Muddying the diplomatic waters further with an unpalatable, and in all likelihood unattainable, “solution” wastes precious time and resources that now would be better devoted to achieving a stable ceasefire and an end to Russia’s aggression.
International Conflict Management
Ukraine: why a negotiated settlement on Donbas will be tough to achieve
Even the most difficult and protracted negotiations are preferable to the spectre of further armed conflict.
Territorial self-governance and separatism: The case of (eastern) Ukraine
Territorial self-governance can take many forms, from federation, to federacy, to devolution. Provided the conditions...
Decentralization Reloaded in Ukraine?
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President Zelenskiy’s draft decentralization law has become embroiled in long-established power struggles and had to be withdrawn.
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 unravelling of the Pakistani conflict settlement process between the government and the TTP in 2013-14. This has been a much-debated, yet so far...
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 its causes and management. But its origins as a subject of academic inquiry not only predate the end of the Cold War but also its inception, with some...
Connecting Human Rights and Conflict Resolution in Eastern Ukraine
How can international human rights protection mechanisms be employed in the gray zone of armed conflict in weak states? This question is particularly relevant for the war in eastern Ukraine where for five years residents have been without state aegis for their most basic human rights.
An Assessment of Global Values-based Benchmarks and Indicators
Building on the results of previous research for the Global Centre for Pluralism (GCP) that included a scan of audit and assessment tools, my colleague Argyro Kartsonaki and I, in this paper, provide an overview of four existing values-based audit tools and outline...
The merits and risks of reshaping internal power balances along subnational governance levels
Since the end of World War II, we have experienced a shift in conflict dynamics, from inter-state to intra-state conflicts. In 2016 alone, the world witnessed 47 intra-state conflicts. Today, wars are fought within state borders between a multiplicity of actors over the distribution of political power and national wealth both at and between the center and subnational governance levels. Marginalized groups are vying for greater autonomy at the local level, while those in control of the state—be they majorities or dominant minority groups—seek to consolidate political power at the center. Such intra-state conflicts with subnational dimensions are among the most protracted and violent conflicts.