West Africa: The evolution of traditional institutions of power. Africa: occult practices in civil wars and conflicts

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (5-1) ◽  
pp. 190-207
Author(s):  
Tatyana Denisova ◽  
Sergey Kostelyanets
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Traditional Institutions ◽  
Rites Of Initiation

The paper considers the influence of traditional beliefs on political processes and the nature of military operations during armed conflicts in contemporary Africa. The authors’ attention is focused on the administration of magic rituals and rites of initiation and immunization to members of tribal militias and rebel groups, aimed at maintaining their cohesion, commitment, fearlessness and, ultimately, achieving military success.

Socio-Political Processes in the Chechen Republic in the Context of the Counter-Terrorist Operation (1999—2009)

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10 (108)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Abbaz Osmaev
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Right

The events in the Chechen Republic of the late 20th — early 21th century, especially the counter-terrorism operation (the second “Chechen war”), have become the object of close attention of politicians of various levels and political views, as well as historians, political scientists, sociologists of Russia and the world. The existing assessments of the counterterrorist operation in Chechnya are extremely polarized and numerous also because it almost immediately outgrew a local-regional character, becoming a higher-order phenomenon that has a serious impact on the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian Federation. The problems of preserving territorial integrity and the right of nations to self-determination, the need for a tough fight against terrorism and respect for human rights, conducting military operations using the army on their territory and preserving the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens are intertwined in one tangle. The Russian, European and American expert communities have paid and continue to pay considerable attention to various aspects of the problems related to the conduct of the counter-terrorism operation in the Chechen Republic, its consequences, results, and the current situation in the region, giving assessments according to their political views and preferences. However, in general, the huge volume of accumulated sources and various research papers on this problem can be stumped — at least the most preliminary work is required to assess the historiography of the “Chechen wars” and specific problems related to the nature of the source base. The peculiarities of the internal policy of the Russian Federation, its involvement in armed conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, the unstable situation in the Caucasus as a whole, undoubtedly have an impact on the intensification of terrorist manifestations in Russia. Moreover, the roots of a number of emerging problems go back to the period of the counter-terrorist operation in the Chechen Republic. Terrorism has evolved in recent years, destabilizing the internal State security for a long time. And although at present the situation in this direction is steadily normalizing, new threats nevertheless appear, and they require scientific understanding and the organization of counteraction on a scientific basis.

Civil War and Terrorism: A Call for Further Theory Building

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charity Butcher
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
The Media ◽  
September 11 Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Terrorist Acts ◽  
External Actors

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, terrorism has gained increased prominence in both scholarship and the media. While international terrorist acts are quite visible and highly publicized, such attacks represent only one type of terrorism within the international system. In fact, a very large number of acts of terrorism take place within the context of civil wars. Given the great disparity in power in most civil wars, it is not surprising that terrorism might be seen as a tactic that is often used by insurgent groups, who may have few resources at their disposal to fight a much stronger opponent. There is a clear linkage between the concepts of terrorism and civil war, yet until recently scholars have largely approached civil war and terrorism separately. Recent literature has attempted to specifically map the intersection of terrorism and civil war, recognizing the extent to which the two overlap. As expected, the findings suggest that civil war and terrorism are highly linked. Other scholars have endeavoured to explain why rebel groups in some civil wars use terrorism, while others do not. Further research focuses on how governments respond to terrorism during civil war or on how the decisions of external actors to intervene in civil wars are affected by the use of terrorism by insurgent groups. These studies show that there is too little theorizing on the relationship between civil war and terrorism; while scholars are finally considering these concepts collectively, the full nature of their relationship remains unexplored. Additional research is needed to better understand the various ways that terrorism and civil war overlap, interact, and mutually affect other important international and domestic political processes.

The Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross (V)

1980 ◽  
Vol 20 (214) ◽  
pp. 29-34
Author(s):  
Jean Pictet
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Narrow Sense ◽  
The Military

The principle goes on to state that the Red Cross may not take sides in hostilities. This refers to neutrality in the military domain, and this is indeed the initial understanding of neutrality.The affirmation is an obvious one, but it is nonetheless essential. Some people have found it too laconic, even curt. It is true enough that the expression should apply to all forms of conflict and not only to military operations in the narrow sense. Furthermore, it should cover not only conflicts between nations but also civil wars and internal disorders. It might accordingly be better to say, the Red Cross may not take sides in armed conflicts of any kind.

scholarly journals Could rebel child soldiers prolong civil wars?

2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roos Haer ◽  
Tobias Böhmelt
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
Child Soldiers ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Conflict Duration ◽  
The Government ◽  
Recruitment Practice ◽  
Internal Armed Conflicts ◽  
Child Soldiering

While we know why rebels may recruit children for their cause, our understanding of the consequences of child soldiering by non-state armed groups remains limited. The following research contributes to addressing this by examining how rebels’ child recruitment practice affects the duration of internal armed conflicts. We advance the argument that child soldiering increases the strength of rebel organizations vis-a-vis the government. This, in turn, lowers the capability asymmetry between these non-state actors and the incumbent, allowing the former to sustain dispute. Ultimately, the duration of armed conflicts is likely to be prolonged. We analyse this relationship with quantitative data on child soldier recruitment by rebel groups in the post-1989 period. The results confirm our main hypothesis: disputes are substantially longer when rebels recruit children. This work has important implications for the study of armed conflicts, conflict duration and our understanding of child soldiering.

scholarly journals Political Influence of The Lebanese Diaspora in Côte D’ivoire Before the 2020 Elections

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4.) ◽  
pp. 138-146
Author(s):  
Alexander Shipilov
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Cote D'ivoire ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Côte D’Ivoire ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Civil Conflict ◽  
Cote D’Ivoire ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Côte D'ivoire

The recent political developments that took place in West Africa, encompassing several bloody civil wars and the following reconstruction, were marked by the involvement of a number of regional and completely external stakeholders. It has been, furthermore, broadly acknowledged by the recent scope of globalization, international, and transnational studies that diasporas constitute a significant portion of the internal groups of interest in local political processes. This tendency is true to West Africa and, most particularly, Côte d’Ivoire, the country that has experienced the latest large-scale civil conflict among the states in this part of Africa.

An Economic and Social Assessment of the Syrian Civil War

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-23
Author(s):  
Viorela-Beatrice Iacovoiu ◽  
Mirela Panait ◽  
Alexandru-Cristian Enache
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Oil Fields ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Displaced People ◽  
The Government ◽  
Syrian Conflict

Starting from the theories and studies on armed conflicts and in particular civil wars, and based on relevant figures, this paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the Syrian Civil War. The Syrian conflict developed into a civil war with a sectarian dimension and has lasted longer mostly because of major powers, as well as some Middle Eastern countries that were directly and actively involved in the conflict, supporting the government forces or rebel groups. According to the analysed data, the war deeply affected the Syrian economy and its citizens due to the loss of governmental control over oil fields, the destruction of infrastructure and households, and the great number of forcibly displaced people and casualties. At the same time, the Syrian Civil War created great opportunities for arms-producing companies to sell their products without cutting off profits. Thus, the conclusion is that there is no benefit to war except for those who profit of it, namely the countries as well as the arms manufacturers that use conflicts as a proxy to promote their interests.

The Role of csos in Promoting Human Rights Protection, Mass Atrocities Prevention, and Civilian Protection in Armed Conflicts

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 249-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chukwuemeka B. Eze
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Civilian Protection ◽  
Peacekeeping Missions

The West Africa region is arguably the most turbulent region in Africa; from the civil wars of Liberia and Sierra Leone to the political disputes in Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea Bissau and recently Mali; the region has hosted the highest numbers of the United Nations (un) peacekeeping missions with mixed results. While the responsibility of peace, security and ensuring human protection resides with governments, Civil Society Organizations (csos) have demonstrated their capacity to complement government’s efforts in peace and security; and political leadership across the world has come to realise the strength of csos in anticipating, preventing and resolving conflicts because of their in-depth knowledge of context and expertise in working closely with communities. This paper assesses the contributions of csos towards the promotion of human rights protection, mass atrocities prevention and civilian protection in conflict-affected areas in West Africa; and argues for continued involvement of csos in human protection.

Incentivizing Peace

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslav Tir ◽  
Johannes Karreth
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
East Timor ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The World ◽  
Economic Tools ◽  
The Impact

Civil wars are one of the most pressing problems facing the world. Common approaches such as mediation, intervention, and peacekeeping have produced some results in managing ongoing civil wars, but they fall short in preventing civil wars in the first place. This book argues for considering civil wars from a developmental perspective to identify steps to assure that nascent, low-level armed conflicts do not escalate to full-scale civil wars. We show that highly structured intergovernmental organizations (IGOs, e.g. the World Bank or IMF) are particularly well positioned to engage in civil war prevention. Such organizations have both an enduring self-interest in member-state peace and stability and potent (economic) tools to incentivize peaceful conflict resolution. The book advances the hypothesis that countries that belong to a larger number of highly structured IGOs face a significantly lower risk that emerging low-level armed conflicts on their territories will escalate to full-scale civil wars. Systematic analyses of over 260 low-level armed conflicts that have occurred around the globe since World War II provide consistent and robust support for this hypothesis. The impact of a greater number of memberships in highly structured IGOs is substantial, cutting the risk of escalation by over one-half. Case evidence from Indonesia’s East Timor conflict, Ivory Coast’s post-2010 election crisis, and from the early stages of the conflict in Syria in 2011 provide additional evidence that memberships in highly structured IGOs are indeed key to understanding why some low-level armed conflicts escalate to civil wars and others do not.

Complex Battlespaces

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Modern Warfare ◽  
Aerial Systems

The conduct of warfare is constantly shaped by forces beyond the battlefield. These forces create complexities in the battlespace for military operations. The ever-changing nature of how and where wars are fought creates challenges for the application of the unchanging body of international law that regulates armed conflicts. The term “complex” is often used to describe modern warfare, but what makes modern warfare complex? Is it the increasingly urbanized battlefield where wars are fought, which is cluttered with civilians and civilian objects? Is it the rise of State-like organized armed groups that leverage the governance vacuum created by failed or failing States? Is it the introduction of new technologies to military operations like autonomous weapons, cyber capabilities, and unmanned aerial systems? Or is it the application of multiple legal regimes to a single conflict? Collectively, these questions formed the basis for the Complex Battlespaces Workshop in which legal scholars and experts from the field of practice came together to discuss these complexities. During the workshop, there was a general consensus that the existing law was sufficient to regulate modern warfare. The challenge, however, arises in application of the law to new technologies, military operations in urban environments, and other issues related to applying international human rights law and international humanitarian law to non-international armed conflicts. This inaugural volume of the Lieber Book Series seeks to address many of the complexities that arise during the application of international law to modern warfare.

Additional Protocol II: Elevating the minimum threshold of intensity?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Martha M. Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Case Law ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Minimum Threshold ◽  
Additional Protocol ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
Treaty Interpretation ◽  
Armed Violence

Abstract This paper examines the notion of intensity in the context of common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II (AP II) to the Geneva Conventions in order to establish whether AP II demands a different intensity threshold from the minimum threshold of intensity contemplated in common Article 3. The paper considers the question of whether the inclusion of the term “sustained” in the phrase “sustained and concerted military operations” intrinsic to the threshold in Article 1(1) of AP II introduces a temporal requirement in addition to mere protracted armed violence. The paper argues that the inclusion of the term “sustained” in Article 1(1) of AP II potentially demands prolonged protracted armed violence. The research aims to contribute to the existing literature on the notion of intensity demanded by the scope of application inherent in AP II through an interrogation of the phrase “sustained” military operations by employing the rules of treaty interpretation and by examining relevant case law and scholarly debate. In this way, the author hopes to contribute towards filling a lacuna with regard to the minimum threshold for intensity in the context of treaty law concerned with the classification of non-international armed conflicts.

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