scholarly journals Notes from Belgrade: Social Anthropology for Archaeology Students in a Post-Conflict Society

Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-55
Author(s):  
Monika Milosavljević
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
Physical Anthropology ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Cultural Relativism ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
New Challenges

Social anthropology courses, some elective and some mandatory, for archaeology students at the Department of Archaeology, University of Belgrade, commenced only after 2003.  Since Serbian society opened itself from its isolation, the key challenge has been to teach new generations who have grown up during the civil wars in Former Yugoslavia to recognize broader perspectives on human cultures, universalities, and differences. Anthropology has been consequently utilized as a prominent tool for cultural relativism, multiculturalism, ‘Otherness’, and reflexive thinking. However much these facets have all proved necessary, they seem to have fallen to the wayside in ‘post-truth’ world. It has therefore become unclear in teaching how to address the phenomenon. This paper aims to critically discuss anachronous traditions in social and physical anthropology in combination with new challenges of the biologisation of social identities in archaeology and social anthropology.

Modern Warfare in Former Yugoslavia and Ukraine

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-326
Author(s):  
R. Craig Nation
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Management ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Cooperative Security ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Peace Enforcement ◽  
Modern Warfare ◽  
External Actors ◽  
East West

The wars in former Yugoslavia from 1991–2001, and Ukraine from 2014 to the present, provide revealing examples of the ways in which contemporary armed conflict is evolving. Their origins lay in domestic rather than inter-state disputes, and they emerged as civil wars born of state failure. The belligerent factions were diverse, including established states, new national polities, and radicalized non-state actors. Operationally the wars were liquid conflicts where adversaries, lacking decisive combat power, often shunned conventional military objectives in favor of attacks on populations, terroristic posturing, and symbolic gestures. The conflicts were internationalized, with powerful external actors at odds over responsibility and preferred outcomes. They were European wars, with European and Euro-Atlantic institutions directly engaged in conflict management, peace enforcement, and post-conflict peace building. The conflicts have contributed to the break down of cooperative security in 21st century Europe and the re-opening of an East-West divide running through the heart of the continent. Managing and containing such clashes is and will remain a major strategic challenge.

scholarly journals Legacies of war: Syrian narratives of conflict and visions of peace

2021 ◽  
pp. 001083672110326
Author(s):  
Kathrin Bachleitner
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
War Memory ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Group Belonging

This article is interested in the formation of war legacies and how they interact with social identities. It suggests a bottom-up approach towards examining the societal processes in which individuals create a legacy of war. It posits that through their narratives of conflict, by remembering what happened to them as a group, they mould the meaning and boundaries of how the group will be membered post-conflict. The validity of the theorised link between war memory and group membership is then tested in the case of Syria. In 200 interviews, Syrians provided their narratives of the conflict and their vision of a future Syrian state and society. The findings show that most respondents’ narratives follow a civic rationale, forming a society around civil rights and political ideas rather than around ethnic/sectarian divides. With this, the article contributes a new route for international relations scholars to understand the formation of war legacies through individuals’ narratives of conflict and explains their effects on ties of group belonging while also offering a glimpse into the Syrian ‘we’ amid the ongoing war in Syria.

The International Criminal Court's Provisional Authority to Coerce

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Franceschet
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
World Order ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
The World ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Right

The United Nations ad hoc tribunals in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda had primacy over national judicial agents for crimes committed in these countries during the most notorious civil wars and genocide of the 1990s. The UN Charter granted the Security Council the right to establish a tribunal for Yugoslavia in the context of ongoing civil war and against the will of recalcitrant national agents. The Council used that same right to punish individuals responsible for a genocide that it failed earlier to prevent in Rwanda. In both cases the Council delegated a portion of its coercive title to independent tribunal agents, thereby overriding the default locus of punishment in the world order: sovereign states.

Oil Wealth, Post-conflict Elections, and Postwar Peace Failure

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1021-1045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Keels
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Oil Revenue ◽  
Oil Wealth ◽  
New Research

New research has emerged that suggests there is a troubling relationship between elections and civil wars; primarily, elections increase the risk of civil war recurrence. I investigate this relationship further by examining the economic factors associated with the connection between postwar elections and peace failure. Specifically, how does the presence of oil wealth impact the risk posed by postwar elections. Drawing on previous findings in the democratization literature, I suggest the immobility of oil wealth dramatically increases the stakes associated with postwar elections. As postwar elites use irregular electioneering to consolidate their control of oil revenue, it increases the incentives for postwar opposition to use violence as a means to achieve their objectives. Using post-civil war data from 1945 to 2005, I demonstrate that postwar elections that occur in oil-rich economies dramatically decrease the durability of postwar peace. Once controlling for petro elections, though, I demonstrate that subsequent postwar elections actually increase the durability of postwar peace.

Beyond Keeping Peace: United Nations Effectiveness in the Midst of Fighting

2014 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 737-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
LISA HULTMAN ◽  
JACOB KATHMAN ◽  
MEGAN SHANNON
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
United Nations Peacekeeping ◽  
Peacekeeping Missions ◽  
The Cold War

While United Nations peacekeeping missions were created to keep peace and perform post-conflict activities, since the end of the Cold War peacekeepers are more often deployed to active conflicts. Yet, we know little about their ability to manage ongoing violence. This article provides the first broad empirical examination of UN peacekeeping effectiveness in reducing battlefield violence in civil wars. We analyze how the number of UN peacekeeping personnel deployed influences the amount of battlefield deaths in all civil wars in Africa from 1992 to 2011. The analyses show that increasing numbers of armed military troops are associated with reduced battlefield deaths, while police and observers are not. Considering that the UN is often criticized for ineffectiveness, these results have important implications: if appropriately composed, UN peacekeeping missions reduce violent conflict.

Bargaining Models of War and the Stability of Peace in Post-Conflict Societies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margit Bussmann
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Time Inconsistency ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Security Guarantees ◽  
Commitment Problems

A major challenge for countries that emerge from civil war is the stabilization of the post-conflict order in a way that fighting does not break out again. Recent empirical and theoretical work on the resolution of civil wars and on the duration of peace strongly rely on the bargaining framework of war emphasizing information asymmetries and commitment problems as main reasons for why in some states civil wars recur repeatedly, whereas in other societies a conflict ends and a transition to a peaceful society is successful. The length of peace spells depends partly on information about the distribution of power that became available during the conflict, captured by the duration and intensity of the fighting as well as the type of conflict ending. Information problems are more relevant at earlier stages and with regard to the initiation of negotiations. In finding bargaining deals and securing their implementation, the conflict parties have to overcome commitment problems. The literature has investigated in more detail third-party security guarantees and power-sharing arrangements as mechanisms to get conflict parties to credibly commit to and adhere to a negotiated agreement. Recently, empirical research moved beyond the conclusion of peace agreements to the study of their implementation. Particular challenges for a peaceful order are the demobilization of ex-combatants, which is aggravated by time-inconsistency problems, the timing of elections, and the redistribution of economic resources. Finally, solutions become more difficult in multiparty conflicts and if the armed groups are fragmented.

scholarly journals Distribution of Military Power and Prospects of Post-Conflict Peace

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margit Bussmann ◽  
Florian Ranft
Keyword(s):  
Survival Analysis ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Peace Agreements ◽  
Empirical Tests

AbstractThis study focuses on the distribution of military capabilities in the aftermath of civil wars and how it affects the recurrence of further fighting. Using survival analysis the empirical tests cover 48 post-conflict episodes in 33 countries and includes novel measurements on military capabilities. We find that peace is more likely to endure following military victories and peace agreements and when conflict parties are able to credibly signal their intentions to commit laying down arms.

Appeal may reject UN tribunal's Yugoslav acquittal

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Prison Sentence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Hague

Significance The verdict runs counter to 20 years of jurisprudence and history at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It undermines the idea of using international criminal justice to assist in post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation. It has caused disbelief, disappointment and anger in Croatia and Bosnia, especially among victims, and generated political instability in Serbia. Impacts The controversial judgment will further discredit the ICTY and the very idea of international criminal justice in the eyes of critics. It followed Karadzic's 40-year prison sentence, which has dismayed victims and observers expecting a harsher sentence. Despite working towards closure in 2017, the ICTY is very likely to grant an appeal. However, Seselj himself is unlikely to reappear in The Hague voluntarily.

A river ran through it: post-conflict peacebuilding on the Sava River in former Yugoslavia

2011 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Stec ◽  
Jana Kovandžić ◽  
Marija Filipović ◽  
Amar Čolakhodžić
Keyword(s):  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Sava River ◽  
The Sava River

Impartiality in United Nations Peace-Keeping

1996 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shyla Vohra
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Intrastate Conflicts ◽  
New Challenges

United Nations peace-keeping is presently being faced with dynamic new challenges. The concept of peace-keeping is rapidly expanding, operations are being entrusted with new and innovative tasks, and are increasingly being deployed in intrastate conflicts. As the functions of peace-keepers vary, so too does the role and conception of peace-keeping. The new tasks entrusted to peace-keepers have brought with them new problems and difficulties. Controversial recent operations, such as those in Somalia and the former Yugoslavia, have particularly raised the issue of impartiality in the context of UN peace-keeping. Impartiality is traditionally a distinguishing feature of peace-keeping operations, yet its meaning and status remain unclear.

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