The internationalisation of conflicts has made the study of the effects of external support a prominent subfield within peace and conflict studies. How supporting states affect conflict strategies and changes the conflict dynamic has been the prime concern of this thesis. I have argued that when a government actor is supported by an external state with high soft power, in the form of political and economic capital, the government is less inclined to use one-sided violence as a conflict strategy. By using the principal- agent theory as a model to explain the relationship between the supporter and the supported state, I have found support for my argument. The government of the Central African Republic has conducted low levels of one-sided violence when supported by the soft power France. The government of South Sudan, on the other hand, has conducted high levels of one-sided violence when supported by the non-soft power Uganda. By coming to this conclusion, this paper has introduced soft power as an important concept in peace and conflict studies while also helping to elucidate the role of external supporters in conflict strategies. Future research should develop on the findings in this thesis by controlling for other possible explanations to why one-sided violence decreases depending on the characteristics of the support and include a greater number of cases.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the United Nations (UN) role in the resolution, management and termination of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with specific reference to the UN Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). The aim emanates from the basic research question: To what extent did the deployment of MONUC contribute to the termination of internal conflict in the DRC and create conditions conducive for the holding of democratic elections? The research problem generated four subsidiary questions: Was the intention of the drafters of the Lusaka Agreement for the UN converted into a viable peacekeeping mission, especially in the early phases of the mission? Did MONUC receive adequate resources to fulfil its task, commensurate with the size and complexity of the operational theatre and its mandate? Why was a development such as the deployment of Interim Emergency Multi National Force (IEMF) in Ituri (2003) necessary, given the fact that MONUC was deployed? Were the expectations regarding MONUC involvement in the disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration, resettlement and repatriation (DDRRR) programme and the domestic disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration (DDR) programme realistic? Therefore four sub-problems were addressed, namely the issue of the mission mandate; the resourcing of the mission relative to the mandate and the operational theatre; the external augmentation of the mission; and the MONUC role in DDRRR and DDR. Following a definition of the concept internal conflict and a discussion of the factors contributing to internal conflict, the theory of peacekeeping was described to determine a framework for the evaluation of the UN peace mission in the DRC, based on the recommendations of the 2000 Brahimi Report. Emphasis was placed on the mandate, force levels and composition, and operational capability. A historic overview contextualised the complex conflict situation in the DRC that the UN was required to help ameliorate. MONUC made a contribution to the termination of internal conflict in the DRC by managing the conflict in a fashion that permitted democratic elections to be held. This was achieved despite the fact that the actual deployment of MONUC (in terms of its functioning, especially regarding DDRRR) did not meet the requirements for a UN force as envisaged by the signatories of the 1999 Lusaka Agreement. The expectations of the signatories regarding DDRRR were not realistic, but the UN response in terms of the mandate and allocation of resources also fell far below what was required to establish a credible UN peace mission. The graduated approach ensured a reactive MONUC posture in the field, but the reticence to provide adequate resources in response to political and operational developments necessitated the external augmentation of the mission on two occasions. While this development brought a new facet of ‘co-deployment’ in UN peacekeeping operations to he fore, it also served to highlight the MONUC deficiencies in terms of its ‘responsibility to protect’ civilians under threat of violence. MONUC was mandated from its inception to discharge this responsibility, without receiving the necessary resources to enable the conduct of operations to protect civilians. This inability resulted in the mission lacking credibility amongst the population of the DRC. Copyright / Dissertation (MSS)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Political Sciences / MSS / Unrestricted

En 2003, la Commission de vérité et de réconciliation du Pérou (CVR) publie un rapport sur la période de guerre interne et de violence qui a déchiré le pays entre 1980 et 2000. Ce rapport étudie ces deux décennies pour faire la lumière sur les événements et évaluer la position de divers secteurs de la société afin que les Péruviens puissent se réconcilier avec un pan de leur histoire. Dans son rapport, la CVR consacre une section aux médias, notamment la presse écrite, et salue le rôle « important » qu’ils ont joué, tout en notant au passage que leur couverture du conflit n’a pas favorisé la pacification du pays et a même pu la compromettre par moments. Ce mémoire vise à étudier la couverture de la guerre interne par les trois quotidiens péruviens les plus importants pour le tirage, Expreso, El Comercio, et La República. Il porte surtout sur la période comprise entre le début des hostilités, le 17 mai 1980, et le massacre de huit journalistes dans le village andin d’Uchuraccay, le 26 janvier 1983. Un regard est également jeté sur l’évolution du journalisme au Pérou depuis les années 1960, marquées par l’élection d’un gouvernement démocratique et aussi par l’instauration d’un régime militaire qui se maintiendra au pouvoir pendant 12 ans. Les bouleversements au cours de cette période difficile expliquent, au moins en partie, le désintérêt initialement manifesté par ces quotidiens, au-delà des différences idéologiques manifestes, à l’endroit des premiers pas du Sentier Lumineux et de sa « guerre populaire ». / In 2003, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Peru published a report on the internal war and violence that tore the country apart from 1980 to 2000. The report studied those two decades in order to shed light on the events, investigating the involvement of different sectors of society, so that Peruvians would be able to come to peace with their recent history. In its report, the TRC had a section on the media – including the written press. The report underscored the “important” role the media had played, but also stated that their coverage of the war might not have helped bring peace and may have even at times worsened the situation. This thesis aims to study the coverage of the internal war by the three daily newspapers with the largest circulation, Expreso, El Comercio and La República. It focuses on the period between the start of the war on May 17, 1980 and the massacre of eight journalists in the Andean village of Uchuraccay on January 26, 1983. It also considers the evolution of Peruvian journalism since the 1960s, when a democratic government was elected and a military junta subsequently took power and held it for 12 years. Beyond the ideological differences that characterize the three papers studied, this rocky period accounts for, at least partially, the initial lack of interest shown by the newspapers towards the first guerilla actions of the Shining Path and its popular war.

No description available.

This thesis examines the internal dynamics of the Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone over the course of the civil war waged from 1991-2002. It does so in two parts, looking first at the RUF’s organizational capacity—its ability to emerge and survive as a group; and second, at its material viability—the logistics and procurement of food, weapons, and other resources required to sustain war. The RUF has become a paradigmatic case for the study of war and rebel groups in Africa. Although much has been written on the group and its violence, comparatively little is known about the inner-workings of the organization and how a largely forcibly recruited group of ill-equipped thousands managed to pose a viable threat to the state for over a decade. Through a fine-grained, case-based analysis, this study applies research on the microdynamics of violence in civil war to the structural and logistical mechanics that underpin it. Doing so contextualizes debates about resource wars, collective violence, and mobilization and onset within the RUF’s own strategies for controlling these aspects of war- making. New primary material, including rebel archive documents, describes the extensive military and civilian governance structures through which order and cohesion were established and enforced. Tracking the success and failure of these mechanisms helps explain the disconnect between rebel rhetoric and behaviour. A detailed examination of the RUF’s material capacity applies this organizational analysis to the group’s strategic priorities for survival. It reorients the resource war debate toward what actually fuels fighting on the ground. Food has long been overlooked as the primary requirement for group survival, and ammunition the basic element of military viability. These ‘low politics’ of survival explain the nature of the war and underscore the importance of shifting factors, such as territorial control, in shaping rebel behaviour. Finally, the ‘high politics’ of international arms trades and global diamond markets illumine changes in the RUF’s firepower and personalization of power, returning to the organizational failings that ultimately led to the group’s dissolution.

The thesis "Concept Responsibility to Protect Within International Community: Sudan Case Study" focuses on the R2P concept and its implications since its approval at the World Summit in 2005. The theoretical part of the thesis explains the R2P concept, its constitution, the three pillars and their main principles, and categories of crimes on which the concept can be applied. This section includes an analysis of attitudes, which the key international actors adopted towards the R2P. The last chapter of the theoretical part examines the main problems, challenges and difficulties of the concept which could the international community face when implementing the concept. The practical part of this thesis relates to the conflict in Darfur. Its first chapter deals with the evolution of tensions in Sudan, which had affected the current conflict. The second chapter focuses on the present conflict since its beginning in 2003, including the debate about the possibility of potential genocide committed by the Sudanese government. The involvement of the key international actors (the UNSC and AU) in the conflict is discussed in this part as well. Finally, the last part interconnects the concept through the three pillars with the conflict and; it evaluates functioning of the R2P in the case of Sudan. The evaluation...

In 2016, the case of Sepur Zarco in Guatemala marked the first time that a national jurisdiction recognized sexual violence in the context of armed conflict as a crime against humanity. This occurred in a case concerning indigenous women, within a country profoundly marked by gender-based violence and indigenous peoples’ marginalization. In order to account for the lack of reconciliation that has led to the present prevalence of sexist and racial discrimination, this study analyzes it as a transitional justice case. Through an impact evaluation, it interrogates the effectiveness of the legal path for victim-survivors, for rewriting historical narratives, and for promoting reconciliation. The qualitative indicators used include secondary data and interviews conducted with those who worked on the case. Findings suggest that although transitional justice legal cases are often met with backlash, they also empower social movements that promote democracy. The benefits tied to the legal tool, however, are conditional to the use of adequate strategies, which include active victims’ participation and the use of international standards. Moreover, successful cases require a legitimate national legal system that considers its population’s needs.

In my dissertation, I explore social strategies that Peruvian subalterns have developed to survive against racism and discrimination. I have identified and coined one of these strategies as etnovaivén (ethno-sway), which I define as a pendulum-like approach that allows subalterns to swing/sway from blanqueamiento to cholificación, and vice versa. In this context, blanqueamiento (whitening) mainly refers to the subaltern's willingness and efforts to assimilate the white culture in order achieve upward social mobility, whereas cholificación depicts the reluctance of Indian and mestizo subalterns to assimilate the cultural norms of the dominant group in certain circumstances, while asserting their own ethnic identity. Conversely, etnobúmeran (ethno-boomerang) is a self-inflicted boycott to one’s own ethnic groups. I claim that Peruvian subalterns shape their cultural singularity between ethno-sway and ethno-boomerang. My research has examined these social phenomena as reflected in the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega’s Comentarios reales (1609), Clorinda Matto de Turner’s Aves sin nido (1889), and Enrique López Albújar’s Matalaché (1928). In addition, in La ciudad y los perros (1963) by Mario Vargas Llosa, Montacerdos (1981) by Cronwell Jara, La violencia del tiempo (1991) by Miguel Gutiérrez, and Hienas en la niebla (2010) by Juan Morillo, I have analyzed the historical connection between miscegenation, discrimination, inequality and violence, which progressively led to the Internal Conflict (1980-2000), the goriest and longest war in Peru’s republican history that resulted in the assassination of approximately 70 000 persons, most of them Quechua-speaking, ordinary civilians. Highlanders fleeing from terrorism during those two decades account for the depopulation of over 2/3 of the Andean region. This study is both relevant and pertinent because it intersects with contemporary debates about national identity formation, and because it provides a means to understand the aftermath of political violence, a phenomenon that periodically threatens the lives of Peruvians. My work contests the traditional thesis of racial and cultural miscegenation as the foundation of Peruvian national identity (the "melting pot" metaphor), which has proven to be ineffective. Instead, I propose a more inclusive identity concept that celebrates cultural diversity and accepts the coexistence of multiple ethnic and cultural groups within the confines of the nation.