The OAU (AU) and OAS in Regional Conflict Management

The OAU (AU) and OAS in Regional Conflict Management
Author: Thomas A. Imobighe
Publisher:
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2003
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

This study analyses the pervasive and apparently intractable intensification of conflict around the world, in the wake of the Cold War; and the failures and limitations of multilateral organisations such as the UN and the African Union to achieve their stated objectives. It makes recommendations so that these organisations can make more assertive and positive contributions to conflict reduction. Specifically on the OAU/AU, the author illustrates that the African Union is not fundamentally different from its predecessor; and that both have failed to implement practical measures designed to build confidence, and regional integration, which he argues, must be an essential component of conflict prevention and peace-building. The author is an expert in International Relations, and Director of the Centre for Strategic and Development Studies, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria.

Regional Guide to International Conflict and Management from 1945 to 2003

Regional Guide to International Conflict and Management from 1945 to 2003
Author: Jacob Bercovitch
Publisher: CQ Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2004-11-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1452267367

Regional Guide to International Conflict Management from 1945 to 2003 provides global, regional, and specific information on the over 350 international conflicts that have occurred since World War II. At the heart of the book are comprehensive regional sections, each of which includes: An essay providing regional context and highlighting the interrelation of countries and conflict in that area Summaries of each conflict in the region, arranged chronologically and covering history, circumstances, players, management, and outcome References for further research. Introductory chapters examine global patterns and trends in international conflict and how conflict is managed, including ethnic conflict and the expanded role of the United Nations. Tables, figures, maps, and a comprehensive index round out this valuable resource. Regional Guide to International Conflict and Management from 1945 to 2003 gives readers the tools and content necessary for understanding and analyzing international conflict in today′s world. Perfect for political science, comparative government/politics, international relations, and world history programs.

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism
Author: Tanja A. Börzel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 705
Release: 2016
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199682305

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism - the first of its kind - offers a systematic and wide-ranging survey of the scholarship on regionalism, regionalization, and regional governance. Unpacking the major debates, leading authors of the field synthesize the state of the art, provide a guide to the comparative study of regionalism, and identify future avenues of research. Twenty-seven chapters review the theoretical and empirical scholarship with regard to the emergence of regionalism, the institutional design of regional organizations and issue-specific governance, as well as the effects of regionalism and its relationship with processes of regionalization. The authors explore theories of cooperation, integration, and diffusion explaining the rise and the different forms of regionalism. The handbook also discusses the state of the art on the world regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Eurasia, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Various chapters survey the literature on regional governance in major issue areas such as security and peace, trade and finance, environment, migration, social and gender policies, as well as democracy and human rights. Finally, the handbook engages in cross-regional comparisons with regard to institutional design, dispute settlement, identities and communities, legitimacy and democracy, as well as inter- and transregionalism.

The African Union

The African Union
Author: Omar Alieu Touray
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2016-12-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1442268980

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the African Union during the organization’s first ten years of existence. It takes the reader through the various intergovernmental processes that preceded and followed the establishment of the Union and through the workings of key organs such as the Assembly of Heads of State, the Council of Ministers, the Pan African Parliament and the Commission. The study argues that the African Union represented a rational choice of its member states, who saw it as a means to advancing their individual and collective preferences for liberation, peace and security, good governance and socio-economic development. It maintains that the African Union did not only make marked progress in a number of areas; the Union also established norms that had transformational effects on military and political elites at country and regional levels. However, like in most agent-principal relations, the autonomy of the Union was limited in many ways, and this affected the Union’s effectiveness in such areas as human and socio-economic development, as well as in sustaining peace support operations. At a more general level, the study argues that the African Union offers clear insights into integration as a multidimensional process that no single theoretical tradition can explain in a comprehensive manner. The author’s response to such a theoretical limitation is “fusionism”, an integrated approach that amalgamates various analytical traditions in order to provide a better explanation of the processes of international integration. The detailed analysis and bold proposals will undoubtedly make the study appealing not only to specialists in African Studies, but equally to a broader spectrum of international relations and development scholars.

The Integrity of Elections

The Integrity of Elections
Author: Raul Cordenillo
Publisher: International IDEA
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012
Genre: Election monitoring
ISBN: 9789186565633

The first of its kind, this book examines the mandates of and initiatives on electoral processes including election observation, electoral technical assistance, and gender mainstreaming of six regional organizations: the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, the League of Arab States, the Organization of American States, and the Pacific Islands Forum. This publication captures the experiences of each organization, including the regional context, achievements, limitations, challenges, and prospects. This is a policy-oriented collection, and each chapter provides thought-provoking recommendations for both policymakers and practitioners."

Handbook of Regional Conflict Resolution Initiatives in the Global South

Handbook of Regional Conflict Resolution Initiatives in the Global South
Author: Jeronimo Delgado-Caicedo
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2022-07-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000620565

During the first half of the twentieth century, the international system was largely dominated by the USA and the colonial powers of western Europe. After the two world wars, the political and economic dominance of these states guaranteed them and their allies an almost complete control of world politics. However, as it is the norm in the international system, power structures are not immutable. After the end of the Cold War, rapid changes to the existing international hierarchies took place, as new countries from the so-called ‘‘developing world’’ began to emerge as crucial actors capable of questioning and altering the power dynamics of the world. It is therefore unthinkable to ignore emerging countries such as Russia, the People’s Republic of China, India, Brazil or South Africa in the decision-making process in today’s world order. In addition, there is a group of smaller, yet increasingly important countries that, while acknowledging their inability radically to change the rules of the international system, are still eager to shift power relations and enhance their influence in the world. Argentina, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Vietnam are generally recognised as part of this grouping of emerging powers from the Global South. While there is a consensus amongst academics that emerging powers from the Global South must have a stabilising role within their own regions, previous analyses have focused primarily on the impact that emerging powers have had in their own regions’ conflict resolution initiatives. This volume, instead, aims to go beyond these analyses and provide new insights regarding the effect that this stabilising role has on the continental and global positioning of emerging powers. In other words, this book explores the relation between a country’s involvement in conflict resolution initiatives and its positioning in the international system. The volume will contribute to this approach using the perspective of academics and practitioners from countries of the Global South, particularly from states that have strengthened - or sometimes weakened - their position in the international hierarchy of power through a leading role in regional conflict resolution initiatives.

Muslim Civic Cultures and Conflict Resolution

Muslim Civic Cultures and Conflict Resolution
Author: John N. Paden
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2006-03-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0815797877

The question of whether Islam is compatible with democracy may best be answered not from the classical sources or even from the cauldron of Middle East politics but from the lived experiences of Muslim communities around the world. In large and diverse countries, the varied political values of different cultures can make or break the democratic experiment. Regardless of their cultural context, transitions from military to civilian rule require attention to the grassroots civic cultures that form the foundations of democratic federalism. John Paden, a noted expert on West African and Islamic societies, uses Nigeria as a critical case study of how a diverse country with a significant Muslim population is working to make the transition to a democratic society. Although little-studied, the non-Arab Muslim communities of West Africa are an important indicator as to whether Islamic democracy in a diverse nation is possible. Nigeria's success is vital to regional and global stability. As the largest country in Africa, with a population that is about half Muslim and half Christian or traditional animist, Nigeria is also the seventh largest producer of oil in the world and has gone through a series of political traumas ranging from civil war to military rule. The current democratic government is trying to balance rule-of-law concerns at a time when many communal tensions are coming to the surface. Muslim Civic Cultures and Conflict Resolution in Nigeria takes us inside the complex world of Nigerian politics, with a focus on the ways Muslim civic cultures deal with matters of leadership and conflict resolution. The book provides an essential context to the current international concern with issues ranging from Shari'a law and communal violence, to the broader war on terrorism. It argues that the requirement for regional political cooperation serves as a counterbalance to more extreme forms of political expression. Paden shows that if the Nigerian political model o

African peace

African peace
Author: Kathryn Nash
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2021-02-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1526152800

African regional organizations have played leading roles in constructing collective conflict management rules for the continent, but these rules or norms have not been static. Currently, the African Union (AU) deploys monitors, authorizes peace support operations, and actively engages to resolve internal conflicts. Just a few decades ago, these actions would have been deeply controversial under the Organization of African Unity (OAU). What changed to allow for this transformation in the way the African regional organization approaches peace and security? African peace examines why the OAU chose norms in 1963 that prioritized state security and led to a policy of strict non-interference - even in the face of destabilizing violence - and why the AU chose very different norms leading to a disparate conflict management policy in the early 2000s. Even if the AU’s capacity to respond to conflict is still developing, this new policy has made the region more willing and capable of responding to violence. Nash argues that norm creation largely happened within the African context, and international pressure was not a determinant factor in their evolution. The role of regions in the international order, particularly the African region, has been under-theorized and under-acknowledged, and this book adds to an emerging literature that explores the role of regional organizations in the Global South in creating and promoting norms based on their own experiences and for their own purposes.

Conflict Resolution in the Twenty-first Century

Conflict Resolution in the Twenty-first Century
Author: Jacob Bercovitch
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2009-09-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0472022180

In the past, arbitration, direct bargaining, the use of intermediaries, and deference to international institutions were relatively successful tools for managing interstate conflict. In the face of terrorism, intrastate wars, and the multitude of other threats in the post–Cold War era, however, the conflict resolution tool kit must include preventive diplomacy, humanitarian intervention, regional task-sharing, and truth commissions. Here, Jacob Bercovitch and Richard Jackson, two internationally recognized experts, systematically examine each one of these conflict resolution tools and describe how it works and in what conflict situations it is most likely to be effective. Conflict Resolution in the Twenty-first Century is not only an essential introduction for students and scholars, it is a must-have guide for the men and women entrusted with creating stability and security in our changing world. Cover illustration © iStockphoto.com

Regional Conflict Management

Regional Conflict Management
Author: Paul F. Diehl
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2003-02-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0742568822

Since the 1990s, the international security environment has shifted radically. Leading states no longer play as great a role in regional conflicts, and thus a new opportunity for regional conflict management has opened. This collection of original essays is one of the first to examine the implications and efficacy of regional conflict management in the new world order. The editors' general overview provides a framework for analyzing regional conflict management efforts and the kinds of threats faced by actors in different regions of the world. Case studies from every major world region then place these factors into specific regional contexts and address a variety of challenges. Drawing together a diverse group of scholars from around the world, Regional Conflict Management provides key lessons for understanding conflict management over the globe.