between the successful disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of former combatants and the sustainability of peace-building precesses. The contextual differences of Afghanistan is explored by taking into account the lessons learned from recent DDR experiences.