scholarly journals Political stability in deeply divided and post-conflict societies

2020 ◽  
pp. 207-222
Author(s):  
Stefan Vukojevic
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
The Difference

Political stability is one of the paramount concepts in deeply divided and post-conflict societies, and its clearer determination in scientific literature is questionable for several reasons. First, the difference in political-social contexts of political stability is neglected, that is, the difference between the consolidated democratic societies and deeply divided/post-conflict societies with newly established or renewed democratic institutions, or a recently ended war. Secondly, due to the frequent normative elements, the ways of the operationalization of concepts are difficult to identify. Thirdly, political stability often serves as a synonym for the substantially different concepts, such as democratic stability, long-lasting peace and democratization. Political stability is a fundamental concept that more precisely emphasizes the problems faced by deeply divided and post-conflict societies, and precedes other concepts that can only be subsequently tested, provided there is a satisfactory level of stability. In this paper, we have applied a conceptual reconstruction of the term by extracting from the authoritative definitions forming a background concept of political stability, those basic elements that create a systematized concept adaptable to the generalization of cases of divided and post-conflict societies. Considering that the authoritative definitions refer to the political stability in stable democratic societies, we have extracted the most significant characteristics from the named definitions and inserted them into an appropriate theoretical framework. That theoretical framework emerges from debate on the institutional engineering and conflict management in deeply divided and post-conflict societies where institutional mechanisms of the distribution of political power take central place. In that way, we have reached a systematized concept of the stability of political institutions, where political institutions mean institutions which enable political elites of opposing groups to share the power. In the most general sense, it is a comprehensive concept of power sharing, containing sub-types, consociationalism and centripetalism. We have defined the concept of stability of political institutions as a stability of institutions of horizontal and vertical power which, as basic elements of institutional arrangements of power-sharing, enable its functioning and longevity. We have specified the meaning of stability of political institutions through the presence of three attributes or defining characteristics that attach meaning to the concept. Those three attributes are: 1) acceptance of the power-sharing political arrangement by political elites; 2) continuity of its constituent parts; 3) system?s ability to cope with changes coming from within or outside the system and which are aimed at its constituent parts. The concept of stability of political institutions, systematized in this way, is a guideline for a more accurate emphasis of a particular segment of political reality; it enables a theoretically more informative and distinct analysis.

POWER-SHARING AND NATIONAL COMMUNITY FORMATION: UNDERSTANDING BOSNIA’S EXPERIENCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 127-153
Author(s):  
Irina Kudryashova ◽  
Elena Meleskina
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
National Community ◽  
Post Conflict

The article explores the experience of power-sharing, i.e. consociational democracy, established in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) after the end of the ethnic war a quarter century ago. The authors’ attention is aimed at identifying a balance between the broad autonomy of the three major ethnocultural groups (segments) and the formation of a national community and common civic identity. Knowing this balance makes it possible to determine the prospects for political stability and development. For this purpose, the system of political institutions in BiH is considered, and its specificity is highlighted. Data-based analysis allows to define a number of negative trends in the Bosnian political process, in particular, the weakening of the democratic potential of the political regime, as well as the deterioration of the quality of governance and civil society’s activities. The observed rise in political participation is assessed as ineffective, since it hasn’t been accompanied by an increase in authorities’ responsibility and ability to solve acute political and socioeconomic problems. In particular, despite widespread support for the European perspective, party leaders haven’t been able to agree on the constitutional reform that is required to obtain official EU candidate status. The BiH parties’ analysis reveals their interest in promoting the ethno-nationalist discourse for keeping control over the economic and political resources of their communities. It is also noted that the role of international actors in BiH is of a dual nature: they maintain the required level of stability, but some of their decisions provoke strengthening of the nationalist forces. In the framework of the Bosnian case, the importance of the elites’ consent to joint participation in power and cooperation can be viewed as the most important condition for the successful implementation of power-sharing institutions and practices in post-conflict societies.

Transformation – Overcoming the Limits of Liberal Peace and Transitional Justice in Deeply Divided Societies: Reconciliation in Liberal Peace Theory

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Or Avi-Guy
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Transformative Justice ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Liberal Peace

This article explores the tension between the theoretical conceptualisations of liberal peace, transitional justice and reconciliation by focusing on power sharing as a liberal peace institution-building mechanism. Power sharing is based on the premise that identities in conflict in deeply divided societies are difficult, if not impossible, to change. The article outlines the limitations of liberal peace by demonstrating how the implementation of power-sharing arrangements creates a political reality in which conflict patterns are further entrenched, thus hindering the prospects of conflict transformation. In order to address the limitations of liberal peace, the article draws on models of transformative justice to highlight the growing need for a new conceptualisation of reconciliation as a political and transformative concept, in which both justice and reconciliation are recognised as intrinsic goals for post-conflict societies. Thus, the re-establishment of political structures and institutional reforms is envisaged not only as a tool to promote political stability, but as a means of facilitating transformation in conflict patterns in the political and social spheres.

scholarly journals Reconsidering the settlement of civil conflict

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-108
Author(s):  
Yuichi Kubota
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Civil Conflict ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Civil Conflicts ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Policy Agendas

The settlement of civil conflict is highly relevant to both policy agendas and academic research. It is often difficult to bring to the negotiation table conflict parties who have long harbored hostility towards each other during the conflict. Even if the parties come to negotiation, it is often an arduous task to reach an agreement because the post-conflict embarkation comes with political uncertainty for the future. This special issue is aimed at addressing civil-conflict settlement from two different angles. First, it attempts to understand the requisite conditions for the successful settlement of armed civil conflicts. Second, it has a particular interest in the post-conflict design of political institutions. The academic contribution of the articles lies in theoretical advancement as it applies to the settlement of civil conflict. Each contribution adds a nuanced understanding of civil-conflict settlement to the relevant literature. The articles provide insight into the successful conditions of conflict settlement and post-conflict institutional design, such as power-sharing and the management of resources.

Inter-country inequality as a dynamic process and the problem of post-industrial development

2018 ◽  
pp. 5-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Grigoryev ◽  
V. A. Pavlyushina
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Modern World ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Development Level ◽  
The World ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Post Industrial

The phenomenon of economic growth is studied by economists and statisticians in various aspects for a long time. Economic theory is devoted to assessing factors of growth in the tradition of R. Solow, R. Barrow, W. Easterly and others. During the last quarter of the century, however, the institutionalists, namely D. North, D. Wallis, B. Weingast as well as D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson, have shown the complexity of the problem of development on the part of socioeconomic and political institutions. As a result, solving the problem of how economic growth affects inequality between countries has proved extremely difficult. The modern world is very diverse in terms of development level, and the article offers a new approach to the formation of the idea of stylized facts using cluster analysis. The existing statistics allows to estimate on a unified basis the level of GDP production by 174 countries of the world for 1992—2016. The article presents a structured picture of the world: the distribution of countries in seven clusters, different in levels of development. During the period under review, there was a strong per capita GDP growth in PPP in the middle of the distribution, poverty in various countries declined markedly. At the same time, in 1992—2016, the difference increased not only between rich and poor groups of countries, but also between clusters.

Classical Greek Oligarchy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Simonton
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Majority Population ◽  
New Development ◽  
The Face ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Client Relations

This book thoroughly reassesses an important but neglected form of government in ancient Greece, the “rule of the few.” The book challenges scholarly orthodoxy by showing that oligarchy was not the default mode of politics from time immemorial, but instead emerged alongside, and in reaction to, democracy. It establishes how oligarchies maintained power in the face of potential citizen resistance. It argues that oligarchs designed distinctive political institutions—such as intra-oligarchic power sharing, targeted repression, and rewards for informants—to prevent collective action among the majority population while sustaining cooperation within their own ranks. To clarify the workings of oligarchic institutions, the book draws on recent social science research on authoritarianism. Like modern authoritarian regimes, ancient Greek oligarchies had to balance coercion with co-optation in order to keep their subjects disorganized and powerless. The book investigates topics such as control of public space, the manipulation of information, and the establishment of patron–client relations, frequently citing parallels with contemporary nondemocratic regimes. It also traces changes over time in antiquity, revealing the processes through which oligarchy lost the ideological battle with democracy for legitimacy. This book represents a major new development in the study of ancient politics. It fills a longstanding gap in our knowledge of nondemocratic government while greatly improving our understanding of forms of power that continue to affect us today.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The State ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Local Populations ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Commercial Environment

This chapter introduces the concept of extralegal groups and a theoretical framework for analyzing them—how they emerge, develop, and become entrenched over time. It explores their dual nature as threats to the state and as local statebuilders. Formally, an extralegal group is defined as a set of individuals with a proven capacity for violence who work outside the law for profit and provide basic governance functions to sustain its business interests. This framing shows how political authority can develop as a by-product of the commercial environment, even where the state has little or no presence. In post-conflict societies, the predatory nature and historical abuses of citizens conducted in the name of the state means that government is not always more trusted or better able to look after the interests of local populations than an extralegal group. Ultimately, extralegal groups blur the lines between the formal and informal; the licit and illicit.

scholarly journals Cultural Diversity and Religious Reflexivity in an Intercultural Chilean Parish

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Felipe Orellana
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Cultural Pluralism ◽  
Religious Conviction ◽  
Peter Berger ◽  
Personal Belief ◽  
The Difference

This research aims to analyze cultural diversity and its relationship with the personal belief in an Immigrant Parish. The discussion is framed within the topic of intercultural churches and parishes, although in a setting that has not been researched (Santiago, Chile). The research was carried out in the Latin-American Parish placed in Providencia, Santiago, and a qualitative framework was used to obtain and analyze the data. Cultural diversity is understood concerning religious reflexivity and under the idea that pluralism leads to a weakening of religious conviction, as Peter Berger argued. The theoretical framework makes the difference between the vision of Berger on cultural pluralism (pluralism inter-religion) and the viewpoint by Charles Taylor (pluralism intra-religion). On the contrary to Berger, the findings of this research showed that cultural diversity and pluralism are elements that produce a strengthening of individual beliefs.

scholarly journals The Perception of the Legitimacy of Citizens’ Assemblies in Deeply Divided Places? Evidence of Public and Elite Opinion from Consociational Northern Ireland

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
John Garry ◽  
James Pow ◽  
John Coakley ◽  
David Farrell ◽  
Brendan O'Leary ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Elite Interviews ◽  
Support Decision Making ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract How much public and elite support is there for the use of a citizens’ assembly – a random selection of citizens brought together to consider a policy issue – to tackle major, deadlock-inducing disagreements in deeply divided places with consociational political institutions? We focus on Northern Ireland and use evidence from a cross-sectional attitude survey, a survey-based experiment and elite interviews. We find that the general public support decision-making by a citizens’ assembly, even when the decision reached is one they personally disagree with. However, support is lower among those with strong ideological views. We also find that elected politicians oppose delegating decision-making power to an ‘undemocratic’ citizens’ assembly, but are more supportive of recommendation-making power. These findings highlight the potential for post-conflict consociations to be amended, with the consent of the parties, to include citizens’ assemblies that make recommendations but not binding policy.

scholarly journals Sri Lanka: Physical Reconstruction and Economic Development as Conflict Prevention Factors

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (69) ◽  
pp. 55-76
Author(s):  
Boženko Đevoić
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Postconflict Reconstruction ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Government

ABSTRACT This article gives an overview of the 26 year long ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and examines physical reconstruction and economic development as measures of conflict prevention and postconflict reconstruction. During the years of conflict, the Sri Lankan government performed some conflict prevention measures, but most of them caused counter effects, such as the attempt to provide “demilitarization”, which actually increased militarization on both sides, and “political power sharing” that was never honestly executed. Efforts in post-conflict physical reconstruction and economic development, especially after 2009, demonstrate their positive capacity as well as their conflict sensitivity. Although the Sri Lankan government initially had to be forced by international donors to include conflict sensitivity in its projects, more recently this has changed. The government now practices more conflict sensitivity in its planning and execution of physical reconstruction and economic development projects without external pressure.

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