scholarly journals Building Peace in South Sudan

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 48-68
Author(s):  
Ashley Lefler

The outbreak of violence in South Sudan in December 2013 has enlarged ethnic divides and reversed the development advances the young nation has struggled to achieve since independence; while the continued deadlock in the IGAD-led negotiation process provides little hope of a negotiated peace settlement. A peacebuilding strategy that takes into account the context-specific circumstances of this intra-state conflict enhances the opportunity for peace and development in South Sudan, and provides the international community an opportunity to contribute to peace in a meaningful way. Limited capacity, deep and persistent ethnic divisions, corruption and a long memory of brutality within the civilian population complicate prospects for peace in the country. An examination of recent peacebuilding efforts in South Sudan reveals a fragmented and provisional approach. Using the framework of Ali and Matthews, this paper outlines a peacebuilding strategy for South Sudan that addresses root causes, consequences and legacies of the conflict, while taking into consideration the unique country specific circumstances. Recognizing the need to move from negative to positive peace, this paper prioritizes security and political arrangements as essential prerequisites for success in economic development and justice and reconciliation. The role of the international community, regional/sub-regional organizations and global civil society.

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Ali Askerov ◽  
Thomas Matyok

Despite the third party efforts of the significant international and regional organizations, such as the UN and the OSCE, the Upper Karabakh problem remains unresolved for over 20 years. Neither the four resolutions related to Armenia’s invasion of Azerbaijani lands adopted by the UN SC in the early 1990s have worked, nor the formal negotiations over this conflict that have taken place under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group for more than 20 years have reached any tangible results. These facts give rise to questions about effectiveness of the role of this institution in reaching a resolution to the conflict. The ceasefire regime is in effect since May 1994 without changing the situation, in which Armenia still keeps about 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands under invasion and is effectively involved in building a new state over the invaded lands. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of UN resolutions in liberating Azerbaijan’s invaded regions, both within and outside of Upper Karabakh, as well as the OSCE mediation efforts to resolve this conflict. It also discusses effectiveness of the negotiation process, and raises a question about impartiality of the mediators and usefulness of the mediation institution of the OSCE in general. It argues that the OSCE Minsk Group has failed to successfully establish and lead the process of negotiations, thus expecting a fruitful yield is not realistic.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Ali Askerov ◽  
Thomas Matyok

Despite the third party efforts of the significant international and regional organizations, such as the UN and the OSCE, the Upper Karabakh problem remains unresolved for over 20 years. Neither the four resolutions related to Armenia’s invasion of Azerbaijani lands adopted by the UN SC in the early 1990s have worked, nor the formal negotiations over this conflict that have taken place under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group for more than 20 years have reached any tangible results. These facts give rise to questions about effectiveness of the role of this institution in reaching a resolution to the conflict. The ceasefire regime is in effect since May 1994 without changing the situation, in which Armenia still keeps about 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands under invasion and is effectively involved in building a new state over the invaded lands. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of UN resolutions in liberating Azerbaijan’s invaded regions, both within and outside of Upper Karabakh, as well as the OSCE mediation efforts to resolve this conflict. It also discusses effectiveness of the negotiation process, and raises a question about impartiality of the mediators and usefulness of the mediation institution of the OSCE in general. It argues that the OSCE Minsk Group has failed to successfully establish and lead the process of negotiations, thus expecting a fruitful yield is not realistic.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Wolff

The unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo in February 2008 catapulted the Western Balkans back to the centre stage of international security concerns. Despite affirmations to the contrary, the recognition of Kosovo's independence by major Western powers is seen as a significant precedent in international law and the way in which self-determination conflicts are handled by the international community. At the same time, it raises major questions for the stability of borders across the Western Balkans region, and possibly beyond. At the centre of many of these questions is the role of the international community—defined by the international and regional organizations present in the region, as well as by their powerful member states—in tackling the complexity of interrelated self-determination conflicts, incomplete democratization processes, growing concerns about the economic viability of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia and an ever-increasing presence of transnational organized crime networks with significant reach beyond the region.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Ali O. Nejadat ◽  
Mohammad N. Shatanawi

This study aims to identify the role of United Nations Radio Stations (represented by Maraya Radio in South Sudan) in promoting the culture of peace and development, and to know if this broadcast service contributes to promoting awareness of such concepts. The study uses appropriate descriptive methodology to measure and analyze the characteristics of media content which are related to these concepts. In addition to that, it examines the effect of these concepts on the audience of such a broadcasting service. This is a descriptive study in which the researchers analyzed the content of the programs related to the concepts of peace and development presented by Maraya Radio. The researchers also distributed a questionnaire to the audience of this radio station in South Sudan to know how they are affected by the programs offered at this station. The study examined three programs of Maraya and analyzed them using artificial week method. The findings show that the topics on peace occupied the first position among all topics covered by Maraya with a percentage of (38.5%). The topics on peace also came first in terms of the time allocated for such programs with a percentage of (49%). The content on the theme of “life without conflict” came first among all the content themes broadcasted by Maraya with a percentage of (20.1%), whereas the content related to the theme of ‘enhancing women’s image in society’ came second with a percentage of (15%), followed by the content on the theme ‘encourage to learn’ with a percentage of (11.8%). 


MRS Advances ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (17-18) ◽  
pp. 987-992
Author(s):  
François Diaz-Maurin ◽  
Rodney C. Ewing

ABSTRACTThe “safety case” approach has been developed to address the issue of evaluating the performance of a geologic repository in the face of the large uncertainty that results for evaluations that extend over hundreds of thousands of years. This paper reviews the concept of the safety case as it has been defined by the international community. We contrast the safety case approach with that presently used in the U.S. repository program. Especially, we focus on the role of uncertainty quantification. There are inconsistencies between the initial proposal to dealing with uncertainties in a safety case and current U.S. practice. The paper seeks to better define the safety case concept so that it can be usefully applied to the regulatory framework of the U.S. repository program.


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