The current socio-economic and political landscape of Sudan and South Sudan can be described as one that is war-ridden and deeply divided by religion, culture, ethnicity and ownership over oil. It has been more than twelve months since the secession of Southern Sudan from the North (See Map 1). Despite the secession, general instability continues. To deal with this turmoil, Sudan declared a so-called “state of emergency” in 2012 along its border with South Sudan. The reason for this was the on-going tension between North Sudan and South Sudan over ownership of the oil-rich Abyei area. This conflict over oil is furthermore fuelled by diverse internal divisions among the Sudanese population (North and South). Sudanese diversity is characterized by two opposing antagonistic religious groupings, namely the Arabic North, whose main religious belief is Islam, and the so-called “black Africans” in the South, whose religious belief is mainly Christianity or Animist. In addition to this primary division there are also over 570 ethnic groups in Sudan (North and South). Conflicts and tension between the different ethnic groups is furthermore caused by disputes over natural resources such as water, livestock and land as well as political power and economic gains. Despite the continued conflict the assumption in this study was that the signing and implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) (2005–2011) represented a potential step towards eventual stability. This dissertation therefore focuses, as a case study, on an analytical description of the CPA and its outcomes. Specific reference was made to the role and impact of political mobilization by using an instrumental approach as a framework for analysis. In the above regard, research centred on the following three themes: *Ethnic mobilization as a factor in the political destabilization of Sudan since independence and towards the implementation of the CPA; *Ethnic mobilization as a guideline in the structuring of the CPA; and *Ethnic mobilization and the eventual outcome of the CPA. By addressing the above themes, the study attempted firstly to provide a balanced perspective on the causes of continued instability and conflict in Sudan. Secondly, an attempt was made to provide a future scenario for the possible unfolding of socio-economic and political developments in Sudan and South Sudan. / MA (Political studies), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

The current socio-economic and political landscape of Sudan and South Sudan can be described as one that is war-ridden and deeply divided by religion, culture, ethnicity and ownership over oil. It has been more than twelve months since the secession of Southern Sudan from the North (See Map 1). Despite the secession, general instability continues. To deal with this turmoil, Sudan declared a so-called “state of emergency” in 2012 along its border with South Sudan. The reason for this was the on-going tension between North Sudan and South Sudan over ownership of the oil-rich Abyei area. This conflict over oil is furthermore fuelled by diverse internal divisions among the Sudanese population (North and South). Sudanese diversity is characterized by two opposing antagonistic religious groupings, namely the Arabic North, whose main religious belief is Islam, and the so-called “black Africans” in the South, whose religious belief is mainly Christianity or Animist. In addition to this primary division there are also over 570 ethnic groups in Sudan (North and South). Conflicts and tension between the different ethnic groups is furthermore caused by disputes over natural resources such as water, livestock and land as well as political power and economic gains. Despite the continued conflict the assumption in this study was that the signing and implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) (2005–2011) represented a potential step towards eventual stability. This dissertation therefore focuses, as a case study, on an analytical description of the CPA and its outcomes. Specific reference was made to the role and impact of political mobilization by using an instrumental approach as a framework for analysis. In the above regard, research centred on the following three themes: *Ethnic mobilization as a factor in the political destabilization of Sudan since independence and towards the implementation of the CPA; *Ethnic mobilization as a guideline in the structuring of the CPA; and *Ethnic mobilization and the eventual outcome of the CPA. By addressing the above themes, the study attempted firstly to provide a balanced perspective on the causes of continued instability and conflict in Sudan. Secondly, an attempt was made to provide a future scenario for the possible unfolding of socio-economic and political developments in Sudan and South Sudan. / MA (Political studies), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

This master’s thesis is a result of research conducted during six weeks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the contribution of the Dayton peace agreement to process of nation building in Bosnia has become counter productive as it contains elements of both nation-state and state-nation foundation. The study strives to understand the question of identity and how people in Bosnia view themselves and Others, and how they view the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina in combination with the Dayton peace agreement. Qualitative methods such as semi-structured and focused interviews as well as participatory and direct observations built the base for the data collection. The hermeneutic method is used as an approach to comprehend and to handle the findings. As my personal background contains pre-understandings of the chosen topic, I have chosen to use them throughout the research instead of ignoring them as the objective of this study is not to come to a final response of this topic, but instead to bring forward an alternative angle of the identified problem. The result of this study indicates that people in Bosnia and Herzegovina tend to identify in terms of ethno-national identity groups primarily where religion and territory have a decisive role in shaping identity, while a common Bosnian identity has fallen behind. It also reveals that the Dayton peace agreement damages the idea of a common Bosnian identity and questions the idea of Bosnia all together. This research suggests that a nation-state bottom-up process in Bosnia is little perceptible, due to the lack of a common Bosnian identity. The results from this study indicate that Bosnia does not fit the state-nation definition, nor the nation-state definition for several reasons while both state-nation and nation-state building are visible on regional levels. The Dayton peace agreement has initiated a very difficult political situation with extremely complex state structures and limited possibilities for change. The ethno-national division of three, and the constitutive tying of particular groups to specific territories, has hampered both the societal and political situation in Bosnia.

In peace and conflict research the study of peace agreement implementation has often focussed on the duration of peace. This however risks overlooking the implementation of the peace agreement as a whole. Simultaneously, the relationship between biased versus neutral mediators and the degree of agreement implementation has not been systematically investigated. This study addresses this gap by asking: how does biased mediation affect the implementation of peace agreements? I apply the logic of theories on artificial incentives for peace (Beardsley 2008) and argue that biased mediators will create and use more temporary incentives to induce the warring parties towards a negotiated settlement. Once a peace agreement is signed and the mediator’s influence wanes, it is argued that these artificial incentives ultimately result in reduced momentum for implementation and a lower degree of implementation overall. This leads to the expected hypothesis that if a mediator is biased peace agreements will be implemented to a lower degree. Using the methods of structured, focussed comparison and process tracing, this paper will compare the mediation and implementation processes in the Tajikistan and Burundian civil wars. The findings display partial support for the hypothesised causal mechanism, although the hypothesis overall is not supported.

Proposed Topic: "Assessment of Multinational Federalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina" Registered in SIS: Yes Date of registration: 21.10.2011 Topic Characteristics: This research proposal will basically refer to functionality of federal values that lead to a federal political culture in the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Dayton Peace Agreement signed in 1995 by focusing on the federal model that has been applied with Constitution, as a part of the said agreement. Hence, it will show to what extent the conflict that had led to the Bosnian War of 1992-1995 was resolved by implementing a federal model and constitution in 1995 and if so, what is the role of federalism in it. I have chosen the way of assessing multinational federalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina to evaluate federal system in post-war period in order to have a better perspective to observe the ability of federal state to enhance Bosnia as a unity. Today Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks constitute the main national identities, in Republika Srpska and in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, two constituent entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina .Republika Srpska, as it could be understood from the name- Serb Republic, is led by an administration representing a Serbian majority whereas Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), known...

The aim of this paper is to examine and describe the framing of the concept gender within the Colombian anti-gender campaign against the peace accord between FARC-EP and the government of Colombia. By implementing a frame analysis of gender, this study examines how actors within the resistance movement framed the concept of gender, and how they linked it to the resistance of the peace accord. 14 news articles from the Colombian news websites El Espectador and Portafolio, written between 2016.08.10 and 2016.10.01, have been selected and analyzed in a profound way. The result shows that the gender resistance was often based on the theory of a gender ideology, and gender was expressed as a threat to the traditional family values. Future plausible scenarios including homosexuality, such as a homosexual dictatorship, were presented by some actors. The most prominent actors within the anti-gender movement were the right-wing politicians Alejandro Ordóñez and Álvaro Uribe, as well as Ángela Hernández from the party La U. To vote against the peace accord in the plebiscite was the only solution expressed in the material. This study encourages future research to examine any possible causality between the framing of gender and the result of the plebiscite.

<p>The aim of this study is to analyse the institutional problems which restrain the repatriation of refugees and displaced persons to and within Bosnia and Hercegovina with examples from the municipalities of Ilidza, Bosnia and Hercegovina. With intention to fulfil the aim of this study we will try to answer what problems that are connected to the Dayton Peace Agreement and how those problems impact the repatriation issue. Further we intend to discern what role the culture, values and norms play in the repatriation process. We also try to answer what formal institutional problems exist in BiH and what importance they constitute on the repatriation process. Finally we are discussing whether it is possible or not to institutionalise the repatriation process. The thesis is based on the interviews we made in BiH during the spring 2001.</p><p>During the war in BiH, more than 2,3 million people were displaced from their homes. Each of the wartime regimes allocated abandoned properties and established complex legal and administrative barriers to return, designed to make the separation of the population irreversible. In this way the separation of the population was permanent. Several years of international efforts have achieved a legal framework that recognises property rights as they stood at the beginning of the conflict, and establishes a legal and administrative claims process for the repossession of the property.</p><p>DPA is considered one of the most complicated peace agreements ever constructed and it consists of several objectives, which aim to uphold a tolerant and democratic constitutional state. There are several paradoxes connected to Annex 7 and the fact that both entities were allowed to have their own constitutions, in which they do not recognise each other constitutional rights, may seem peculiar when they at the same time are supposed to constitute one unity, one country. The federal bodies in the country began to develop before the national bodies were functioning. This has created inconsistencies between the different bodies and between the different legal frameworks and DPA still has a long way to go before being completely implemented.</p><p>Ethnic nationalist feelings play an important role in political life in BiH and they constitute an effective impediment in the repatriation process. Nationalism has become a common element in the daily life in BiH. Thinking of that the entity constitutions refer to the citizens in the opposite entity as others shows how they perceive each other. After the war each ethnic group seems to concentrate on protecting their own rights, otherwise they will be lost. Citizens in BiH do not have the same constitutional rights in both entities and before this question is solved, a safe minority return is not possible. </p><p>The functioning of the judicial system is an important factor in the repatriation process. A problem is that the laws are often contradictory or incomplete. This problem is visible on the local level, where politicians often do not know which law to refer to the result is that the local actors do not know how to interpret the laws and then they often do it arbitrarily or they just ignore the laws. The result is often a situation of passing the buck and the citizen stands powerless to the public officials’ demands. This problem is referred to as the state wall of administrative silence and it is a frequent phenomenon at the local level that severely delays the repatriation process. This attitude reciprocity has been common in both municipalities for a long time, as well as in BiH in general, which has resulted in a slow and inefficient repatriation process.</p><p>Post-war Bosnia and Hercegovina finds itself at a crossroads between an antiquated mechanism that protects state authorities on the one hand, and a modern state institution that serves the citizens and protects their rights on the other. In BiH the new institutions imposed by external powers meet the old institutions, which still are powerful. Those are not synchronised in a way they should, i.e. the old structure or the structure leftover from the collapse of Yugoslavia impedes the new structure rather then collaborating with it. The issue of repatriation has been caught in a structural chaos and BiH has a long way to go before a non-political integration can become a reality. </p>

Chinese President Hu Jin-tao at the 2007 congress report for the first time "cross-strait can signed a peace agreement" the concept formally written to the Chinese Communist Party official report file, and Taiwan President Ma at the Presidential Palace on October 17, 2011, presided over the "golden years series fifth press conference," first emergency relief after the easy things first, the first post-administration" to promote the principles of cross-strait relations in the next 10 years, should be highly supportive of domestic public opinion, "countries do need "and" must be in the case of congressional oversight "three premise, on whether the two sides negotiating a" cross-strait peace agreement "carefully assess" as echoes, release both hope that the development of cross-strait peace and goodwill case, seemingly difficult to promote cross-strait political dialogue seems to have a ray of hope. But whether from the Mainland Affairs Council, or the Asia-Pacific Peace Research Foundation aimed at Taiwan island made routine public opinion polls show that the people of Taiwan in favor of the establishment that is unified, only a minority, while nearly 77% of people believe that "the People's Republic of China" is a " country", and 90% of people do not agree with the Chinese Communist Party says that" Taiwan is the People's Republic of China under the rule of the provinces "remarks. Which shows that even in the Taiwan people ideas and circumstances, the people of Taiwan reunification of Taiwan and the Chinese Communist Party there is still a considerable degree of exclusion, President Ma, In this case, the Government signed a "cross-strait peace agreement" will likely contact with the Communist authorities affects the sensitive nerves of the opposition parties and the people of Taiwan for "the signing of a peace agreement for unified prelude", the island of Taiwan public opinion tends to turn the key to negotiating a cross-strait peace agreement can be completed. Involve a wide spectrum of view of the "cross-strait peace agreement", should have considerable professional before they can be aware of another political map of the island of Taiwan generally showed the "North-Blue and South-Green" distribution, the study to be analyzed from the point of view of the southern region of scholars and experts cognition and analysis of the two sides negotiating a peace agreement, and to further assess the impact of the two sides signed a peace agreement within and external factors, and the introduction of the parties scholars to analyze the possibility of discussion on the "cross-strait peace agreement" in order to make recommendations and Thinking the road.

This thesis is an endeavor to develop a more thorough and nuanced understanding of the relationship between international and local actors in the post-Dayton state-building process in Bosnia. While state-building in Bosnia has received a considerable amount of attention and study, apprehension and depiction of the relationship between the international community and Bosnian governing officials has remained relatively homogeneous. This dominant account of the relationship has been that it is a contentious and oppositional one. To criticize the approach I highlighted two of its problematic aspects. These were the conception of the state, in the abstract, as a highly unified and cohesive entity. And, the depiction of internal and external as isolated and fixed actor-identities. The central argument of this thesis is that the international community and the nationalist parties (representing respectively the external and internal state actors) have become united in a mutually advantageous and mutually-reinforcing process of sharing power, responsibility, and blame. This process has been apparently oppositional but effectively cooperative, so that the outcome of twelve years of state-building has been the continued relevance and effective entrenchment of both the international community and the nationalist parties in the Bosnian state.

This dissertation focuses on the impact of China’s need for sustained access to oil resources in post-Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) Sudan and Southern Sudan. Applying an integrated conceptual framework (a combination of economic nationalism and Daniel Yergin’s three themes in which the political narratives of oil are grounded), China’s domestic drivers can be identified as the augmentation and security of national power, economic growth and autonomy, modernisation and substantial industrialisation. In order to fulfil these aims, China has a great need for natural resources, especially oil. A prime example of China’s pursuit of sustained access to oil resources is its involvement in the greater Sudan. As a result of the vast amounts of oil, as well as the absence of western competition, Sudan became an obvious choice for China. As a result of the signing of the CPA in 2005, China has had to adjust its principle of upholding formal state sovereignty (and its exclusive relationship with Sudan (Khartoum)), which practically means that it can engage with Southern Sudan (most importantly to secure its vast oil interests in the region). Evidence presented in this dissertation would suggest that it is likely that the greater Sudan is descending towards a possible violent breakup - the main reason being that the CPA has not been fully implemented, largely as a result of Sudan’s (Khartoum) attempts to stall and/or derail the CPA to continue its control over oil resources and the subordination of Southern Sudan. China is arguably the only state that has positive relations with, and substantial influence in, both Sudan (Khartoum) and (albeit to a lesser extent) Southern Sudan. Taking into account that the establishment of a context conducive to stability and peace in the greater Sudan is in its best strategic interest, China has a responsibility (to itself as well as to the greater Sudan) to bring Sudan (Khartoum) and Southern Sudan to the table to negotiate the most pressing issues. It can use its position as most important investor and importer of Sudanese oil to apply pressure on both sides to reach agreements on key outstanding matters, as well as to establish a framework for the road ahead. Even though China is in some circles regarded as Africa’s new colonising power, and even though there are many negative connotations attached to China’s modus operandi on the continent, it now has both the opportunity and the ability to use its influence to help bring about lasting peace to a country devastated by decades of civil war. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Political Sciences / unrestricted