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This book explores the challenges of conflict resolution in protracted conflicts and conceptualises and analyses the practice of engagement without recognition in de facto states. Increasingly, engagement without recognition is seen as a promising approach to conflict resolution in de facto states, but little is known about its implementation and results. This book addresses that lacuna and develops an analytical model to assess international engagement, focusing on implementation on the ground. This model enables a comprehensive analysis of international engagement's scope, areas, and methods. Further, the book also explores the context of engagement in de facto states, which has a signific...
This book explains the dynamics and nature of Iraqi Kurdistan’s de facto statehood since its inception in 1991, in particular the vicissitudes de facto independence since then. The work examines de facto statehood in Kurdistan, and uncovers the dynamics of de facto statehood in Kurdistan at internal, national and international levels. Kurdistan’s de facto statehood is shown to be inherently characterised by fluidity. In this book, fluidity is defined as a highly unstable feature of de facto statehood in the relational context of non-recognition. The book includes interviews with a number of high-profile politicians and policy makers from the region. These provide unique insights into such issues as the four main factors at play in the fluidity of the de facto state of Kurdistan: the balance of power between Erbil and Baghdad; the level and form of internal fragmentation; the change of strategies to gain international recognition; and the uncertain and fluctuating external support. This book will be of much interest to students of statehood studies, Middle Eastern politics, and International Relations.
This updated and revised second edition of the Routledge Handbook of Peacebuilding contains cutting-edge analyses of contemporary attempts to reach and sustain peace. The book covers the main actors and dynamics of peacebuilding, as well as the main challenges that it faces, with accessible chapters. The volume is comprehensive, covering everything from the main international institutions for peacebuilding to the links between peacebuilding and climate change, or peacebuilding and trauma. It is also firmly interdisciplinary, with a number of chapters devoted to showcasing how different disciplines interpret peacebuilding and how they contribute to it. Bringing together leading thinkers and p...
In international law, the refugee definition enshrined in Article 1A(2) of the Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol is central. Yet, seven decades on, the meaning of its key terms are widely seen as unclear. The Refugee Definition in International Law asks whether we must continue to accept this or whether a systematic legal analysis can shed new light on this important term. The volume addresses several framework questions concerning approaches to definition, interpretation, ordering, and the interrelationship between the definition's different elements. Each element is then analysed in turn, applying Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties rules in systematic fashion. Each chapter evaluates the main disputes that have arisen and seeks to distil basic propositions that are widely agreed, as well as certain suggested propositions for resolving ongoing debates. In the final chapter, the basic propositions are assembled to demonstrate that in fact there is now more clarity about the definition than many think and that considerable progress has been made toward achieving a working definition.
Forde examines the effectiveness of the human rights system of the Council of Europe (CoE) in conflict-affected regions and advances a novel approach to understanding how the European Convention on Human Rights can better serve the 10+ million rights-holders living in so-called human rights 'grey zones'. Building on the premise that nowhere in Europe should be deprived of access to Europe's human rights architecture, Forde argues that areas of conflict give rise to a collective public order imperative on Member States to seek maximal effectiveness of the CoE human rights system. Despite Kosovo's sui generis status, much of the CoE's experience of engagement with Kosovo could inspire more proactive efforts in relation to other areas of conflict. This book advocates a judicious engagement of the CoE's unique assets and acquis in affected regions based on the collective responsibility of Member States and the normative will of the Secretary General.
This book examines the European Union’s everyday statebuilding practices, using the case of Kosovo as an example of how it uses informal practices to influence local actors. The objective of the book is to explain how the EU operates as a statebuilding actor in the everyday context, outside its zone of comfort. It illustrates the EU’s dynamics of dealing with the local actors through everyday practices, which are understood as informal means or practices of interaction with the local actors in the framework of three key issues of relevance for statebuilding process for the EU: rule of law, reforming public administration and resolving bilateral disputes. The book shows how the EU utilize...
A Theory of De Facto States offers a new perspective on the phenomenon of de facto states — political communities that manifest forms of statehood in international politics but lack international legal recognition — zooming in on two prominent examples, Somaliland and Kosovo. Employing a thorough understanding of classical realist theories of international relations, this book provides a fresh critique of the common ways in which existing research tends to identify the ostensible state features of these communities. In contrast to the prevalent portrayals of such features in terms of international legal, discursive, and/or everyday logics, this book argues that de facto states can be most fundamentally characterised as exceptional polities in international relations. Showcasing how the statehood and sovereignty of de facto states is based in international political crises, this book concludes that these entities function as recurring disruptions of any supposed international political order. A Theory of De Facto States will therefore be of interest to researchers of secession, de facto statehood, and International Relations theory alike.
This book explores how actors practise sovereignty as a force in a multiscalar context. Among the various power structures that perform sovereignty, such as the head of state, a legislative body, or the military, one aspect is clear: the practice of sovereignty relies upon people at multiple levels - better portrayed as scales - of authority. This book focuses on actors – the people who bring sovereignty to life, who imbue it with meaning, and who are ultimately responsible for its practice. With that perspective, the volume interprets various case studies, such as Russian approaches to sovereignty in its leadership and Central Bank, Scottish parties' discourses, and NATO command structure...
This book develops a holistic understanding of the intrinsic security concerns which lie at the heart of the protracted conflict in Cyprus. This work offers a well-grounded account of intractability in Cyprus by unfolding the rationale and prevalence of competitive approaches held by Greek and Turkish Cypriots alike. The analysis explains how crude security interests give birth to an existentialist security dilemma that has so far prevented Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and their security guarantors, from reaching a durable settlement. This book contains a systematic critique of the breadth and depth of the major security concerns embedded in the proposed federal bi‐zonal framework for Cypru...
This edited book explores diverse contestations and transformations of sovereignty around the world. Sovereignty plays a central role in modern political thought and practice, but it also remains fundamentally contested. Depending on the context and perspective, it seems either omnipresent or elusive, liberating or oppressive, fading or resilient. Indeed, if in recent decades sovereignty has been expected to wane, today it is back on the agenda; not as the solid bedrock of modern – international – politics, which it never was, but as variations on a concept and institution that are ever contested and, as a result, constantly transforming. Bringing together perspectives from various disci...