Liminality and Missing Persons

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Huttunen
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Missing Persons ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Future ◽  
Intimate Relations ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation ◽  
Political Groups

In many armed conflicts, forced disappearances and hiding the bodies of victims of mass atrocities are used strategically. This article argues that disappearances are powerful weapons, as their consequences reach from the most intimate relations to the formation of political communities. Consequently, political projects of forced disappearances leave difficult legacies for post-conflict reconciliation, and they give rise to a need to address individuals’ and families’ needs as well as relations between national and political groups implicated in the conflict. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this articles explores the question of missing persons in post-1992 Bosnia. The processes of identification and practices of remembering and commemorating the missing are analyzed through the concept of liminality. The article argues that the future-oriented temporality of liminality gives rise to numerous practices of encountering the enigma of the missing, while the political atmosphere of postwar Bosnia restricts possibilities of communitas-type relationality across ethnonational differences.

Mitigating violence by solving the commitment problem in post-conflict negotiations

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-166
Author(s):  
Yukako Sakabe Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
State Building ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
The Political ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
Commitment Problem ◽  
Political Groups

Why do some political groups choose to remain militant when they have the opportunity to transform into political parties or become members of state organs? By scrutinizing the power-sharing negotiations held before a country’s first election, this article argues that the group that leads the negotiations faces the challenge of accepting or declining the policy proposed by its counterpart who poses a threat of violence. Even if the counterpart proposes policy that is acceptable to the leading faction, fulfilling the commitment in regard to the political deal is another challenge for the leading faction. Such challenges often fail and consequently cause violence. In contrast, some counterparts can successfully transform themselves into non-violent political agencies regardless of whether they make compromises in policies or not. Third parties can play a vital role in avoiding violence by influencing actors’ decision-making or enhancing the leading faction’s ability to achieve its commitment. The article illustrates this argument by presenting a formal model and then testing the model by examining the case of Timor-Leste. It suggests specific conditions required for negotiations under which armed groups transform into peaceful actors when introduction of democracy and state-building are ongoing.

scholarly journals Introduction FEDERALISM, RECONCILIATION, AND POWER-SHARING IN POST-CONFLICT SOCIETIES

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neophytos Loizides ◽  
Iosif Kovras ◽  
Kathleen Ireton
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Introductory Article ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
Grassroots Level ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation ◽  
The Individual

This special issue examines the interplay between reconciliation in postconflict societies and alternative mechanisms of political accommodation. In our introductory article, we define and explore the central concepts used in post-conflict studies while investigating the potential linkages between reconciliation and federal or power-sharing arrangements. We argue that addressing issues of justice, reconciliation and amnesty in the aftermath of conflict frequently facilitates cooperation in establishing successful institutional mechanisms at the political level. We also examine the degree to which reconciliation at the grassroots level should be seen as a prerequisite of consolidating power-sharing arrangements among elites particularly in the form of federal agreements. Finally, we discuss the individual contributions to the special issue and highlight the importance of incorporating insights from the literature of transitional justice and post-conflict reconciliation to the study and practice of federalism.

scholarly journals Towards a Heritage-Led Sustainable Post-Conflict Reconciliation: A Policy-Led Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1686
Author(s):  
Ataa Alsalloum ◽  
Andre Brown
Keyword(s):  
Methodological Approach ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Subsequent Paper ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The World ◽  
Analysis Strategy ◽  
International Audience ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation

In today’s context, threats to heritage sites posed by armed conflicts are prevalent. This article argues for an urgently needed framework, based on authoritative heritage policy documents, to guide sustainable reconciliation in such circumstances. The methodological approach proposed derives from a content analysis strategy that investigated a selected list of documents. Key extractions are then synthesised to develop useful recommendations for sustainable post-conflict reconciliation in heritage contexts. This conceptual framework also helps to achieve the potential re-nomination of any reconstructed sites which, in turn, provides both additional robust protection of heritage values, and supports sustainable development. This article presents the first part of a broader research study and is intended to communicate the results to a multi-faceted international audience including stakeholders, along with policy and decision makers in the world heritage field. The application of the proposed framework to the world heritage cities of Damascus and Aleppo is the subject of the second part of this research and is presented in a subsequent paper in this special issue of the journal Sustainability.

Emotions, loss and change: Armenian women and post-socialist transformations in Nagorny Karabakh

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Nona Shahnazarian ◽  
Ulrike Ziemer
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Gender Relations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Status ◽  
Gender Constructions ◽  
Armenian Women

Based on empirical data obtained from ethnographic fieldwork in Nagorny Karabakh (NK), the article analyses gender as one fundamental but neglected dimension of post-conflict society. In particular, this article examines changing gender relations as a result of the political transformations occurring during and after the Karabakh conflict (1990-2000). The focus is on two groups of women residing in Martuni, a small town in NK. The first group includes local Armenian women, the second Armenian women from Azerbaijan, forced to resettle in Martuni. In this way, the article not only explores how the status of these women and their dependency has changed as a result of the political transformations, but also how gender roles and identities are negotiated when the region of resettlement is not completely unfamiliar to new arrivals. The article concludes by highlighting these Armenian women’s contradictory, yet similar experiences in terms of prevalent gender constructions. In doing so, the article expands research on gender and political transformations in post-socialist regions and beyond.

World without Borders? Reflections on the Future of the Nation‐State

1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Dittgen
Keyword(s):  
Edmund Burke ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Political World ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Future ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
Territorial States ◽  
Vindication Of Natural Society

THE PARTICULARISTIC CHARACTER OF THE POLITICAL WORLD, THE separation of political communities into poleis, territorial-states or nation-states, has always provoked the universalist criticism of borders as artificial and incompatible with universal humanity. Such demarcations were even suspected of being one of mankind's greatest evils. Edmund Burke, for example, wrote in his A Vindication of Natural Society – a response to Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin and Foundation of Inequality – that ‘this artificial division of mankind, into separate societies, is a perpetual source in itself of hatred and dissention among them’.

scholarly journals International law's and International judiciary's help in finding missing persons in armed conflicts on territory of ex SFRJ and AP KiM

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-140
Author(s):  
Jasmina Krštenić ◽  
Jovana Tomić
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Innocent People ◽  
Missing Persons ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Law ◽  
Truth Finding

The law is made to help in solving problems that appear in interpersonal relations and burden their existence, cooperation, and future. For different sort of problems, different law branches are engaged. The problem of armed conflicts, warfare and suffering follow humankind and civilization from ancient human communities. It seems impossible the living without conflicts, and more discouraging thing, the future is not spa-red from similar happenings. Innocent people suffer in armed conflicts no matter if there is local or regional, international conflict. Many people are recorded as missing persons. Years have passed, no results are available in order of finding the truth, finding bodies; suffering of relatives to alleviate. International law and the international judiciary must give answer, protection, and lesson. The truth is important for the unjustified suffering of the victims, for reconciliation which directs the future.

scholarly journals Behind the legal curtain: Social, cultural and religious practices and their impact on missing persons and the dead in Colombia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Mayra Nuñez Pastor
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Missing Persons ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Dead

Abstract This paper examines social, cultural and religious factors that affect the implementation of international humanitarian law concerning dead and missing persons in non-international armed conflicts. To this end, the behaviour of both armed groups and civil society is studied. The argument made in the paper is that in some cases endogenous and exogenous systems of value (social, religious and cultural understandings), operating within the logic of armed non-State actors and within local communities, should be considered by policies concerning the search for missing persons. The Colombian armed conflict is used as case study; the social, cultural and religious practices of the National Liberation Army and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army are analyzed as examples. Likewise, social and cultural values within affected populations can impact on post-conflict mechanisms agreed upon by the parties concerning the search for missing persons, and vice versa. Consequently, customs and traditions such as the “adoption” of unidentified buried people by local communities (social resignification of the dead) and the practices of indigenous communities are reviewed in order to establish a holistic framework.

scholarly journals Las sentencias del Tribunal Constitucional en los casos Bildu y Sortu y el fin de ciclo de la Ley Orgánica de Partidos Políticos : propuestas de reforma = Constitutional Court Sentences in Bildu and Sortu cases and the end of cycle of the political parties act 2002 (lopp) : reform proposals

2013 ◽  
pp. 555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre H. Català i Bas
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Future ◽  
Political Project ◽  
Political Groups

Diez años de vigencia de la Ley Orgánica de Partidos Políticos (LOPP) han permitido acumular una amplia experiencia derivada de su aplicación. A lo largo de estos años, nos hemos encontrado con una variedad de estrategias fraudulentas por parte del ETA y su brazo político con el fin de estar presentes en las instituciones democráticas. A continuación se aborda el estudio de algunas de las cuestiones más importantes suscitadas alrededor de la aplicación de la LOPP. Con el caso Sortu podemos estar asistiendo al fin de ciclo de la LOPP. La Ley fue concebida para ilegalizar a aquellas formaciones políticas que apoyaban al terrorismo. Ha cumplido su cometido. Así parece entenderlo el propio Tribunal Constitucional que en la sentencia 138/2012, de 20 de junio, marca una hoja de ruta a este partido político para que en el futuro no sea ilegalizado. El Estado de Derecho ha de posibilitar que los que antes apoyaban a los terroristas puedan rectificar y puedan defender su proyecto por vías democráticas. Ha llegado el momento de reformar la Ley en aspectos tales como las previsiones relativas a la democracia interna de los partidos o la descripción de actividades racistas y xenófobas, inexistentes en la redacción actual, que pueden llevar a la ilegalización de un partido político.Ten years of the Political Parties ACT 2002 (LOPP) enforcement have allowed the Courts to accumulate a vast experience of its application. Throughout these years, we have encountered several number of fraudulent strategies by the ETA and its political wing, in order to be present into democratic institutions. This paper tries to summarise the most important issues raised by the LOPP and its application during this years. Probably, the recent Sortu judgment supposes LOPP’s end of cycle. The LOPP was designed to outlaw political groups that supported terrorism. It has already fulfilled its mission. At least, it seems the Constitutional Court opinion in its STC 138/2012, judgment which describes a roadmap to Sortu in order to avoid being outlawed again in the future. The rule of law is to enable that those who previously supported terrorists can rectify, and defend their political project through democratic means. It is time to reform the LOPP in areas such as the regulation of the internal democracy into parties, or the inclusion of racist and xenophobic activities as a cause for being outlawed.

Engaging Diaspora in Reconciliation Efforts in Sri Lanka: Lessons Learnt

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Amjad Mohamed-Saleem
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Trust Building ◽  
Social And Cultural Capital ◽  
Engagement Strategies ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Lessons Learnt ◽  
The World ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation ◽  
National Framework

With nearly three million Sri Lankans living overseas, across the world, there is a significant role that can be played by this constituency in post-conflict reconciliation.  This paper will highlight the lessons learnt from a process facilitated by International Alert (IA) and led by the author, working to engage proactively with the diaspora on post-conflict reconciliation in Sri Lanka.  The paper shows that for any sustainable impact, it is also critical that opportunities are provided to diaspora members representing the different communities of the country to interact and develop horizontal relations, whilst also ensuring positive vertical relations with the state. The foundation of such effective engagement strategies is trust-building. Instilling trust and gaining confidence involves the integration of the diaspora into the national framework for development and reconciliation. This will allow them to share their human, social and cultural capital, as well as to foster economic growth by bridging their countries of residence and origin.

The representation of post-conflict gender violence in Iraqi Kurdish novelistic discourse in Bahdinan

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-57
Author(s):  
Lolav M. Hassan Alhamid
Keyword(s):  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Kurdish Women ◽  
Gendered Aggression ◽  
Struggle For Recognition

This article explores the processes of finding a voice, learning to speak, and breaking silence around gender violence for a Kurdish woman endeavouring to resist oppression and destroy forced negative images and identities. It examines the ways in which she struggles to break imposed silences through resisting gender discrimination and telling stories of violence and exploitation, as represented in the Kurdish novelistic discourse in Bahdinan. Studying Sabri Silevani’s Mariama: Kiçe-Jinek ji Zemanek Di (Mariama: A Woman from Another Time, 2007), the article examines the various forms and layers of violence imposed on Kurdish women by the tribal and patriarchal norms and the social and political structures within the post-conflict Kurdish society in Iraqi Kurdistan. The three-fold typological model of violence developed by the political scientist Johan Galtung is adopted in the article to explore the ways in which the personal characteristics of individuals and the political, economic, and cultural structures of society are viewed as factors affecting the generation of gendered aggression. Most importantly, for the purpose of this article, is the significant utilisation of the association of Galtung’s typology with feminist studies of violence in the exploration of Kurdish women’s attempt to resist marginalisation and their struggle for recognition. Moreover, Rita Felski’s description and study of modern writing by women as a medium through which female political identities and collective consciousness are constructed and represented are adopted to discuss the structural and thematic properties of the text.ABSTRACT IN KURMANJITemsîla şideta cinsî ya piştî şerî di gotara edebî ya kurdên Iraqê de li herêma BehdînanEv meqale berê xwe dide merheleyên peydakirina dengî, fêrbûna axiftinê û daşikandina bêdengiya li dor şideta cinsî li cem jineke kurd a hewl dide li hember zextan ber xwe bide û wêne û huwiyetên menfî yên dasepandî ji nav bibe. Meqale lê hûr dibe ka çawa jin têdikoşe ku bi rêya berxwedana li hember cudakariya cinsî û bi gotina hikayêtên şidet û bikaranînê, wek ku di gotara romana kurdî ya li Behdînan tê temsîlkirin, bêdengiyên dasepandî bişikîne. Ev meqale li ser romana Sebrî Silêvanî ya bi navê Meryema: Kiçe Jinek Ji Zemanek Dî (2007) hûr dibe û dikeve dû destnîşankirina wan awa û tebeqeyên cihêreng ên şideta li ser jina kurd yên bi destê dab û nerîtên eşîrî û babsalarî û herwiha bi destê dezgehên civakî û siyasî yên di nav civaka kurd a li Kurdistana Iraqê ya piştî şerî têne dasepandin. Di meqelayê de modêla tîpolojîk û sê-tebeqeyî ya şidetê, ku Johan Galtungê zanyarê siyasetê dahînaye, hatiye bikaranîn ji bo veçirandina awayên ku taybetiyên şexsî yên ferdan û binyadên civakê yên siyasî, aborî û çandî wek fakterên kartêker ên peydabûna êrîşkariya cinsî têne dîtin. Ji bo armancên vê gotarê, ev tîpolojiya Galtung ligel xebatên fêmînîst ên li ser şidetê têne bikaranîn da ku hewla jinên kurd a berxwedana li hember perawêzxistinê û venasînê berçavtir bibe. Herwiha, pênase û lêkolîna Rita Felski ya li ser nivîsînên hevçerx ên jinan wek amrazek ji bo avakirin û temsîlkirina huwiyetên siyasî û şiûra cemawerî hatine bikaranîn ji bo vedîtina xasyetên metnê yên binyadî û têmayî.ABSTRACT IN SORANIWênekirdinî tundûtîjîy cenderî le gutarî novêlîstîkî kurdîy 'Êraq le BadînanEm meqaleye degerrêt be dway ew prosaney dozînewey deng, fêrbûnî peyivîn û şkandinî ew bêdengîye ke ballî be ser tundûtîjî cenderî da kêşawe, le xebatî ew jine kurde da ke deyewêt rûberrûwî stemkarî bibêtewe û wêne û şunase nerênîye be zor dasepênrawekan têk bişkênêt. Ew rêgayane be taqî dekatewe ke ew jine le xebatî da be kariyan dehênêt bo şkandinî bêdengiye be zor beserî da sepêndrawe le rêgay rûberrûbûnewey ciyakarî cenderî û gêrranewey dastangelî tundûtîjî û pawankirdin, herweku le gutarî novêlîstîkî da be kar hênrawin le nawçey Badînan. Le rêgay xwêndinewey "Meryeme Kiçejinek Ji Zemanek Dî" nûsraw le layen Sebrî Slêvanîyewe, em meqaleye ew şêwaz û rehendaney tundûtîjî be taqî dekatewe ke le rêga bawe hozgerayî û bawsalarîyekan û bunyade siyasiyekanî komellgay kurdî dway şerr le Kurdistanî 'Êraq da xirawnete ser jinanî kurdewe. Lem meqaleye da modêlî sê çînî taypolojîy tundûtîjî bekarhênrawe ke le layen zanay siyasî Johan Galtungewe dirust kirawe, be mebestî dozînewey ew rêgayaney ke pêyan karakterîstîke kesiyekanî takekan û bunyade siyasî û abûrî kelepurîyekanî komellga weku fakterî karîger nîşan drawin be ser qehrî cenderîyewe. Giringtirîn layenî mebestî em meqaleye nîşandanî ew sudbexşîye giringeye ke peywendîdarkrdinî taypolojî Galtung legell lêkollînewey fêmînîstî le gerran da be dway hewllî jinanî kurd bo rûberrûbenewe le hember perawêzxistin û xebatyan bo ewey ke danyan pêda binirêt. Herweha wesf û lêkollînewey Rîta Felski le nusînî hawçerxî jinan weku geyenerêk ke le rêgayiyewe şunasgelî siyasî û agayîy giştîy mê bunyad denirêt û nîşan dedirêt, be mebestî giftûgokirdin le ser layene bunyadî û tewerîyekanî deq, be kar hênrawe.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document