Introduction: Exploring Peace

Guarrieri, Thomas R.; Drury, A. Cooper; Murdie, Amanda

doi:10.1093/isr/vix007

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Is the United States, with its large levels of gun violence but also a sound business environment and premium internet access, really more peaceful than Costa Rica or Mauritius, two countries in the positive peace index that do not even have a standing army? 1 However, the move to expand the concept of peace beyond the absence of war by integrating various other concerns into it is definitely an interesting one. While the authors working in this track should be applauded for their efforts at methodological rigor, operationalization, and data collection, the track is not without risk.…”

Section: The First Trend: More Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2016, the International Study Association devoted its annual conference to the topic of "exploring peace," a call by its president to "look beyond conventional ideas of 'negative peace,' typically thought of as the absence of war, and examine the manifestation of 'positive peace' in the cases and situations that we study" [1]. A few years before, the president of the Peace Science Society (International) likewise called on the members of his society to "bring peace back in" to their studies of armed conflict and peacebuilding [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Peace beyond the Absence of War: Three Trends in the Study of Positive Peace

M. van Iterson Scholten

2024

New Perspectives on Global Peace [Working Title]

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Recent years have seen a surge in renewed academic interest in positive concepts of peace. This chapter takes stock of these developments, arguing that three trends can be observed. First, in a quest to make positive peace measurable, additional indicators of peace are added to the absence of war, mostly relying on existing databases. Second, in an attempt to capture the varieties of peace that resonate with inhabitants of postwar countries, authors rely on interviews with various groups to construct locally grounded notions of peace. Third, the ontological status of peace is reconceptualized. Rather than being a (utopian?) state of affairs, peace is said to be a process, an emergent phenomenon, or a quality of relationships between actors. The uptake of these three trends is that we are left with a variety of peace paradigms for local and international peacebuilders to work on. Consequently, special attention should be paid to concepts of peace that resonate with rising powers in peacebuilding and with populations in conflict-affected areas. The chapter concludes that the field of peace studies is maturing into a separate discipline, following a different logic than that of conflict studies, holistic rather than reductionist, bottom-up rather than top-down and focusing on long-term change rather than quick problem-solving.

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Section: The First Trend: More Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peace beyond the Absence of War: Three Trends in the Study of Positive Peace

M. van Iterson Scholten

2024

New Perspectives on Global Peace [Working Title]

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“…While negative peace is simply the lack of violence, positive peace incorporates economic and institutional reconstruction and betterment, gender considerations, and focusing on local considerations (Diehl 2016;Fischer 2007;Galtung 1996;Guarrieri, Drury, and Murdie 2017).…”

Section: Definitions Used In This Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The efficacy of third-party interventions: international organization-led interventions into ongoing and post-conflict situations

Dicke¹

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The past 30 years have seen the international system undergo definite change in both the nature of conflict and the way in which it is responded to by international actors. Interstate wars have largely given way to civil conflicts, which have themselves arguably changed in character over the last few decades. International responses have turned towards third-party military interventions; although not a new expression of force, the rules upon which these interventions are based have changed, and so correspondingly have their form and targets. These military incursions by states, coalitions, and International Organizations (IOs) external to the conflict have taken on a new importance, an increasingly multilateral character, and a (nominally and truly) humanitarian bent. This increasing prevalence in IO-led interventions in particular has tapered off slightly since its peak in the 2000s, but the persistence of these missions around the world speaks volumes of their continued importance. Since the conditions prompting intervention have not been eradicated, and states and IOs still appear to be invested in intervening in these situations, understanding what a successful outcome looks like and what factors influence the effectiveness of these interventions is a task that holds not only theoretical but also practical value. This dissertation contributes to this strand of literature by explicitly theorizing about what effective means, introducing the explanatory variable level of formalization, and incorporating multiple IOs into a single analysis. Because the time horizons of an intervention into an ongoing conflict and a post-conflict situation are different, the measures of what makes an intervention "effective" and the factors influencing its effectiveness will also necessarily be different. Ongoing conflicts have shorter, more urgent time frames and shorter-term goals: reducing civilian casualties and achieving victory for whichever side is supported if the intervention in biased. Post-conflict situations have less urgent time frames and longer-term goals: rebuilding physical and political/social infrastructure. Fulfilling the mission's mandate applies to both ongoing and post-conflict missions. The level of formalization of an IO varies based on the unity and clarity of the mission's command and control structures, the severity of national caveats, and the number and integration of troop-contributing countries. Essentially, higher formalization shows a unity of effort that means the IO is able to effectively utilize the resources at its disposal to create a mission that is more than the sum of its parts. Greater levels of formalization increase the likelihood of the intervention achieving its goals, the ability to quickly and decisively determine where resources are best applied and move those resources where they are needed increases the mission's ability to reduce civilian casualties, help a chosen side achieve victory, fulfill its mandates, and rebuild the host state's infrastructure. To fully develop and test this theory, this dissertation uses a mixed-methods approach, first presenting a quantitative analysis that operationalizes the key concepts and explores through simple and multiple regression the relationship between a mission's level of formalization and to what extent it achieves its goals. This time-series cross-sectional analysis shows promise, but necessitates further research. To that end, the following chapters are case studies of interventions into Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 1990s and Kosovo starting in the late 1990s respectively. Tracing each UN, NATO, and EU mission's level of formalization across its lifespan and how that relates to the mission's outcomes is one benefit of utilizing case study research, and in this instance, shows more clearly and in greater detail how higher levels of formalization increase a mission's ability to achieve its goals, while lower levels of formalization can make a mission less effective.

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The Governance of Indigenous Natural Products in Namibia: A Policy Network Analysis

Ndeinoma

Wiersum

Arts

2018

Environmental Management

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At the end of the 20th century, optimism existed that non-timber forest products (NTFPs) can form an integral part in conservation and development strategies. However, there is limited knowledge on how the different stakeholders could relate to the state or to each other in promoting commercialization of NTFPs. Applying the policy network as an analytical framework, we investigated the structural patterns of actor relations in the governance structure of indigenous natural products (INPs) in Namibia, to understand the implications of such relations on INP policy process. The findings indicate that the INP policy network in Namibia is multi-dimensional, consisting of the Indigenous Plant Task Team (IPTT)—the key governance structure for resource mobilization and information sharing; and functional relations which serve specific roles in the INP value chain. The existing relations have facilitated policy development particularly for heavily regulated species, such as devil’s claw; but for other species, only incremental changes are observed in terms of small-scale processing facilities for value addition and exclusive purchase agreements for sustainable sourcing of INPs. Participation of primary producers, private actors and quality standardization bodies is limited in INPs governance structures, which narrow the scope of information sharing. Consequently, despite that the IPTT has fostered publicly funded explorative pilot projects, ranging from production to marketing of INPs, there are no clear guidelines how these projects results can be transferred to private entities for possible commercialization. Further collaboration and information sharing is needed to guide public sector relations with the private entities and cooperatives.

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Introduction: Exploring Peace

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Peace beyond the Absence of War: Three Trends in the Study of Positive Peace

Peace beyond the Absence of War: Three Trends in the Study of Positive Peace

The efficacy of third-party interventions: international organization-led interventions into ongoing and post-conflict situations

The Governance of Indigenous Natural Products in Namibia: A Policy Network Analysis

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