History is often said to repeat itself or at least to rhyme. Decentralization in Ukraine has been on and off the agenda of successive governments since the country’s independence in 1991. Much like previous attempts to decentralize power, President Zelenskiy’s draft decentralization law has become embroiled in long-established power struggles and had to be withdrawn.
International Conflict Management
Predators and Peace: Explaining the Failure of the Pakistani Conflict Settlement Process in 2013-4
In this article in Civil Wars, my colleagues Talat Farooq, Scott Lucas, and I ask whether US drone strikes caused the...
Critical Concepts in Political Science: Ethnic Conflict
The study of ethnic conflict saw its heyday in the aftermath of the Cold War with a proliferation of theories about...
Al-Qaeda: thinking local in regional turmoil spells trouble for the West
Al-Qaeda may not have regained the global threat potential that it posed a decade or so ago – at least, not yet. But its local and regional efforts have made it, in many cases, a powerful and entrenched source of instability. If left unchecked, such local and regional power can grow into something altogether more terrible.
Ugandan intervention holds little hope for South Sudan conflict
Without a broader regional approach – and a consensual one at that – neither South Sudan nor the region as a whole are likely to see more stability in the future.
Peace and security in Africa: from summitry to solutions
The widespread lack of peace and security is not the only problems that Africa faces, but they are at the heart of them: development and good governance cannot thrive in situations of violence and instability. As such, the very theme of the summit–Peace and Security in Africa–is very aptly chosen. It is a reflection of the challenges for Africa, as well as of the concerns and self-interests of its international partners.
Self-determination after Kosovo
Co–edited with Annemarie Peen Rodt, this special issue was published by Europe-Asia Studies. It presents the results of several years of collaborative work among the contributing authors who first discussed individual papers at a workshop at the International...
Kenya is Somalia’s latest victim in a region of failed states
Hopefully, the sheer scale of the Nairobi attack serves as a wake-up call that triggers a renewed effort by Somalians, their neighbours, and their international partners to come together and finally address a decades-old crisis that has slowly but undeniably spun out of control.
Syria and the wider crisis of international diplomacy
What we see in Syria now illustrates the inability of global leaders to lead and offer strategic vision of engagement with each other that would enable a more constructive and pragmatic approach to problem-solving. Not only does this harm great power interests but with a look at the ever worsening humanitarian crisis in and around Syria it also makes a mockery of the values they purport to defend.