Imposed State-Building

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Shelest

For the past two years, there have been constant discussions about the possible ‘Bosnianisation’ of Ukrainian conflict management and peacebuilding, meaning both the Dayton process mechanism’s implementation and the possible ‘federalisation’ of Ukraine due to the Minsk agreements. While the two conflicts have significant differences in terms of roots, reasons and development, attempts at their resolution, as well as possible outcomes of the peace processes, have certain similarities. In this article, based on the constructivist approach and method of induction, the author compares the outcomes of the agreements reached in Dayton in 1995 and in Minsk in 2015 and analyses securitisation of state-building, ‘federalisation’ and identity issues during the peace negotiations, along with a state structure imposed by the external actors. Hereby we argue that the Dayton scenario in terms of the state-building is significantly different from what has happened in Ukraine due to their respective historical and ethnic backgrounds. Moreover, a peace agreement per se is not able to form a federal state if there are not sufficient preconditions for substantial decentralisation of the state.

Elements ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Thibodeau

Observers note that instances of ethnic conflict serve as an obvious manifestation of tension between the idea of the nation and the structure of the modern state. The current global rash of allegedly unique ethnic disputes merits a serious assessment of its place within the decline of the nation-state. Along with the notion that the nation-state is in decline, scholars have asserted the presence of another global trend in the use of federalist approaches to nation-building and conflict management. After exploring the possibilities of a relationship beween ethnic conflict and possible solutions in federal theory, this essay grounds these conjectures in an analysis of the Nigerian state. While issues have certainly complicated the path to the success of the federal state in Nigeria, the state should be viewed as generally successful in achieving its end of survival amidst threatening conflict.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-21
Author(s):  
Tara Nath Ghimire ◽  
Amrit Kumar Shrestha ◽  
Shyam Prasad Phuyel

Social norms play an important role in the state-building process. If the time of formation of Nepal is considered as the period of unification, then some important facts regarding the formation of the state of Nepal and the structure of the society here can be recounted. Regarding the formation of the nation-state, the structure of the Nepali state, and the position of the Nepali society are not of the same nature. From the pre-unification states of Limbuwan, Khumbuwan, Kirat, Khas, Baisi, Chaubisi, Shen, etc. to the restructuring period of the state, the state structure has not been formed in the recognition of the nation-state. Because the small and big states before unification were states built on power. Due to power, the great form of the Gurkha state had built a unitary Nepal. There is not general recognition of the state-building process of the nation-state. In the same way, even when restructuring the state, that recognition was not accepted. The foundations of federal-state formation, such as language, religion, and the basis of equality and plurality of the population, were also not accepted, which is a form of recognition of the nation-state. In such a situation, this article attempts to study a state-building and social tradition which is already coming together in Nepali society


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4(73)) ◽  
Author(s):  
S.N. Keramova

Article considers the experience of the state structure of the state service of the Russian Federation and foreign countries. The purpose of this article is a comparative legal study of the problems of the Institute of state service in Russia and abroad in several foreign countries: USA, UK, France, Germany. The analysis oflegal regulation of the state service of foreign countries and the Federal state service of the Russian Federation is conditioned by the possibility of improving the legislation of the Russian Federation. The result of the study is the formulation of conclusions and proposals for improving the administrative legislation regulating the structure of the public service of the Russian Federation, using the experience of foreign countries


Subject The Trump administration's policy on the Libya conflict. Significance In recent weeks, the United States has pursued a more active foreign policy towards Libya. This is a departure from its position of the past eight years of ‘leading from the back’ on Libya and comes as US President Donald Trump faces an impeachment investigation and elections in November 2020. With the vote approaching, Trump's opponents have increasingly criticised his position on Moscow, drawing attention to the presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya. Impacts Ties with Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and the relative influence Russia has with them, will weigh on the administration’s thinking. The State Department may push more actively for a ceasefire when a conference of external actors in Libya takes place in Berlin. A ceasefire could fragment the forces fighting Haftar without robust external guarantees that his forces would not violate it.


2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-343
Author(s):  
Nasir A. Andisha

Peace processes offer opportune moments for social and political transformation in embattled nations. There is no perfect formula or peace recipe. As per the existing literature, the ‘ripeness’ of circumstances and timing of a peace process and pertinence of the ‘substance’ of settlements to the root causes of conflict are the main components of a viable peace agreement. In the past 30 years, Afghanistan experienced two unsuccessful peacemaking episodes: first after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 and the second following the removal of the Taliban in 2001. While failure of the former is primarily attributed to the complexities of circumstance at the time, ineptness of the latter is linked to the primacy of imposed deadlines over inclusive consultations and inadequacy of contents of the Bonn Agreement. By briefly examining substantive characteristics of peacemaking processes in the context of Najibullah’s National Reconciliation Policy and the Bonn process, this article argues that meaningful structural change in favour of an inclusive and participatory political system and institutionalization of a regional balance of interests in foreign relations remain central to enduring peace in Afghanistan.


1989 ◽  
Vol 01 (02) ◽  
pp. 125-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony W. Smith ◽  
David Zipser

Recurrent connections in neural networks potentially allow information about events occurring in the past to be preserved and used in current computations. How effectively this potential is realized depends on the power of the learning algorithm used. As an example of a task requiring recurrency, Servan-Schreiber, Cleeremans, and McClelland1 have applied a simple recurrent learning algorithm to the task of recognizing finite-state grammars of increasing difficulty. These nets showed considerable power and were able to learn fairly complex grammars by emulating the state machines that produced them. However, there was a limit to the difficulty of the grammars that could be learned. We have applied a more powerful recurrent learning procedure, called real-time recurrent learning2,6 (RTRL), to some of the same problems studied by Servan-Schreiber, Cleeremans, and McClelland. The RTRL algorithm solved more difficult forms of the task than the simple recurrent networks. The internal representations developed by RTRL networks revealed that they learn a rich set of internal states that represent more about the past than is required by the underlying grammar. The dynamics of the networks are determined by the state structure and are not chaotic.


2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darren Kew ◽  
Anthony Wanis-St. John

AbstractThe fact that civil society groups play important roles in post-conflict peacebuilding has entered the mainstream of international conflict resolution dogma. Rarely do local civil society groups get a seat at the negotiation table for peace accords. Although the exclusion of civil society from peace negotiations may streamline the process, the absence of civil society voices and interests at the negotiating table can negatively impact the sustainability of a peace agreement during peacebuilding. Surveying a wide variety of different peace processes, a strong correlation was found between active civil society participation in peace negotiations and the durability of peace during the peacebuilding phase. Cases in which civil society groups actively engaged in peace negotiations seemed to enjoy more sustained peace in the peacebuilding phase. This holds true also for cases in which civil society groups did not have a direct seat at the table, but did exercise significant influence with the negotiators because they were democratic actors. War resumed in many cases not characterized by direct or indirect civil society involvement in the peace negotiations. No claim of causality is made; the sustainability of peace surely rests on causes as complex and dynamic as the initiation of war does. However, these findings do call attention to the need for further research to understand the special impact that civil society inclusion at the peace table may have.


Res Publica ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
Stanislaw Ehrlich

In its formative period the state welds together groups of kindred language, religion and customs. A nation bereft of a state structure has a small prospect of survival, since it is weaker than nations which possess their own apparatus of force. The former is constantly endangered and is often helpless before the latter. The struggle for statehood is hence the most conscious expression of the effort to maintain national distinctness. Moreover, a nation deprived of statehood enjoys small prestige among its own group members, nor can it create an image which arouses the respect of other nations.A striking phenomenon in the investigation of the state and the nation is the parallelism in the condition of their origin.The nation thus arises as a result of an extended processes of integration ; white the consolidating nature of national awareness makes it analogue of the state organization as a universa[ organization.It is possible to distinguish three types of nation-building processes :a) within the framework of native state organization which arises directly as a result of an external threat,b) within the bouddaries of farmer colonies which are accepted as the national state borders,c) the shaping of national entities of the foundation of federated forms of the state.An analysis of the different variants of historica[ experience suggests certain general propositions :1. The emergence of the state, or at least of a state organism, as a rule precedes the formation of the nation ;2. because of its general all-embracing character the state organization is the decisive factor of the nation-building process.The author deals also with the problem of the federal state and the national question. The different types of federations influence the national problem in different ways.


Daedalus ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 147 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Risse ◽  
Eric Stollenwerk

Limited statehood is frequently depicted as a major cause for civil war and violent conflict. Consequently, state-building efforts are often considered to be an effective tool for the prevention of civil war and violent conflict. This essay argues, however, that this assumption is misguided in several respects. First, at present and historically, areas of limited statehood are the global default rather than the exception. Thus, efforts to eliminate limited statehood would likely be unsuccessful. Second, limited statehood does not equal civil war and violence. In fact, only a small fraction of areas of limited statehood are affected by civil war. Third, a too-narrow focus on state-building may be counterproductive, as it may foster ineffective or even predatory state institutions. Such a focus also ignores the plurality of governance actors beyond the state that are relevant for effective governance–such as service provision and rule-making–in areas of limited statehood. Therefore, external actors like international organizations and foreign powers should contribute to governance-building rather than state-building, with a focus on service provision and rule-making institutions with a broader scope than the state.


Author(s):  
T. Panfilova

Problem setting. In different epochs, the state-building processes in Ukraine had characteristic features that should be taken into account today. The achievements of the Central Rada, the Hetmanate, the Directory, and the Soviet government in Ukraine reveal the complex external and internal circumstances of state-building. Political leaders of this period pursued their own principles of governance, often ignoring the lessons of the past. Under each government, there were different views among the political electorate on this issue, which did not always reflect the interests of the people of Ukraine, and important decisions were generally made to please Western Europe.Recent research and publications analysis. Historical events of the early XXth century in Eastern Galicia are interesting for researchers of various specialities. In particular, V. Velykochyi, L. Volosianko, Yu. Zaitsev, S. Kobuta, O. Krasivskyi, M. Lytvyn, K. Mytsan, I. Pater, H. Poslavska, O. Rublov, O. Reient, Yu. Slyvka, V. Soldatenko, I. Soliar and others.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem.  Modern problems of state-building in Ukraine and the participation of representatives of national minorities in them need a thorough scientific substantiation. In this regard, the direction of previously unresolved issues concerning the current state-building practices of the past years is singled out.Taking into account the lessons of national history, identifying the relationship between historical experience and modern problems, ensuring certain heredity, combining Ukrainian achievements with the achievements of world practice of state-building determines the topicality of the problem.Paper main body. Meaningful experience of state-building must be taken into account when reforming modern state structures and, in particular, regarding the definition of powers, tasks, cooperation of various branches of government. Nevertheless, the events of 1917 – 1920ies haven’t been studied enough, because the understanding of the achievements and miscalculations of Ukrainian state-building of the revolutionary era would help to outline the strategic understanding of Ukraine’s tasks at the present stage.In October 1918 after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ukrainians of Western Ukraine began preparations to create their own independent state. In the western Ukrainian lands, although the state revival took place under the significant influence of the events in the Dnieper region, in almost all aspects the desire of Western Ukrainians to gain state independence was radically different from the attempts of Eastern Ukrainians.In a short time, the West Ukrainian People's Republic managed to create a fairly effective system of public administration, based on the constitutional practice of Austria.Already in the first months in Western Ukraine, central and local public administration bodies were formed: the Ukrainian National Council, the State Secretariat, State Secretaries, County National Councils, County Commissioners, Public and City Councils, and Public and City Commissioners.The courts were independent of other branches of government, according to the law of November 21, 1918, and the Highest State Court in Lviv, following the Austrian model, was the Supreme court institution.The West Ukrainian People's Republic managed to ensure stability and order on its territory, despite the war, and it was even passed the Law on Land (April 14, 1919) and introduced its own currency – hryvnia and karbovantsi. Prompt and effective creation of public administration is a unique achievement in the whole of Eastern Europe. It was an ideal model of a modern European democratic state governed by the rule of law – the result of the propensity of Galicians to social organization, which developed significantly in the pre-war decade.The Act of Unity became a powerful manifestation of the will of Ukrainians to ethnic and territorial consolidation, evidence of their dynamic self-identification, and the formation of a political nation.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. The experience of Ukrainian state-building is important for today, as it makes it possible to anticipate similar situations and avoid mistakes. The West Ukrainian People's Republic has left a noticeable mark in the development of Ukrainian national statehood. For the first time since the Galician-Volyn era, Western Ukrainians gained national independence. Important reforms have been carried out in many spheres of public life. An effective system of central and local authorities and administration, health care, education, publishing, and a capable Ukrainian Galician Army was created.The main achievement of the events of 1917 – 1920 was the revival of the idea of Ukrainian statehood and national-state consciousness of the population of Ukraine, and a new generation of Ukrainian intellectuals picked up the concept of the national-state building.


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