South Sudan: A New Model for Civilian Capacity in Post-conflict Settings

According to the United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency, there were 79.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide by the end of 2019. Evictions from homes and land are often linked to protracted violent conflict. Land administration (LA) can be a small part of UN peace-building programs addressing these conflicts. Through the lens of the UN and seven country cases, the problem being addressed is: what are the key features of fit-for-purpose land administration (FFP LA) in violent conflict contexts? FFP LA involves the same LA elements found in conventional LA and FFP LA, and LA in post conflict contexts, as it supports peace building and conflict resolution. However, in the contexts being examined, FFP LA also has novel features as well, such as extra-legal transitional justice mechanisms to protect people and their land rights and to address historical injustices and the politics of exclusion that are the root causes of conflict. In addition, there are land governance and power relations’ implications, as FFP LA is part of larger UN peace-building programs. This impacts the FFP LA design. The cases discussed are from Darfur/Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Honduras, Iraq, Jubaland/Somalia, Peru and South Sudan.

Download Full-text

Health care workers in conflict and post-conflict settings: Systematic mapping of the evidence

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0233757 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (5) ◽

pp. e0233757

Author(s):

Lama Bou-Karroum ◽

Amena El-Harakeh ◽

Inas Kassamany ◽

Hussein Ismail ◽

Nour El Arnaout ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Systematic Mapping ◽

Post Conflict ◽

Conflict Settings ◽

Care Workers

Download Full-text

The humanitarian protectorate of South Sudan? Understanding insecurity for humanitarians in a political economy of aid

The Journal of Modern African Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022278x17000271 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 349-370

Author(s):

Bram J. Jansen

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

South Sudan ◽

Humanitarian Aid ◽

State Building ◽

Ethnographic Research ◽

Security Threats ◽

Post Conflict ◽

Everyday Practices ◽

Conflict Situations ◽

The Everyday

ABSTRACTThis paper aims to contribute to debates about humanitarian governance and insecurity in post-conflict situations. It takes the case of South Sudan to explore the relations between humanitarian agencies, the international community, and local authorities, and the ways international and local forms of power become interrelated and contested, and to what effect. The paper is based on eight months of ethnographic research in various locations in South Sudan between 2011 and 2013, in which experiences with and approaches to insecurity among humanitarian aid actors were studied. The research found that many security threats can be understood in relation to the everyday practices of negotiating and maintaining humanitarian access. Perceiving this insecurity as violation or abuse of a moral and practical humanitarianism neglects how humanitarian aid in practice was embedded in broader state building processes. This paper posits instead that much insecurity for humanitarian actors is a symptom of the blurring of international and local forms of power, and this mediates the development of a humanitarian protectorate.

Download Full-text

Bridging Gaps: From a Descriptive to a Practical Mid-Space Actor Typology?

Operationalisation of Hybrid Peacebuilding in Asia ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-67758-9_4 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 59-80

Author(s):

Anna Deekeling ◽

Dahlia Simangan

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Practical Application ◽

Skill Sets ◽

Post Conflict ◽

Sustainable Peace ◽

Conflict Settings ◽

Local Actors ◽

Specific Skill ◽

Favourable Environment ◽

Bridge Building

AbstractThe concept of hybridity sheds light on the complexity of conflict settings. It helps to analyse the participation of all parties and actors involved and entangled in a social network of normative and political power, while avoiding theoretical binaries that over-simplify the process of post-conflict peacebuilding. What lacks, however, is a practical application of hybridity in peacebuilding that actively engages with bottom/local or grassroots, top/national and international actors through mediation in the mid-space to create sustainable peace. Given this practical shortcoming of hybridity, this chapter examines mid-space actors as gatekeepers and their capacities to enable dialogue among opposing parties. The aim is to offer insights for the international community, as outside intervenors, in promoting the bridge-building potentialities of gatekeepers. Specifically, externally led efforts to engage with the specific skill sets of mid-space local actors are explored. It is argued in this chapter that such engagement provides a favourable environment for sustaining peace by overcoming power struggles in and around the mid-space.

Download Full-text