Terrence Lyons - Böcker

This edited volume builds on a core set of concepts developed by I. William Zartman to offer new insights into conflict management and African politics. Key concepts such as ripe moments, hurting stalemates, and collapsed states, are built upon in order to show how conflict resolution theory may be applied to contemporary challenges, particularly in Africa. The contributors explore means of pre-empting negotiations over bribery, improving outcomes in environmental negotiations, boosting the capacity of mediators to end violent conflicts, and finding equitable negotiated outcomes. Other issues dealt with in the book include the negotiation of relations with Europe, the role of culture in African conflict resolution, the means to enhance security in unstable regional environments, and the strategic role of the United States in mediating African conflicts.This book will be of much interest to students of international conflict management, peace/conflict studies, African politics and IR in general.

This edited volume builds on a core set of concepts developed by I. William Zartman to offer new insights into conflict management and African politics. Key concepts such as ripe moments, hurting stalemates, and collapsed states, are built upon in order to show how conflict resolution theory may be applied to contemporary challenges, particularly in Africa. The contributors explore means of pre-empting negotiations over bribery, improving outcomes in environmental negotiations, boosting the capacity of mediators to end violent conflicts, and finding equitable negotiated outcomes. Other issues dealt with in the book include the negotiation of relations with Europe, the role of culture in African conflict resolution, the means to enhance security in unstable regional environments, and the strategic role of the United States in mediating African conflicts.This book will be of much interest to students of international conflict management, peace/conflict studies, African politics and IR in general.

This book investigates how changing norms of sovereignty may promote better governance in Africa. It begins by tracing the evolution of the concept of sovereignty and how, in the post-Cold War era, sovereignty has been redefined to emphasize the responsibility of the state to manage conflict and protect human rights. African Reckoning includes assessments of how state actors in Africa measure up to the norms inherent in the notion of sovereignty as responsibility. The book also examines the question of accountability at the regional and international levels.The authors conclude that since the power of oppressed people to hold their governments accountable is very limited, the international community has a responsibility to provide victims of internal conflict and gross violations of human rights with essential protection and assistance. Accordingly, the book expounds on the normative principles of responsible sovereignty, international mechanisms and strategies for their enforcement, and empirical evidence about the performance of governments as measured by the requirements of responsible sovereignty. Contributors include Richard Falk, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, James Rosenau, Goran Hyden, Michael Chege, and John D. Steinbruner.

"The authors assert that sovereignty can no longer be seen as a protection against interference, but as a charge of responsibility where the state is accountable to both domestic and external constituencies. In internal conflicts in Africa, sovereign states have often failed to take responsibility for their own citizens' welfare and for the humanitarian consequences of conflict, leaving the victims with no assistance. This book shows how that responsibility can be exercised by states over their own population, and by other states in assistance to their fellow sovereigns.Sovereignty as Responsibility presents a framework that should guide both national governments and the international community in discharging their respective responsibilities. Broad principles are developed by examining identity as a potential source of conflict, governance as a matter of managing conflict, and economics as a policy field for deterring conflict. Considering conflict management, political stability, economic development, and social welfare as functions of governance, the authors develop strategies, guidelines, and roles for its responsible exercise. Some African governments, such as South Africa in the 1990s and Ghana since 1980, have demonstrated impressive gains against these standards, while others, such as Rwanda, Somalia, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sudan, have failed. Opportunities for making sovereignty more responsible and improving the management of conflicts are examined at the regional and international levels. The lessons from the mixed successes of regional conflict management actions, such as the West African intervention in Liberia, the East African mediation in Sudan, and international efforts to urge talks to end the conflict in Angola, indicate friends and neighbors outside the state in conflict have important roles to play in increasing sovereign responsibility.Approaching conflict management from the perspective of the responsibilities of sovereignty provides a framework for evaluating government accountability. It proposes standards that guide performance and sharpen tools of conflict prevention rather than simply making post-hoc judgments on success or failure. The authors demonstrate that sovereignty as responsibility is both a national obligation and a global imperative."

The multilateral military intervention in Somalia was one of the international community's first major attempts to respond to a dangerous new challenge in the post-cold war era—the problem of state collapse and social disintegration. Catastrophes such as Somalia reach public attention as humanitarian emergencies, but the underlying causes are the disintegration of political institutions and the resulting chaos and insecurity. Given the challenges inherent in such political crises, can the international community respond effectively to encourage political reconciliation and the rehabilitation of governing institutions?This book suggests that the international community ignored clear warning signs in Somalia and missed several opportunities to use diplomacy to prevent state collapse. As a result, the destruction of the state became more complete and the difficulties in rebuilding a viable system more demanding. When the United States and the United Nations finally intervened militarily in 1992, they focused on the humanitarian aspects of the emergency, thereby limiting their ability to act on the core political and security dimensions.This book shows how lessons learned in Somalia will shape international responses in future cases. It details the deep- rooted social, political, and economic processes that led to the decomposition of the state in the early 1990s; analyzes the attempts by the international community to encourage political reconciliation; and offers guidelines for policymakers.