Root Causes: Breakdown of Societies. Topics Last Week n WHEN AND HOW TO INTERVENE? (SOVEREIGNTY IN INTRA-STATE CONFLICTS) n CONTINUUM DEBATE: LINKING.

Root Causes: Breakdown of Societies

Topics Last Week WHEN AND HOW TO

INTERVENE? (SOVEREIGNTY IN INTRA-STATE CONFLICTS)

CONTINUUM DEBATE: LINKING RELIEF, REHABILITATION AND DEVELOPMENT

DECLINING RESOURCES, DISPARITIES IN ALLOCATION

MANAGEMENT INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL INTRA-ORGANIZATIONAL

TOPICS Management of International

Organizations (we didn’t finish last week)

Web resources & BBs for this course Sources of Conflict Continuation of Conflict

NOTE No mono-causal pathway exists (unique situations) Different levels of analysis (remember:

level mix, e.g., individual (nation) state international system

issue mix, and actor mix)

Realist theories of state power are now less useful Societal level theories deserve more attention (historical,

cultural, and so on)

Sources of Conflict Structural Sources

demise of empire failed states/weak states

Social and Psychological Sources of Identity ethnicity religion

Environmental sources Economic sources Military Technology Individuals? Development Cooperation

Structural sources Collapsed empires (e.g., collapse of the Soviet

Union & end of the Cold War) divide and rule from before the collapse! demise of central power => less restraint on rivalry split-up of territory (SU, Yugoslavia & Africa) conflict over (arbitrarily drawn) borders role of ethnicity & religion & desire for self-

determination “new” elites are not necessarily more democratic =>

replicate old imperial order A need for new empires? Or UN as alternative?

Structural sources Failed States: (empirical statehood vs state

sovereignty) non-democratic regimes

fear of democratization by (corrupt) elites weak state, authoritarianism, and corruption

state power as access to resources social exclusion & structural violence breakdown of two state-monopolies:

• monetary (tax, monetary system => internal regulation)

• violence (policing internally, army externally)

breakdown of civil society role of ethnicity & religion & desire for self-determination

and/or participation

Structural sources Failed States (empirical statehood vs state

sovereignty) tension between human rights & consolidation of

state power? ill-conceived international support withdrawal of super power support

Remember: state-building is always slow through modern state, educational system, media (promote 1 language & homogeneous culture). Think of the Basks, Corsica, Quebec, Aborigines.

Social and Psychological Sources of Identity

Ethnicity ethnopolitical trend started in the 60s,

became visible in the 90s Cultural identity is a

cross-class/gender/age basis for mobilization. It is a cultural bond not an associational one.

Redressing trauma or other grievances But ethnicity is malleable (clans in

Somalia, rasta in the UK). Nations & ethnic groups are also imagined communities: not everybody knows each other directly!

Ethnicity can lead to internal inclusion and external exclusion (the other)

Social and Psychological Sources of Identity

Religion Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” Double nature:

emphasis on love and tolerance absolute truths

Roughly 4 different forms: Violent intolerance (Ayodhya, kill the infidels) Civic intolerance (ballots instead of bullets, but not

more freedom for religious minorities)

Social and Psychological Sources of Identity

Non-violent tolerance

The Dalai Lama welcomes, rather than evades, his enemies—grateful for the threat and conflict they represent— because their presence provides the occasion to practice the self-restraint essential to final self conquest: “tolerance can be learned only from an enemy: it cannot be learned from your guru.”

Social and Psychological Sources of Identity

Non-violent tolerance (continuation)

Violence is in reality not militant enough. It simply does not effectively protect or secure religious identity, but, on the contrary, destroys it.

Civic tolerance

Compromise of other three: violence destroys religious identity, but force may be necessary to establish system of law and governance that protects religious freedom

Environmental Sources Resource scarcity (and wealth at times!)

fight for resources, such as oil, diamonds & water environmental degradation:

deforestation rising sea levels desertification and drought decreasing biodiversity

Population pressures Pollution

Environmental Sources

Coping mechanisms, like migration and urbanization, can spell misery, but do not necessarily lead to conflict: hard to distinguish environmental and economic

refugees help to victims individual suffering demise of native cultures (Amazon indians)

Environmental Sources

Evidence is inconclusive: Threshold values; slow onset. Hard to determine

when problem is intense enough Problem in short- or long term People first use alternatives, such as migration,

seasonal labor, or split up families inside and outside the refugee camp

Closely related to economic factors The interaction with the socio-political system is

crucial

Economic Sources Asset transfer

once asset transfer becomes systemic, it is possible to speak of the political economy of conflict

Development cooperation & humanitarian intervention often fail to address this asset transfer (winners & losers). According to Duffield they (involuntarily) integrate into this political economy, e.g, through exchanging currency, local transactions, and diversion of food aid.

Military Technology Chicken-and-egg affair: what came first violent conflict

or the use of arms? Pessimists: all new weapons have been used sooner or

later Optimists: deterrence works

However, if 5% of the population wants a war, there will be a war proliferation of cheap, small arms has fed cycles of

conflict

Military TechnologyHowever, landmines have long-lasting effects (also after peace

accords terrorism is poor man’s war

Especially important is the breakdown of the monopoly of violence by state or colonial power:

if the environment is unstable & history of conflict, then new weaponry can be a catalyst for war, but in system of peaceful dialogue & fear of casualties, new weapons can prevent conflict

IndividualTwo different types of theory: Human nature & instincts

“Homo homini lupus” brings a need for a social contract

Leadership age-old debate in history Hitler & Germany?, Milosevic & Serbia? An American President and the genocide on the

native Americans?

Development Cooperation“Aiding Violence: The Development Enterprise in

Rwanda” Development cooperation is a political act, it is

not just a technocratic, value-free exercise! Insufficient understanding of local context

(structural violence and corruption) Insufficient attention to the consequences of aid:

bad use of evaluation occupation of land forced cooperation

Development Cooperation closing eyes for mounting societal problems

negative consequences of structural adjustment non-democratic civil society inciting hate did not protest colonial legacy (difference between

hutus and tutsis) own ineffectiveness & contribution to societal

problems

Continuation of Conflict War economy

top-down bottom-up role of international political economy

Myths of struggle, warrior myths (Unresolved) Trauma Brain drain Capital flight Humanitarian Intervention

Continuation of Conflict Conflict often means a continuation &

intensification of root causes States loose income sources, become

weaker and cannot withstand warring factions or fulfil claims of the population, e.g., providing social services (and loose even more legitimacy)

Conclusions Root causes always have political element. Try to

break political down into components: be specific about problems and their root causes

They continue and intensify during civil conflict Under which conditions does conflict arise?

Short-term and long-term differences Direct and indirect effects Possibility of alternative coping mechanisms &

capacities of the local population Interaction of several sources of conflict Quality of the socio-political system is crucial

Conclusions Different Perspectives/value judgments on war and its

root causes: Cold War model with two opposing sides Chaos & anarchy War’s negative consequences: war is bad Understanding the war economy & political context (war as

an end in itself) There are even more sources of conflict than mentioned

in this lecture More research is necessary, e.g., relationship between

structural violence and social exclusion Root causes persist after peace agreement: need to link

relief and development in a politically informed manner!

TOPICS Sources of Conflict Continuation of Conflict