scholarly journals Destroying Trust in Government: Effects of a Broken Pact among Colombian Ex-Combatants

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1175-1188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joakim Kreutz ◽  
Enzo Nussio
Keyword(s):  
Comparison Group ◽  
The United States ◽  
Trust In Government ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Colombian Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
Instrumental Reasons ◽  
Experimental Survey

Abstract Mistrust between conflict parties after civil war is a major hurdle to sustainable peace. However, existing research focuses on elite interactions and has not examined the trust relationship between government and rank-and-file members of armed groups, despite their importance for postconflict stability. We use the unexpected decision of the Colombian government to extradite top-level former paramilitary leaders to the United States in 2008 to identify how a peace deal reversal influences ex-combatants’ trust in government. In theory, they may lose trust for instrumental reasons, if they suffer personal costs, or for normative reasons, if they think the government is failing its commitments. Using quasi-experimental survey evidence, we find that extradition decreases trust substantially among ex-paramilitaries, but not in a comparison group of ex-guerrillas not part of the same peace deal. Even though paramilitaries are seen as particularly opportunistic, our evidence suggests that normative rather than instrumentalist considerations led to trust erosion.

State, Illegality, and Territorial Control

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 238-251
Author(s):  
Jorge Enrique Forero
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Socioeconomic Conditions ◽  
La Paz ◽  
Derechos Humanos ◽  
Colombian Government ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Illegal Activities ◽  
Los Grupos

The inevitable incursion of Colombian armed groups into Ecuador remained at low levels for decades, but in the late 1990s the United States increased its level of engagement in the conflict and the Colombian government permitted the expansion of paramilitaries into the South of the country. While Rafael Correa’s Plan Ecuador privileged economic development in the border region as a way of promoting peace there, the massacre by the Colombian military in Angostura (Sucumbíos) in March 2008 led to an increase in military spending and increasing violations of the human rights of the region’s people. Socioeconomic conditions remain favorable to the expansion of the paramilitary organizations, linked to drug trafficking, gasoline smuggling, and other illegal activities. Without the resurrection of Plan Ecuador, their presence will continue to threaten the sovereignty of the state and the consolidation of its progressive national project. La incursión inevitable de los grupos armados colombianos en Ecuador se mantuvo en niveles bajos durante décadas, pero a finales de los 90s los Estados Unidos aumentaron su nivel de participación en el conflicto y el gobierno colombiano permitió la expansión de los paramilitares en el sur del país. Si bien el Plan Ecuador de Rafael Correa privilegió el desarrollo económico en la región fronteriza como una forma de promover la paz allí, la masacre por el ejército colombiano en Angostura (Sucumbíos) en marzo de 2008 generó un incremento en el gasto militar y el aumento de violaciones de los derechos humanos de la gente de la región. Las condiciones socioeconómicas siguen siendo favorables a la expansión de las organizaciones paramilitares, vinculadas al tráfico de drogas, contrabando de gasolina, y otras actividades ilegales. Sin la resurrección del Plan Ecuador, su presencia seguirá amenazando la soberanía del Estado y la consolidación de su proyecto nacional progresista.

Pro-Government Militias and Conflict

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine C. Carey ◽  
Neil J. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
The United States ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
The Government ◽  
Irregular Forces ◽  
Armed Actors

Pro-government militias are a prominent feature of civil wars. Governments in Colombia, Syria, and Sudan recruit irregular forces in their armed struggle against insurgents. The United States collaborated with Awakening groups to counter the insurgency in Iraq, just as colonizers used local armed groups to fight rebellions in their colonies. An emerging cross-disciplinary literature on pro-government non-state armed groups generates a variety of research questions for scholars interested in conflict, political violence, and political stability: Does the presence of such groups indicate a new type of conflict? What are the dynamics that drive governments to align with informal armed groups and that make armed groups choose to side with the government? Given the risks entailed in surrendering a monopoly of violence, is there a turning point in a conflict when governments enlist these groups? How successful are these groups? Why do governments use these non-state armed actors to shape foreign conflicts whether as insurgents or counterinsurgents abroad? Are these non-state armed actors always useful to governments or perhaps even an indicator for state failure? We examine the demand for and supply of pro-government armed groups and the legacies that shape their role in civil wars. The enduring pattern of collaboration between governments and these armed non-state actors challenges conventional theory and the idea of an evolutionary process of the modern state consolidating the means of violence. Research on these groups and their consequences began with case studies, and these continue to yield valuable insights. More recently, survey work and cross-national quantitative research contribute to our knowledge. This mix of methods is opening new lines of inquiry for research on insurgencies and the delivery of the core public good of effective security.

Corruption findings will strain Nigerien government

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Military Procurement ◽  
The Government

Subject Corruption in military procurement. Significance With the presidential election set to take place in December, the government is under fire over its lenient approach to corruption in military procurement -- at a time when Nigerien soldiers have been losing their lives in the struggle to combat jihadist armed groups. With 160 Nigerien soldiers killed in recent jihadist attacks, the theft of money that could have been used better to equip the armed forces is a hot issue, particularly as the alleged culprits have connections to the ruling PNDS Taraya party. This offers opponents a chance to mobilise public opinion against the government. Impacts The exposure of corruption damages the ruling party’s claim of a track record of effective public sector management. The government allows culprits to escape jail time if they repay stolen funds, which will alienate urban public opinion. France and the United States will not publicly criticise the government, a key ally.

scholarly journals Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of Armed Groups in Post-war Sri Lanka: A Study based on Koralaipattu South Divisional Secretariat Division in Eastern Sri Lanka

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 236
Author(s):  
V. Kamalasiri ◽  
M. A. M. Fowsar ◽  
M. M. Fazil
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Foreign Governments ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
Military Victory ◽  
The Military

This article generally focuses on the process of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) which are essential to restore sustainable peace in the post-war scenario. The DDR is one of the significant aspects of the process of post-war peacebuilding. In most of the cases, this process has implemented with the assistance of foreign governments and international or regional institutions. However, the circumstances under which the Government of Sri Lanka happened to take over the sole responsibility for implementing the DDR process have raised serious concerns both at the local and international level. Hence, this article attempts to conduct a detailed inquiry of the DDR process implemented in Sri Lanka after the end of the civil war. This article followed a descriptive method of investigation. The findings of the study show that the DDR process was not fully implemented in a broad manner in the Sri Lankan context, but only served as a continuation of the military victory over the LTTE. In particular, not much attention was paid to disarming and demobilizing the armed groups, and only the so-called DDR process took place without international assistance and supervision.

The ‘linguistic ceasefire’: Negotiating in an age of proscription

2020 ◽  
pp. 096701062095261
Author(s):  
Sophie Haspeslagh
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Dynamic Interaction ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Peace Negotiations ◽  
Colombian Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
Negotiation Literature ◽  
Empirical Contribution

Villains need to be de-villainized for talking to begin; this is a cornerstone of negotiation literature. But what happens when villains are proscribed, or listed as terrorists? While an emerging body of work has started to explore the effects of proscription by emphasizing aspects of demonization and banishment, it has not so far explored how banishment ends. This article offers a theoretical and empirical contribution to this discussion by exploring the effects of proscription on the dynamic interaction between conflict parties and how negotiations still do take place with armed groups listed as terrorists. To do this it maps representations made by the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia through a qualitative discourse analysis of 335 statements triangulated with 50 personal interviews. The article argues that proscription makes the initiation of negotiations impossible because it leads to a form of extreme vilification. This is especially true for the government, unable to switch directly to de-vilifying its proscribed enemy. First it has to normalize its vilification – a concept I describe here as a ‘linguistic ceasefire’. This helps explain how banishment can end and peace negotiations can be initiated in an age of proscription.

Verán ustedes las chozas más humildes. El discurso de pobreza en la diplomacia pública cardenista dirigida a Estados Unidos

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-281
Author(s):  
Sylvia Dümmer Scheel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
Lazaro Cardenas ◽  
The New Deal

El artículo analiza la diplomacia pública del gobierno de Lázaro Cárdenas centrándose en su opción por publicitar la pobreza nacional en el extranjero, especialmente en Estados Unidos. Se plantea que se trató de una estrategia inédita, que accedió a poner en riesgo el “prestigio nacional” con el fin de justificar ante la opinión pública estadounidense la necesidad de implementar las reformas contenidas en el Plan Sexenal. Aprovechando la inusual empatía hacia los pobres en tiempos del New Deal, se construyó una imagen específica de pobreza que fuera higiénica y redimible. Ésta, sin embargo, no generó consenso entre los mexicanos. This article analyzes the public diplomacy of the government of Lázaro Cárdenas, focusing on the administration’s decision to publicize the nation’s poverty internationally, especially in the United States. This study suggests that this was an unprecedented strategy, putting “national prestige” at risk in order to explain the importance of implementing the reforms contained in the Six Year Plan, in the face of public opinion in the United States. Taking advantage of the increased empathy felt towards the poor during the New Deal, a specific image of hygienic and redeemable poverty was constructed. However, this strategy did not generate agreement among Mexicans.

Building an American Empire

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Frymer
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
American Empire ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Population Movements ◽  
Westward Expansion ◽  
White Settler ◽  
Settlement Policies ◽  
Federal Land ◽  
The Government ◽  
Land Policies

This book examines the politics of the United States' westward expansion, showing how the government's regulation of population movements on the frontier, both settlement and removal, advanced national aspirations for empire and promoted the formation of a white settler nation. The book details how a government that struggled to exercise plenary power used federal land policies to assert authority over the direction of expansion by engineering the pace and patterns of settlement and to control the movement of populations. At times, the government mobilized populations for compact settlement in strategically important areas of the frontier; at other times, policies were designed to actively restrain settler populations in order to prevent violence, international conflict, and breakaway states. The book examines how these settlement patterns helped construct a dominant racial vision for America by incentivizing and directing the movement of white European settlers onto indigenous and diversely populated lands. The book pays close attention to the failures as well, from the lack of further expansion into Latin America to the defeat of the black colonization movement. It reveals the lasting and profound significance government settlement policies had for the nation, both for establishing America as dominantly white and for restricting broader aspirations for empire in lands that could not be so racially engineered.

27. Immigration and other evils: A profile of Dr. C. K. Clarke and the eugenics movement in Canada

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
L. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Mentally Ill ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cornell University ◽  
The Public ◽  
Canadian Population ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
The Social ◽  
Eugenics Movement ◽  
The Government ◽  
Mental Defectives

Dr. C.K. Clarke (1857-1924) was one of Canada’s most prominent psychiatrists. He sought to improve the conditions of asylums, helped to legitimize psychiatry and established formal training for nurses. At the beginning of the 20th Century, Canada experienced a surge of immigration. Yet – as many historians have shown – a widespread anti-foreigner sentiment within the public remained. Along with many other members of the fledgling eugenics movement, Clarke believed that the proportion of “mental defectives” was higher in the immigrant population than in the Canadian population and campaigned to restrict immigration. He appealed to the government to track immigrants and deport them once they showed signs of mental illness. Clarke’s efforts lead to amendments to the Immigration Act in 1919, which authorized deportation of people who were not Canadian-born, regardless of how many years that had been in Canada. This change applied not only to the mentally ill but also to those who could no longer work due to injury and to those who did not follow social norms. Clarke is a fascinating example of how we judge historical figures. He lived in a time where what we now think of as xenophobia was a socially acceptable, even worthy attitude. As a leader in eugenics, therefore, he was a progressive. Other biographers have recognized Clarke’s racist opinions, some of whom justify them as keeping with the social values of his era. In further exploring Clarke’s interest in these issues, this paper relies on his personal scrapbooks held in the CAMH archives. These documents contain personal papers, poems and stories that proclaim his anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner views. Whether we allow his involvement in the eugenics movement to overshadow his accomplishments or ignore his racist leanings to celebrate his memory is the subject of ongoing debate. Dowbiggin IR. Keeping America Sane: Psychiatry and Eugenics in the United States and Canada 1880-1940. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1997. McLaren A. Our Own Master Race: Eugenics in Canada 1885-1945. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1990. Roberts B. Whence They Came: Deportation from Canada 1900-1935. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988.

American and Canadian Civil Actions Alleging Human Rights Violations Abroad by Oil and Gas Companies

2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Horlick ◽  
Joe Cyr ◽  
Scott Reynolds ◽  
Andrew Behrman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Law Of Nations ◽  
Forum Non Conveniens ◽  
The Government ◽  
Oil And Gas Companies ◽  
Political Question ◽  
The U.S

Under the United States Alien Tort Statute, which permits non-U.S. citizens to bring lawsuits in U.S. courts for human rights violations that are violations of the law of nations, plaintiffs have filed claims against multinational oil and gas corporations for the direct or complicit commission of such violations carried out by the government of the country in which the corporation operated. In addition to exercising jurisdiction over U.S. corporations, U.S. courts have exercised jurisdiction in cases involving non-U.S. defendants for alleged wrongful conduct against non-U.S. plaintiffs committed outside the U.S.The exercise of jurisdiction by U.S. courts over non-U.S. defendants for alleged wrongful conduct against non-U.S. plaintiffs committed outside of the U.S. raises serious questions as to the jurisdictional foundation on which the power of U.S. courts to adjudicate them rests. Defences that foreign defendants can raise against the exercise of jurisdiction by the U.S. courts are an objection to the extraterritorial assertion of jurisdiction, the act of state doctrine, the political question doctrine, forum non conveniens, and the principle of comity. These defences are bolstered by the support of the defendant’s home government and other governments.

Comparison and analysis of the fda approved orphane drugs registerand the vital and essential drugs list of the Russian Federation

2020 ◽  
pp. 4-16
Author(s):  
D.S. Yurochkin ◽  
◽  
A.A. Leshkevich ◽  
Z.M. Golant ◽  
I.A. NarkevichSaint ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Rare Diseases ◽  
Orphan Drugs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Orphan Diseases ◽  
Essential Drugs ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Comparison And Analysis ◽  
The Government

The article presents the results of a comparison of the Orphan Drugs Register approved for use in the United States and the 2020 Vital and Essential Drugs List approved on October 12, 2019 by Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 2406-r. The comparison identified 305 international non-proprietary names relating to the main and/or auxiliary therapy for rare diseases. The analysis of the market of drugs included in the Vital and Essential Drugs List, which can be used to treat rare (orphan) diseases in Russia was conducted.

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