scholarly journals Moving from Impunity to Accountability in Post-War Liberia: Possibilities, Cautions, and Challenges

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rena L. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Failed State ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Viable Solution ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
Governmental Functions ◽  
Post War

Liberia has become the quintessential example of an African failed state. Though Liberia's civil war is officially over, war criminals are free and some are even helping run the transitional government under the authority of Liberia's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This peace agreement calls for the consideration of a general amnesty for those involved in the Liberian civil war alongside the parceling of governmental functions among members of various rebel groups. The drafters of the agreement claim that this was the only viable solution for sustainable peace in Liberia. Meanwhile, Charles Taylor relaxes in Nigeria's resort city of Calabar.

Cheap talk or costly commitment? Leader statements and the implementation of civil war peace agreements

2021 ◽  
pp. 002234332110371
Author(s):  
Alyssa K Prorok ◽  
Deniz Cil
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Cheap Talk ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Peace Agreements ◽  
Sustainable Peace

This article examines how leaders affect the implementation of peace agreements. It argues that implementation is more likely when leaders have publicly committed to peace because public commitments tie leaders’ hands, making it costly to back down from peaceful promises. This effect is hypothesized to hold even under conditions that make implementation costly: when implementing difficult provisions, when spoiler risk is high, and when implementation is unreciprocated. These expectations are tested using novel data from the IPAD dataset on the implementation of peace agreements between 1989 and 2014 and on public statements by state and rebel leaders. Results show that governments and rebel groups whose leaders have publicly committed to peace are significantly more likely to make progress toward implementation. This effect holds for difficult provisions, when spoiler risk is high, and when implementation is unreciprocated. These findings highlight the importance of leaders’ political will for successful implementation of peace agreements and sustainable peace.

scholarly journals Rethinking the Chongqing Negotiations of 1945: Concession-making, the Trust/distrust Paradox, and the Biased Mediator in China’s Post-war Transitions

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-203
Author(s):  
Victor Shiu Chiang Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
World War ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
The Core ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
Peace And War ◽  
Modern Era

Abstract This article rethinks what are perhaps the most important attempts at making peace in modern Chinese history: the first post-World War II peace talks convened in Chongqing, between the two old foes of the Chinese Civil War. Previous studies treat the peace conference as a sideshow to the subsequent full-scale civil war. Examining the political and military situation in China toward the end of World War II, this article argues that a peace agreement was needed for both parties. The core of the article examines the hitherto unexplored aspects around the negotiating table: the debate, disagreements, and compromises, and the American mediator’s attempt to alter the dynamics of the peace talks from an inherently biased position. It finds that the history of the Chongqing negotiations is more important to our understanding of China’s struggle between peace and war in the modern era than previously acknowledged.

Security Consolidation in the Aftermath of Civil War: Explaining the Fates of Victorious Militias

2021 ◽  
pp. 002200272199552
Author(s):  
Brandon Bolte ◽  
Minnie M. Joo ◽  
Bumba Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Management Strategy ◽  
Ethnic Difference ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Civil Conflicts ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Organizational Constraints ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Military ◽  
State Militias

Policymakers and peacebuilding research often focus on rebel groups when studying demobilization and integration processes, but post-war governments must also manage the non-state militias that helped them gain or maintain power. Why do some post-war governments disintegrate their militia allies, while others integrate them into the military? We argue that when a salient ethnic difference exists between the (new) ruling elite and an allied militia, a process of mutual uncertainty in the post-war period will incentivize governments to disintegrate the group. However, governments will be most likely to integrate their militias when the military has sufficient coercive capabilities but few organizational hindrances to re-organizing. Using new data on the post-war fates of victorious militias across all civil conflicts from 1989 to 2014, we find robust support for these claims. The results suggest that a government’s optimal militia management strategy is shaped by both social and organizational constraints during the post-war period.

Beyond the absence of war: the diversity of peace in post-settlement societies

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
KRISTINE HÖGLUND ◽  
MIMMI SÖDERBERG KOVACS
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
War Termination ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Key Dimensions ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article introduces a novel way of conceptualising variations of peace in post-war societies. The most common way of defining peace in the academic literature on war termination is to differentiate between those cases where there is a continuation or resumption of large-scale violence and those cases where violence has been terminated and peace, defined by the absence of war, has been established. Yet, a closer look at a number of countries where a peace agreement has been signed and peace is considered to prevail reveals a much more diverse picture. Beyond the absence of war, there are striking differences in terms of the character of peace that has followed. This article revisits the classical debates on peace and the notion of the Conflict Triangle as a useful theoretical construction for the study of armed conflicts. We develop a classification captured in a Peace Triangle, where post-settlement societies are categorised on the basis of three key dimensions: issues, behaviour, and attitudes. On the basis of such a differentiation, we illustrate the great diversity of peace beyond the absence of war in a number of post-settlement societies. Finally, we discuss the relationship between the different elements of the Peace Triangle, and the challenges they pose for establishing a sustainable peace, as well as the implications of this study for policy makers concerned with peacebuilding efforts.

Metamorphoses of memory of the the Russian-Serbian Brotherhood of War in Modern Serbia

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 142-156
Author(s):  
A. Yu. Timofeev
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Party System ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Civil Conflict ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Second World

The article considers the perception of World War II in modern Serbian society. Despite the stability of Serbian-Russian shared historical memory, the attitudes of both countries towards World wars differ. There is a huge contrast in the perception of the First and Second World War in Russian and Serbian societies. For the Serbs the events of World War II are obscured by the memories of the Civil War, which broke out in the country immediately after the occupation in 1941 and continued several years after 1945. Over 70% of Yugoslavs killed during the Second World War were slaughtered by the citizens of former Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The terror unleashed by Tito in the first postwar decade in 1944-1954 was proportionally bloodier than Stalin repressions in the postwar USSR. The number of emigrants from Yugoslavia after the establishment of the Tito's dictatorship was proportionally equal to the number of refugees from Russia after the Civil War (1,5-2% of prewar population). In the post-war years, open manipulations with the obvious facts of World War II took place in Tito's Yugoslavia. In the 1990s the memories repressed during the communist years were set free and publicly debated. After the fall of the one-party system the memory of World War II was devalued. The memory of the Russian-Serbian military fraternity forged during the World War II began to revive in Serbia due to the foreign policy changes in 2008. In October 2008 the President of Russia paid a visit to Serbia which began the process of (re) construction of World War II in Serbian historical memory. According to the public opinion surveys, a positive attitude towards Russia and Russians in Serbia strengthens the memories on general resistance to Nazism with memories of fratricide during the civil conflict events of 1941-1945 still dominating in Serbian society.

Timber

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Forestry Sector ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
Timber Market

During the civil war, Liberia’s forestry sector rose to prominence as Charles Taylor traded timber for arms. When the war ended, the UN’s timber sanctions remained in effect, reinforced by the Forestry Development Authority’s (FDA) domestic ban on logging. As Liberians waited for UN timber sanctions to be lifted, a burgeoning domestic timber market developed. This demand was met by artisanal loggers, more commonly referred to as pit sawyers. Out of this illicit economy emerged the Nezoun Group to provide local dispute resolution between the FDA’s tax collectors and ex-combatant pit sawyers. The Nezoun Group posed a dilemma for the government. On the one hand, the regulatory efforts of the Nezoun Group helped the FDA to tax an activity that it had banned. On the other hand, the state’s inability to contain the operations of the Nezoun Group—in open contravention of Liberian laws—highlighted the government’s capacity problems.

Stick Then Carrot: When Do Governments Give Amnesty during Civil War?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley-Ann Daniels
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Policy Choice ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
The Government

Abstract Governments grant amnesties to rebel groups during civil wars and this is a puzzle. Why would the government offer an amnesty, which can be interpreted as a signal of weakness? In certain circumstances, offering amnesty is a rational policy choice. Governments should give amnesties when they are winning: the risk of misinterpreted signals is lessened, costs are low, rebel groups are weakened, and so amnesty can be used instrumentally to encourage defection or division among foot soldiers or as an incentive to leaders. Therefore, the government capitalizes on its military advantage and offers amnesty in a “stick then carrot” tactic. Using a database of amnesties during conflicts from 1990 to 2011, the article shows that governments are more likely to give amnesties following high rebel deaths. The use of amnesty during conflict is nuanced and context is important when understanding strategic choices.

From Cycling Priests to the ‘Sportsman's Pope’. Italy, Sport and the Catholic Church

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 545-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Martin
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Tour De France ◽  
Alternative Culture ◽  
National Life ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Church ◽  
Regime Analysis

This article surveys the Catholic Church's exploitation of sport in Liberal (1861–1922), Fascist (1922–1943), and post-war Italy. It examines how and why the Church overcame its initial reticence to embrace sport and turn it into a fundamental pillar of an alternative culture that challenged the monopoly of national sporting federations. Following the rise of Fascism, sport became one of the principal means by which the Church resisted a complete takeover by the regime. Analysis of the devout Catholic cyclist Gino Bartali reveals how the Church maintained its identity and tradition of sporting independence despite the inevitable suppression of Catholic sporting organisations. Culminating in an examination of the ‘immortalisation’ of Bartali after his win in the 1948 Tour De France – a victory popularly credited with saving Italy from civil war – the article illuminates the processes by which sport became a central feature of Catholicism in national life. It highlights the Church's contribution to the development of Italian sport, assesses the wider impact of sport's role in forming alternative cultures, and argues that sport perfectly positioned the Church to respond to the demands of Reconstruction Italy and provided opportunities to secure a post-war Christian Democratic society.

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