RPQR

Book by Rebecca Tapscott.

Today’s authoritarians use the rule of law and seemingly democratic institutions to pursue illiberal ends. Analyzing over ten months of research on Uganda’s informal security sector, including militias, vigilantes, and community policing initiatives, this book identifies arbitrary governance as key to sustaining and projecting this type of authoritarian power, particularly in lower-capacity states. In regimes characterized by arbitrary governance, the state’s stochastic assertions and withdrawals of power inject unpredictability into the political relationship between both local authorities and citizens. This arrangement makes it difficult for citizens to predict which authority, if any, will claim jurisdiction in a given scenario, and what rules will apply. This environment of pervasive political unpredictability limits space for collective action and political claim-making, while keeping citizens marginally engaged in the democratic process. The book is grounded in empirical research and literature theorizing the African state, while seeking to inform a broader debate about contemporary forms of authoritarianism, state consolidation, and political violence.

– Develops a novel and theoretically grounded framework of ‘institutionalized arbitrariness’ and examines the global implications
– Brings together two important literatures, modern authoritarianism and the post-colonial African state, to explain the relationship between state institutions and enforcement power
– Features in-depth qualitative material, including hundreds of interviews, non-participant observations of vigilante groups, political rallies, and local justice processes
– An open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence

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Book by Ibrahim Natil.

Women in conflict zones face steep challenges, and nowhere is this clearer than in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, regions that face reduced foreign aid, foreign occupation, violence, instability, ingrained social conservatism and perpetual political crisis. Yet the stereotypical view that women are unable to act politically in the socially conservative contexts of the Middle East is a long way from the truth.
Here Ibrahim Natil shines a spotlight on how young Palestinian women work through civil society organisations (CSOs) to improve their communities’ and their own resilience and empowerment. He first outlines the impact of CSOs upon peaceful struggle, human rights and community development relief assistance, highlighting how CSOs respond rapidly to the needs of the population by delivering social, health, cultural and educational services to all sectors of society during humanitarian crises. He then asks how empowered Palestinian women contribute to CSO missions and how CSO missions reciprocally contribute to Palestinian women’s empowerment. Ultimately, young Palestinian women’s engagement with CSOs proves to strengthen cooperation, communication and cross-fertilisation between CSO groups, which in turn increases these young women’s agency.

Find the book here.

Book by Ibrahim Natil.

This book investigates the ways in which young people engage with and contribute to civil society, community development, and local peacebuilding in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Youth engagement and contribution to civil society and local peacebuilding can play a crucial role in development; however, there is often a lack of effective engagement, policies, and opportunities for young people in policy and practice. This book analyses their experiences of civic engagement and community participation and the challenges they face, across diverse areas including youth empowerment, freedom of expression, mobilization, ideologies, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. Drawing on cases from Yemen, Syria, Iran, Morocco and the Palestinian Territories, this book offers new insights on how youth not only are shaped by, but also react to policies, conflict, constraints, and challenges.

The insights drawn from this interdisciplinary collection will be of interest to researchers of civil society, youth, peacebuilding, and development, as well as to policymakers, donors, and NGO staff.

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Article by Jude Cocodia.

The subservience of the AU to its influential partners compels it to protect their interests, even when these interests are detrimental to AU (peace) objectives. This is the case in Somalia where Ethiopia and the United States have waged a proxy war through the AU. Considering the current conflict stalemate, this paper questions if the AU ignored viable indigenous options for peace in Somalia? Using process tracing as the method of analysis, this paper argues that ignored local administrative processes that have stabilized the north, and once used by the ICU in south-central Somalia, are the best options for stability.

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Report by the Democratic Progress Institute.

On 26 November 2020 DPI held its second online comparative study event entitled ‘Overcoming Challenges During Difficult Times in Conflict Resolution: The Northern Ireland Experience Part II’. This planned online CSE aimed to follow on from the first event held in October that introduced a new multi-faceted group of participants to key concepts and actors in the Northern Ireland peace process.

The event began with a keynote address from Dermot Ahern, former Minister of Foreign Affairs from the Republic of Ireland, who was directly involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland.

The session on the role of media was conducted by two former journalists, Andy Pollak and Deric Henderson, who spoke about their own experiences of reporting the Troubles.

Dr Martin McMullan and Sean Madden from Youth Action Northern Ireland, covered the topic of youth engagement in the Northern Irish peace process.

The last session of the online CSE examined the role of religious leaders in peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, with Bishop Trevor Williams as speaker, who discussed the work of the Corrymeela Community – a dispersed Christian community of Catholics and Protestants working towards reconciliation.

The online comparative study event forms part of a larger series of activities planned in the context of the project: “Supporting inclusive dialogue at a challenging time in Turkey”, supported by the EU, the Norwegian and Irish government.

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Report by Zeynep Ardic, lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Istanbul Medeniyet University in Turkey. Published by the Democratic Progress Institute.

This research report highlights the law and obstacles related to securing peace and provides an analysis of the Turkish legal system’s ability to facilitate a peace process, as well as a comprehensive overview of current laws in place. The study sets out a thorough analysis of the importance of law in relation to the peace processes, before turning to an assessment of the Turkish legal system and the compatibility of legal texts with a potential peace process.

Read it here.