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The dissertation is divided into two parts. Part I will concentrate on the theoretical debate and will put forward hypotheses on the functioning of security institutions. This section updates the classical literature on collective security with contemporary contributions and original insights and it attempts to shed light on the limits of the current debate between paradigms on the question of international institutions. Chapter 2 will summarize the arguments of the main paradigms. The two main positions - the neorealist/pessimistic one and the liberal/optimistic one - will be analyzed and a new concept of the conditional utility of institutions in international relations will be proposed, attempting to overcome the "all or nothing" deadlock of the current debate. The other three chapters of Part I will concentrate on the central concept of the work. Chapter 3 will introduce the various definitions of collective security and their position within the wider contest of the theory of international relations. In particular, it will be argued that there are two different conceptions of collective security. A maximalist one defines the concept as a security system replacing all other mechanisms. A minimalist one sees collective security as an international regime which can operate alongside other mechanisms. Chapter 4 will analyze the limits and the shortcomings of the maximalist conception, which is both unrealistic and even counterproductive. Chapter 5 will look at the positive effects of collective security either as an instrument for dealing with specific contingencies or as a general framework for facilitating cooperation and improving international standards of behaviour. Part II applies the findings of the first section to the historical record and to three case studies: the Abyssinian crisis, the Korean War and the Gulf Conflict The cases were selected because they are the only uncontroversial instances in which collective security has been applied and because they are conveniently placed in three different international systems: the multipolar inter-war period, the bipolar Cold War and the post-Cold War period. Finally, in the conclusion, crucial issues for practitioners will be highlighted with special reference to the prospects for a more stable system in the future.

Contemporary civil wars are often characterized not only by fighting between rebels and governments, but also by rebel violence against their own community members. In spite of repeated peace negotiations, many of these conflicts seem to go on endlessly. Such instances may reflect attempts or failures on the part of the non-state side to consolidate. To confront the government on the battle field or at the negotiation table, rebels need to become an effective fighting force as well as effective negotiators. So, what do rebels do to consolidate to wage war and negotiate peace? The dissertation approaches the question of rebel capacity by disaggregating the non-state side in civil war and in connection with peace talks. The dissertation offers a set of original case studies from three ethno-separatist conflicts: Sri Lanka, Indonesian Aceh, and Senegal. It combines qualitative methods with one study also containing basic regression analysis. The empirical analysis reveals that the risk perceptions, information asymmetries, and commitment issues that often mark the relationship between the state and non-state parties are also prevalent within the non-state party. The overall argument is that rebels’ consolidation of their capacity to fight and negotiate entails different processes. More specifically, it first specifies conditions under which rebels use violence against members of their own ethnic community as part of the war against the government by emphasizing the importance of timing, territorial control, and ethnic demographic concentration. Second, it explores and highlights the importance of the rich repertoire of non-violent methods which rebels employ to enhance their fighting capacity. Third, it draws attention to the significant role of social network structures on the non-state side by empirically examining these structures, and their relationship to civil war dynamics and peace negotiations. Fourth, it sheds new light on pre-negotiation and ripeness theory by specifying the elements on the non-state side that need to be mobilized for a peace settlement, and what mobilization measures are used at what time. By furthering an understanding of the non-state side in civil war and peace processes, the dissertation helps third parties to engage more constructively in peacemaking, and humanitarian and development assistance.

In South Africa, little is documented on the strategies for addressing conflicts in schools and on the problems that are caused by lack of viable conflict management strategies in schools. Principals exist in a world of problems that always have the potential to result in serious conflicts. Their abilities to solve problems and manage conflict efficiently and effectively are important measures of their school leadership. Current literature in conflict management, particularly in developed countries like U.S.A and U.K concentrates on the issues that the frequency of conflict has destructive consequences for some schools. The apparent inability of those involve to manage conflict in schools constructively pointed to a serious need for programmes to be formulated with regard to actions to be taken and training that is needed for principals to manage conflict. These studies show that the very nature of schools invites conflict because schools are composed of individuals that have diverse and conflicting values, personalities, goals, perceptions and interests. the purpose of this study was to determine from the literature the nature and the scope of conflict management in schools and to investigate empirically the problems that are caused by the lack of viable conflict management strategies in schools. Furthermore, to examine the current conflict management models for schools with the ultimate aim of developing a conflict management model for secondary schools principals in the North West Province. The study also examined the existing conflict management models. The conflict management models investigated revolve around the idea that in any organization there is a we-them distinction between the parties. Energies are directed towards the other party in any atmosphere of total victory. Each party in a conflict situation, sees the issue from its own perspective, rather than defining the problem in terms of mutual needs. There are important theories that provide a background to the concept of conflict. Researchers have advanced different theories to explain the origin of conflict. Swindle (1996), Rahim (1990), Benyon and Solomon (1997), Cronk (1997), Bloch (1997) and others have proposed a wide spectrum of theories to account for the rise of conflict. According to bureaucratic theory, the existence of conflict in an organization is evidence of organization breakdown and that there has been a failure on the part of the management to plan adequately or to exercise sufficient power and control. On the other hand, the human relation theory view conflict as an especially negative and evidence of failure to develop appropriate norms in the organization. Maslow argues that there exists in people a wide range of needs, which determine behaviour and motivation. In his hierarchy of needs theory, he postulates that people have physical needs such as a need for shelter and food. He also states that, people have needs for security, for love, for recognition, for self-esteem and fulfilment. The theory of needs as a driving force for human actions has been advanced by other scholars, such as Adair (1995), Jones and Jones (1995) and Burton (1997). They state that the failure to satisfy the needs mentioned above, results in frustration, insecurity, withdrawal and a persistence to fulfil them even in socially unacceptable ways that may result in conflict. The majority of the respondents 378 (90%) viewed intensive training in conflict management as an extremely important required skill for the principals, meaning that not possessing this skill would render it highly impossible for the principals to manage conflicts in schools effectively and efficiently. Principals spend most of their time dealing with or resolving conflicts caused by teachers, parents and learners. Most of these problems emanate from not complying with some of the policies of the Department of Education. It is therefore, of paramount importance that the Department of Education organizes workshops on the modem trends of conflict management and resolution strategies for the principals. For the principals to manage conflicts effectively and efficiently, they must be prepared to undergo training in conflict management and resolution strategies. These findings support what is suggested by the literature consulted. The literature consulted revealed that lack of viable conflict management in schools could be ascribed to the fact that the Department of Education does not give conflict management in schools the attention that it deserves. The survey population was drawn from twelve educational districts of the North West Province. From all the secondary schools in the North West Province (N = 365) a random sampling (n=500) was selected by randomly samples of 5 secondary schools in each of the twelve educational districts of the North West Province. In each of the fitly (50) randomly selected secondary schools in the North West Province: 1 principal; 1 deputy principal, 3 heads of departments and 5 teachers were requested to complete the questionnaires. Thus the sample of (n=500) was composed of ten (10) respondents from each of the fifty (50) randomly selected secondary schools in the twelve educational districts of the North West Province. A computer-aided statistical analysis was employed. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)-programme was used to compute the results of the study. The first step in the analysis of data was to compute descriptive data for each respondent in the study. These include statistics like frequency distribution, percentages, mean scores, standard deviation and chi-square. The study also revealed that the majority of the respondents were of the opinion that conflict is a product of many factors that go wrong in the school Evaluation of teachers and incompetence of certain teachers have emerged as one of the important causes of conflict in most schools. Misunderstandings, insulting remarks and racist remar1ts were ranked high under the causes of conflict in schools. Major findings of this investigation revealed that conflicts in schools are caused by problems arising from not complying with some of the policies of the Education Department; unprofessional behaviour of certain teachers; scarcity of resources; clash of personality traits and abrupt changes. Effects of lack of viable conflict management strategies in schools were also revealed in this investigation. Conflicts that drag over a period of time impede the culture of learning and teaching; conflict produces irresponsible behaviour; conflict decreases expected production; conflict destroys morale and conflict diverts energy that could have been used to achieve the vision and mission of the school. Problems identified by Everard and Morris (1990) and Robbins (1995) in the U.K. help us to understand problems in developed countries. For example, the problems caused by lack of viable conflict management strategies in schools as experienced by principals in the U.K. and U.S.A. However, it is noted that principals in developing countries are also concerned about the problems that are caused by lack of viable conflict management strategies, how lack of conflict management affects the overall performance of the school and essential skills needed by principals to manage conflicts effectively and efficiently. little attention is paid to develop comprehensive conflict management models for principals, more especially in developing countries like South Africa. Similarly, little is written about how the principals go about resolving conflicts in schools. The theoretical framewor1t provided forms the basic rationale for developing a conflict management model for principals; a comprehensive conflict management model was developed. The main purpose of this study was to develop a conflict management model that could be used by principals as a guide when solving conflicts that usually emerge in schools. The study recommends that, since lack of viable conflict management strategies affect the overall academic performance of the learners and conflict is inevitable; the principals must be well prepared and equipped to manage all forms of conflicts that emerge in schools. Principals have a great responsibility of managing conflict to such an extent that it does not escalate to a point where it ruins the aims of learning. The majority of the respondents indicated that it is extremely important for the principals to possess conflict management skills, styles, techniques and conflict resolution strategies if they want to curb conflicts in schools. A poor principal manages conflict in one of the following ways: He swallows it and develops ulcers, or he spits it out and digests his colleagues with a barrage of threats and bureaucratic cliches, or he avails himself of cloak-and dagger "strategies-whereby his integrity and credibility as a leader are sometimes permanently destroyed by his own senseless behaviour. / (Ph.D.) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2004

Blended families are fast becoming the pattern for marriage in a century where divorce is prevalent. This study focussed on the fact that couples are not being adequately prepared through premarital counselling for the problem areas found within the blended family. The basis theoretical perspective revealed that problems that are typical today within the blended family were shown to be present from the moment that man deviated from God's plan for the ideal marriage, and that many examples of this are found in the Bible. The meta theoretical perspective showed that there are very specific problems associated with couples who consider marriage for a second time. The research indicated that the conflict manifested itself w i t h four major areas: Parental conflict; discipline of children; maternal negativity; and the crisis of identity found within stepchildren. The empirical section of this study revealed that the premarital counselling used by couples facing a blended marriage did not adequately prepare them and that of all the couples surveyed, whether they had done premarital counselling or not, all had struggled within the same areas in their marriages. It was found that there were large gaps within the premarital counselling given and that these gaps correlated with the four main conflict issues mentioned earlier. Furthermore, the study showed that the church is not regarded as being the institution that can help blended families in their conflict issues. Remarital counselling guidelines have been proposed in the form of an acronym 'WISER FAMILIES'. These guidelines address particularly the conflict areas that the research identified, which were not addressed by conventional premarital counselling. Guidelines were also proposed for churches, to assist them in dealing with the problems experienced by blended families, and suggests practical ways to meet their needs, using the implementation of support and focus groups. / Thesis (M.A. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

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The purpose of this study was to examine the daily exchanges between Hispanic students of Mexican descent and European American teachers in urban schools and how these exchanges can result in a sense of frustration and powerlessness by Hispanic students affecting their academic success. The day-to-day interactions between teacher and student may be a result of intergroup conflict. As this was an exploratory study to examine the daily exchanges between Hispanic students of Mexican descent and their European American teachers, a qualitative case study methodology was used to collect and report the data for the study. This case study approach was helpful in examining the students? perceptions of intergroup conflict and how these cultural differences affected their exchanges. The data were collected through interviews and through observations made while visiting the urban high schools where the participants of the research study once attended. The study took place in a metropolitan city in South Central Texas. Included in this study were five male and five female Hispanic students of Mexican descent who were in their first or second year of college and who participated in two focus groups to validate their responses. The intergroup properties that were identified in this study were areas of conflict between the students and their European American teachers that affected their classroom relationships and their academic success. The properties of intergroup conflict were used to identify causes of conflict between the students and their European American teachers. The properties of intergroup conflict areas revealed in the study were (a) incompatible goals, (b) competitions for resources, (c) cultural and power differences, and (d) group boundaries. The quick increase in the Hispanic population has almost doubled the number of Hispanic students in public schools. The majority of these students are often clustered in urban schools. A disproportionate number of failing schools, across grade levels, serve predominately poor and minority students. Of equal importance is the statistic that 85% of teachers working in public schools in the United States are White. With the increase in students of color in schools, there is research showing that students are treated differently and that the cultural background of the student is often a reason for this differential treatment. As identified in the study and through the properties of intergroup conflict, cultural differences among various demographically diverse groups, such as the students and teachers studied here, lead to misperceptions that eventually lead to conflicts. Potential conflicts, due to teacher and student diversity and to opposing interests, occurred in the day-to-day exchanges in the classrooms.

The objectives of foreign aid are closely associated with the global political and economic issues during the last 60 years. In recent years foreign aid flows have been considerably influenced by international terrorism. In this paper I attempt to investigate whether and how sectoral aid has affected international conflicts and intra-country violence. The analysis is initiated by case studies. I use graphical analysis to examine the rationale and disbursements of sectoral foreign aid to Iraq and Afghanistan from 2002 to 2010. It is discovered that aid for agriculture and food are extremely low in these conflict areas. Then I use a comprehensive panel data to show the relationships between conflicts/violence and sectoral foreign aid covering 123 developing countries from 2002 to 2010. It shows that agricultural aid can significantly reduce conflict, and aid for food security can significantly mitigate violence. Aid for some sectors will increase conflict/violence. Finally I use directed acyclic graphs (DAG) to present preliminary results on the structure of causality among conflicts/violence and sectoral aid, showing that aid to government is positively associated with both conflict and violence.