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The international mediation of power-sharing settlements
- Source :
- Cooperation and Conflict. 53:467-485
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- SAGE Publications, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Power sharing is largely accepted among scholars and policy-makers as a potentially effective mechanism for building peace in the aftermath of violent ethnic conflicts and self-determination disputes. Although the operation of power sharing may be prone to ongoing challenges and even political crises arising from the legacy of the conflict, international actors continue to promote power-sharing arrangements to manage self-determination and other ethnopolitical conflicts. This article investigates the normative and instrumental reasons why third-party mediators (on behalf of international organizations and/or states) turn to power-sharing strategies during peace negotiations. It considers the reasons why third-party mediators promote power sharing when its maintenance is likely to depend on their ongoing commitment and governance involvement. We argue that mediators draw from four different perspectives in their support of power-sharing settlements: international law, regional and internal security, democracy and minority rights, and a technical approach where mediators focus on the mechanics of power-sharing designs. The article draws on in-depth semi-structured interviews with officials from the United Nations and the European Union working for the organizations’ respective mediation units as well as documentary analysis of official mediation documents.
- Subjects :
- Conflict mediation
021110 strategic, defence & security studies
Power sharing
05 social sciences
0211 other engineering and technologies
Ethnic group
Ethnic conflict
02 engineering and technology
16. Peace & justice
0506 political science
Political economy
Human settlement
Political science
Political Science and International Relations
Mediation
050602 political science & public administration
Mechanism (sociology)
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14603691 and 00108367
- Volume :
- 53
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Cooperation and Conflict
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........00a749cd68663691554a7f0445316019