scholarly journals No ‘end of the peace process’: Federalism and ethnic violence in Nepal

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Strasheim

How does the reform of territorial state structures shape prospects for peace after war? Existing research on the institutional causes of peace often focuses on how institutional designs, as the outcomes of reform processes, reduce post-war violence and promote peace. The literature does less frequently address how the politics that characterise reform processes affect the legitimacy of institutions and whether or not violent protest ultimately takes place: this risks omitting key explanations of how institutional reforms contribute to peace and the mechanisms by which this occurs. By examining the case of Nepal, where clashes between protesters and security forces over constitutional provisions for federalism have killed more than 60 people since August 2015, this study shows that three factors of the territorial reform process contributed to the onset of post-war ethnic violence. These included: (1) elite control of decision-making; (2) tight deadlines that promoted backtracking on previous commitments; and (3) the embedding of single territorial reforms in a ‘concert’ of institutional reforms that, as a whole, sparked fear of discrimination among ethnic minorities.

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarle Trondal ◽  
Charlotte Kiland

How did the Norwegian government succeed in the geographic relocation of a number of domestic agencies? This study suggests an organisational theory approach to explain the success. It argues that formal organisation of the decision-making process in government largely explains the success of the relocation reform. The government had to contend with: physical relocation of institutions tending to mobilise the attention and resistance of affected stakeholders, earlier attempts at physical relocation of agencies largely failing, and the absence of parliamentary majority. Studies demonstrate that large-scale reform processes tend to be characterised by medium degrees of hierarchical control. Instrumental leadership tends to be present in minor institutional reforms than in large-scale reforms. This study suggests that large-scale physical relocation of agencies was completed largely through the formal design of the reform process, i.e. by safeguarding hierarchical leadership from the government.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Guss ◽  
David S. Siroky

Abstract Short of partition, many scholars hold that consociational arrangements are the most effective democratic institutional mechanisms to manage ethnic differences and maintain peace in nations and groups recently engaged in violent ethnic conflict. Many countries have implemented consociational arrangements to redress identity-based conflicts over recognition and resources, but the empirical record is mixed at best. Restoring moderate politics and democratic order in ethnically divided societies after war is difficult. Consociationalism, however, is usually not the best or the only option. Consociationalism fails as a viable post-conflict political system, we argue, because it tends to reinforce centrifugal politics and to reify identity-based cleavages. The implementation of centripetal social and institutional reforms, which foster political and economic incentives for communities to reintegrate refugees, diversify existing populations, and engage in coalition politics, is more likely to restore moderation and minimize the risk of renewed ethnic violence. We explore these arguments using the critical case of Bosnia, drawing on examples from other parts of the world that have faced similar challenges. We argue that efforts to balance majority rule and the rights of the constituent peoples in Bosnia have created an unwieldy power-sharing architecture that satisfies none of the parties and is unable to govern. Post-war and deeply divided democracies, such as Bosnia, require reforms that move towards a centripetal, incentives-based approach to institutional design.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Viet Hung ◽  
Phan Van Hung ◽  
Be Trung Anh

Data mode “good governance” developed in the last century for process of sustainable base system, providing basic information and on-line services, supports the development, challenges and opportunities in the context of globalization and integration. In this paper I discuss a framework for the design of e-Local Governance (eLG) that integrates Information System (IS), Geographical Information System (GIS) and Atlas with focus on ethnic minorities in Vietnam. The design framework is based on various classifications such categories as sex, age, ethnic group, education background and income. The database system is built to enhance the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA) capabilities in the planning and decision making process by providing the authorities with data, internet GIS, internet communication and some ecological economic models to disseminate results to the ethnic minorities. The unique feature of the CEMADATA using GIS is that it helps users not only to improve the public services and to provide information and encourage ethnic minorities to participate in decision making processes, but also to support the competency-based training for IT staff


Author(s):  
Morten Egeberg ◽  
Jarle Trondal

Chapter 8 draws attention to meta-governance and how the governing of reforms is affected by how reform processes are organized. The chapter asks how reformers can ensure support for large-scale reforms that are likely to attract profound resistance. The focal point of the chapter is a study of geographical decentralization of central government agencies. The chapter argues that successful meta-governance can be provided for by careful organization of the reform process. The empirical case studied is a large-scale relocation of government agencies in Norway during the early 2000s. In carrying out this reform, the government succeeded against the odds. Most importantly, research has revealed huge constraints on the instrumental control of large-scale reforms in general and of geographical relocation of organizations in particular. Yet, this chapter shows that large-scale reforms can be successfully achieved through careful crafting of the reform organization.


Water Policy ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Doukkali

Using a teleological perspective and an analytical categorization of the history of water institutions in Morocco, this paper aims to review and evaluate the institutional reforms in the country in the light of the results and hypotheses presented in some recent literature on the subject. The review suggests that considering their overall thrust and direction, the institutional reforms undertaken in Morocco are truly remarkable. While these reforms have paved a solid institutional foundation for promoting an economically responsive water sector, there are still serious reform gaps, especially in areas such as groundwater regulation and supportive institutions for irrigated agriculture. The evaluation of the reform process suggests that Morocco has exploited well the political contexts of resource limit and economic crisis, path dependent opportunities provided by existing institutions and earlier reforms, and the synergetic influences of the countrywide economic reforms and changing political conditions. Clearly, the reform experience of Morocco indicates that although undertaking initial reform can be difficult, subsequent reforms are relatively easier when the political opportunities for reforms provided by both endogenous and exogenous factors are well exploited.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sílvia Roque

Abstract This article intends to challenge the dominant assumptions that undermine the potential application of peacebuilding frameworks beyond formal post-war contexts. It analyses the gangs’ truce that recently took place in El Salvador as a privileged laboratory to rethink hegemonic understandings and practices of peacebuilding by specifically addressing the importance of overcoming dichotomised categories such ‘war and peace’, ‘criminal and political’, and ‘success and failure’. It is claimed that while the truce fostered a discourse pointing towards an ongoing peace process and enlarged the public debate on the failings of post-war policies and on the structural roots of violence, it was also decisively undermined by the inability to surmount the dichotomy that juxtaposes the criminal and the political domains. It is argued that a peacebuilding framework, inspired by a set of critical perspectives on war and peace and on the nature of ‘the political’, may thus be of crucial importance for the future of policies aimed at curbing violence in El Salvador and elsewhere.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Gould

Online communication continues to pose challenges for the law and the administration of justice. One such challenge concerns its propensity to give rise to small defamation claims between ordinary people given the often-enormous costs of litigating defamation claims before the ordinary courts. This article promotes a reform agenda directed to meeting this challenge by (1) demonstrating the need for a proportionate means for resolving small defamation claims, having regard to access to justice considerations and other wider concerns; (2) establishing reasonable grounds for seriously considering deploying the traditional small-claims-proportionate response – small claims jurisdictions – for this purpose notwithstanding contraindications including the infamous complexity of defamation law; and (3) advancing a research pathway for the proportionate treatment of small defamation claims to guide decision-making and innovation. This article also advocates for consideration of this important issue in the ‘national reform process’ launched in 2018 for Australian defamation law.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Н.Ф. Бугай

В статье на основе исследований российских ученых, архивных документов, воспоминаний рассматривается слабо изученная в отечественной историографии проблема участия представителей этнических меньшинств в битвах за Кавказ и Крым в ходе Великой Отечественной войны. В качестве примера автором избраны этнические общности курдов и корейцев. Использованы историко-генетический, историко-биографический и системно-исторический методы. Изучены меры советского командования по формированию национальных воинских подразделений; реконструированы биографии героев войны – корейцев и курдов, участвовавших в освобождении Юга России и получивших боевые награды; прослежена их послевоенная судьба; рассмотрены репрессивные действия советского правительства по отношению к военнослужащим некоторых национальностей. Автор заключает, что представители разных народов СССР, столкнувшись с врагом, проявили стремление к единству и добровольное желание выступить на защиту государства, которое они избрали своей Родиной. The aim of the article is to reconstruct the biographies of participants in the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945), who belonged to ethnic minorities and fought for the liberation of the Caucasus and Crimea from Nazi invaders. As an example, the author selected ethnic communities of Kurds and Koreans. The study was conducted on the basis of research by Russian scholars, archival documents, and memoirs of direct participants in the events. The historical-genetic, historical-biographical and system-historical methods were used. The measures of the Soviet command for the formation of national military units were studied, the biographies of war heroes, Koreans and Kurds who participated in the liberation of the South of Russia and received military awards (including the title Hero of the Soviet Union) were reconstructed. The author describes in detail the military clashes during which these fighters showed military prowess, presents their photographs, and traces their further military path, post-war fate and forms of their memory perpetuation. Quotations from the war veterans’ front-line letters and their relatives’ memoirs are given. The repressive actions of the Soviet government towards the military personnel of certain nationalities, who after the demobilization received the status of “special settlers” and lost their military tickets and award sheets, are also considered. The author emphasizes that the fight against the enemy was a test of strength for the unity of the peoples living in the Caucasus and Crimea. Examples of civic solidarity in the fight against the enemy shown by ethnic minorities in the early days of the war (mass enrollment in volunteers, holding civil rallies) are given. It is noted that representatives of local ethnic communities became the basis of 12 military units that were at the forefront of the defenders of the Caucasus. The paradoxical nature of the situation in which USSR citizens were repressed for various (often far-fetched) reasons is stated; however, during the war they still heroically fought against Nazism with arms in their hands. The author connects the repressions against members of the ethnic minorities with the ethnosocial policy pursued by the Soviet state, as well as the spread of desertion and draft evasion in the North Caucasus and Crimea. It is concluded that representatives of ethnic minorities living in the USSR, faced with the enemy, showed a desire for unity and a voluntary desire to defend the state, which they chose as their homeland.


Urban History ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER J. LARKHAM ◽  
JOE L. NASR

ABSTRACT:The process of making decisions about cities during the bombing of World War II, in its immediate aftermath and in the early post-war years remains a phenomenon that is only partly understood. The bombing left many church buildings damaged or destroyed across the UK. The Church of England's churches within the City of London, subject to a complex progression of deliberations, debates and decisions involving several committees and commissions set up by the bishop of London and others, are used to review the process and product of decision-making in the crisis of war. Church authorities are shown to have responded to the immediate problem of what to do with these sites in order most effectively to provide for the needs of the church as an organization, while simultaneously considering other factors including morale, culture and heritage. The beginnings of processes of consulting multiple experts, if not stakeholders, can be seen in this example of an institution making decisions under the pressures of a major crisis.


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