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The Era of Private Peacemakers
The field of peacemaking is in turbulent change. There are more peacemaking actors than before but fewer success stories, and an increasing number of violent conflicts tend to resist negotiated agreements. Tools and practices created for traditional inter- and intra-state conflicts have become ineffective and revision of old mediation practices is called for. This book examines how the private peacemaking organisations have faced this challenge. In the 21st century, private peacemakers have become a central part of peace diplomacy and have appeared as flexible actors whose innovative thinking paves the way for reconsidering and reinventing old practices of mediation. Instead of emphasizing the act of resolution, a new emphasis is given to the transformation of violence into a peace system, the complexity of conflict and the inadequateness of rational management. Furthermore, this shift has brought civic society actors from the field of reconciliation to the field of peace mediation. This new pragmatic approach under development can be called dialogic mediation.
Rethinking the Space for Religion
A broad discussion about how history and religion contribute to identity politics in contemporary Europe, this book provides case studies exemplifying how public intellectuals and academics have taken an active part in the construction of recent and traditional pasts. Instead of repeating the simplistic explanation as a return of religion, this volume focuses on public platforms and agents and their use of religion as a political and cultural argument. Filled with previously unpublished data gathered from texts, interviews, field observations, artifacts, and material culture, this record challenges stereotypical images of East and Southeast Europe.
Bordering the Baltic
In this book, scholars from different disciplines use case studies drawn from Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark to analyze the last century's construction of, engagement with, and challenges to both "hard" and "soft" Scandinavian boundaries. The book provide historical examples of how national borders have been contested by Scandinavian states caught between powerful Continental neighbors; these attempts to firm up boundaries can be contrasted to the denationalization of borders caused both by the globalization of communications and markets and by political efforts to submerge national boundaries in a common Baltic identity. A second set of studies focuses on boundaries defining Scandinavian minorities. Here, the book analyzes the spaces, rituals, bodies, gender roles, and collective-identity discourses implicit in majority-minority boundaries - and their transgression. Throughout, Scandinavian bordering processes are studied in terms of the groups that launch them, the methods by which they are propagated, and, finally, the meanings supposedly, and actually, invested in them. (Series: Nordische Geschichte - Vol. 10)
Contestations of Liberal Order
This volume explores the Western-led liberal order that is claimed to be in crisis. Currently, the West appears less as a modernizing or civilizing entity leading the way and more as being engulfed in a deep crisis. Simultaneously, the West still appears to be needed in order to imagine the global order by promoters of liberal peace as well as its opponents. This book asks how and why “crisis” is needed for constituting “the West,” liberal, and global order and how these three are conjoined and reinvented. The book encompasses narratives endorsing and rejecting the West and the liberal international order, as well as alternative visions for a post-Western world conceived within the rising and challenging powers. The study is of interest to scholars and students of international relations, critical security studies, peace and conflict research, and social sciences in general.
The Baltic States and Their Region
With EU and NATO membership for the Baltic States now a reality, this volume examines the relationship of the three countries, their constituent peoples and their surrounding region to the wider Europe, both historically and in the period since 1991. In particular, the contributors seek to locate the Baltic area within the manifold debates surrounding the concepts of "new" and "old" Europe, including those occasioned by the current conflict in Iraq. Covering issues of identity, sovereignty, minority rights, security and relations with Russia the work assesses the likely contribution of this region to an enlarged Euro-Atlantic community. It will appeal to specialists and students in the fields of area studies, history, politics and international relations.
The Baltic States
Since the end of the Cold War there has been an increased interest in the Baltics. The Baltic States brings together three titles, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, to provide a comprehensive and analytical guide integrating history, political science, economic development and contemporary events into one account. Since gaining their independence, each country has developed at its own pace with its own agenda and facing its own obstacles. The authors examine the tensions accompanying a post-communist return to Europe after the long years of separation and how each country has responded to the demands of becoming a modern European state. Estonia was the first of the former Soviet republics to enter membership negotiations with the European Union in 1988 and is a potential candidate for the next round of EU expansion in 2004. Lithuania and Latvia have also expressed their desire for future membership of NATO and the EU.
The last ambassador
Estonian ambassador August Torma had a protracted and unconventional relationship with the British Foreign Office. Appointed to the Court of St James’s in 1934, Torma lost his government in 1940 when the Soviet Union overran his country, but continued to live at the legation in London and visit the Foreign Office. Gradually, however, his diplomatic standing was eroded because of Soviet demands. For Torma there was the very real fear that Britain might recognise the Soviet occupation of his homeland and he continued to reiterate his faith in international law in the hope that Estonia’s stolen independence would be restored one day. He died in 1971, twenty years before the country regained its lost freedom. This book is a biography of Torma who had a remarkable life: he assisted in the creation of the Estonian state in 1918–20, worked for it during the inter-war period and struggled to keep its cause alive during and after the Second World War; it is also a study of the awkward relationship between the ambassador and the Foreign Office that lasted for more than three decades.
From Socialist to Post-Socialist Cities
The development of post-socialist cities has become a major field of study among critical theorists from across the social sciences and humanities. Originally constructed under the dictates of central planners and designed to serve the demands of command economies, post-socialist urban centers currently develop at the nexus of varied and often competing economic, cultural, and political forces. Among these, nationalist aspirations, previously simmering beneath the official rhetoric of communist fraternity and veneer of architectural conformity, have emerged as dominant factors shaping the urban landscape. This book explores this burgeoning field of research through detailed cases studies relating to the cultural politics of architecture, urban planning, and identity in the post-socialist cities of Eurasia. This book was published as a special issue of Nationalities Papers.
Oceanic Histories
Freshly presents world history through its oceans and seas in uniquely wide-ranging, original chapters by leading experts in their fields.
Religious Nationalism in Modern Europe
This volume examines the enduring nature of religious nationalism in modern Europe. Through a series of in-depth case studies covering Ireland, England, Poland, and Greece; the author argues that religious frontiers, or geographic lines of division between different and unique religions, are central to the formation of religiously-based national identities. Typically, as states develop economically and politically, religion plays a lesser role in both individual lives and national identity. However, at religious frontiers, religion becomes useful for differentiating and mobilizing groups of people. This is particularly true when the religious frontier also represents a threat or conflict. Al...
