Conflict

"Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos opens the book with his latest contribution to his comprehensive project of re-theorising spatial justice with a piece titled ‘Spatial Justice in a World of Violence’. Through a close reading
of the photographic series Fortunes of War, Life Day by artist Eric Lesdema,
Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos is interested in how these images reveal peripheral
spaces at the edge of violence which impose an ethic of spatial responsibility on the
viewer in the act of turning away and looking elsewhere. While no acts of explicit
violence are shown in the images, we are left with no doubt that violence is ubiquitous
along the spatio-temporal continuum. This continuum of violence between
bodies raises questions of complicity and responsibility. Do we submit to a state
of affairs in which space is saturated with the everyday and immobilised violence
of the ‘engineered atmosphere’ – or is it also possible for bodies to withdraw from
the atmosphere, through ruptures and folds within the continuum? Such a notion
raises the ethical possibility of the ‘emergence of spatial justice’." Chris Butler and Edward Mussawir (eds)

More than fifty years after subjection to anti-Jewish persecution, Holocaust survivors embody divergent responses to the conflict that endangered their existence. Narrative analysis of oral and written testimonies by survivors reveals three major modes of creatively reclaiming personal agency: avoiding violence by delimiting the realm of control, embracing violence through forcible dispensation of justice, and expanding agency by exercising personal ability in the economic realm. The first-person narratives of Jewish survivors illustrate this autopoeisis, or creative redirection of conflict. The testimonies reveal transformation as an ongoing process of working through rather than working out conflict, an approach that accords well with the Judaic moral principle of tikkun olam, the imperative to repair a fractured world.

In 2015, the Paris Climate Change Agreement was adopted, and in the ensuing years, countries, along with researchers, civil society and industry have been debating how to implement concrete action to address the climate challenge. The link between climate change and human security was first recognised in the early 2000s. This paper examines how climate change has exacerbated uncertainty and instability in vulnerable populations in different regions. It achieves this by looking at diverse national and local experiences through multiple policy lenses, namely, the proliferation of extreme weather events, coastal erosion and sea level rise, internal displacement, cross border migration, and climate change as a threat multiplier. It looks at specific cases in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands and the Levant to understand how human (in)security is being affected by climate change. It also addresses the future of global climate policy by assessing the current state of climate policies in light of the Paris Agreement. Global action on climate change is urgent. While many developed countries like to avoid notions of climate justice and differentiated responsibilities, the reality for the most vulnerable countries is that supranational policy is crucial if they are to tackle the climate challenge at home. This paper emphasises the importance of having meaningful and focused national climate adaptation and mitigation policies in place in order to address both the avoidable and unavoidable impacts of climate change on the economy, the culture and ultimately the security of a country.

This study finds that as climate change plays an increasingly important role in discussions of security, comprehensive strategies are needed to respond to climate-induced security threats and geopolitical (in)stability both nationally and around the world. The Paris Agreement was a good first step in driving countries to commit to curbing emissions and drafting climate adaptation action plans. We now need the global climate regime – including countries, industry, and researchers – to step up to the plate and implement effective policies if we are to limit the serious impacts of climate change. The findings in this paper aims to contribute
to the global debate around security and climate change.

Africa is not poor, it is poorly led. – Omoruyi Aigbe

ABSTRACT

Africa's colonial legacy has been blamed for the socioeconomic, security, political challenges, the tension and hostility among the many ethnic groups, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Political historians have traced security challenge, conflict and instability in most Africa nations, especially in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR), Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, and elsewhere to colonial programs of division, discrimination, collective exclusion, and manipulation of ethnic identity envisioned to ensure power and control over vast natural resources.

Africa's natural resource wealth, which ought to be a blessing, is arguably a curse, natural resource in Africa has become a source of tremendous suffering, which Collier, (2007) referred to natural resource trap. There is a strong correlation between natural resource, conflict and security challenge in Africa, the ongoing conflict, which is arguably a civil war in the world’s newest country, South Sudan demonstrates the effect of natural resource made conflict.

Conflicts involving the ownership, management and control of natural resources have engaged attention about Africa in the last decade. To date, there has been limited empirical study, which examines the effect of natural resource and leadership on conflict and poverty. However, there is a handful of research which analyses the relationship between conflict and poverty. While this paper also seeks to look at conflict and poverty in Africa, it is interested in exploring the role of natural resource and leadership.

The last time there was this much carbon dioxide in our atmosphere was three and a half million years ago. While our planetary history evidences cyclical climatic shifts, this time injustice is the cause. The lifestyles of the wealthy few are sustained not only by increasing economic inequality but the systemic collapse of ecosystems. The richest 20 percent consumes 80 percent of the world's natural resources and generates over 90 percent of its pollution and waste. For most people, the poorer 80 percent, their grossly unequal access to natural resources is compounded by also bearing the brunt of the pollution generated by the rich.

Northern Irish people still hide secrets behind doors because of the fear of potential resurfacing of conflicts. The changes brought about by “the Good Friday Agreement (GFA)” present a lack of equality in terms of housing, employment, healthcare, politics, and education. Nowadays, the North illustrates cracks everywhere as a backlash from the errors of the past.
The creation of modern Belfast will not change stories, because memories maintain people aware of the suffering that they had to pass through. Indeed, Eibhlin is going to talk about the reasons why the government should remember the struggles of its people, from the BallyMurphy Massacre to the Hunger Strikes.

This study analyzes controversies and public attitudes concerning the Bandera faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B), the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)
and Stepan Bandera in Ukraine. The research question is: Which factors affect attitudes toward the OUN-B, the UPA and Bandera in contemporary Ukraine? This article employs comparative and regression analyses of surveys commissioned by the author and conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in 2009 and 2013 to determine the effects of regional and other factors on attitudes toward these organizations and the OUN-B leader. The study shows that regional factors and perceptions of these organizations' involvement in mass murder were the strongest predictors of the views concerning the OUN-B, the UPA and Bandera. Their public support is strongest in Galicia and weakest in the East and the South, in particular, in Donbas and Crimea, two major conflict areas since the “Euromaidan.”

This study examines the role of political factors in attitudes toward World War II in contemporary Ukraine. The question under examination is which factors determine public views of the principal warring sides and their leaders in Ukraine. This paper uses a representative national survey specifically designed for this research project and conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in 2012. It analyzes the roles of regionalism, political party preferences, ethnicity, language, age, and sex in attitudes toward the Red Army, Soviet partisans, the German Army (Wehrmacht), and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during the war, as well as toward the wartime leaders of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and the UPA. The analysis of the survey data shows that regional values, political party preferences, ethnicity, language, and age have significant effects on views of the Soviet Army and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army during the war and attitudes toward the wartime activities of Joseph Stalin and Roman Shukhevych. Public perceptions of the German Army and Adolf Hitler in Ukraine do not vary much across regions, political parties, and ethnic, language, age, and sex groups.

The issue of the political rehabilitation and glorification of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) became one of the central political issues in Ukraine after the Orange Revolution and the Euromaidan. It provoked major political and historical controversies and debates in Ukraine and other countries. Presidents Yushchenko and Poroshenko, their parties, far right organizations, and many Ukrainian historians attempted to recast the OUN-B and the UPA as parts of a popular national liberation movement that fought against Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and to present the OUN-B and UPA leaders as national heroes. They denied, minimized or justified the involvement of the OUN-B and the UPA leaders and members in the mass murder of Jews, Poles, Russians, and Ukrainians.

The analyses of biographic publications, historical studies, and archival documents show that the majority of the OUN-B and UPA leaders and very large proportions of their members collaborated with Nazi Germany, mainly in the beginning of the Second
World War. Nearly half of the top and middle-ranked leaders of these organizations and
at least until the end of 1943 the majority of UPA members served in various police formations. They assisted the German occupation authorities in implementing genocidal policies towards the Jews, Ukrainians, Russians, and Poles by helping to carry out mass shootings and create conditions intended for the physical annihilation of the entire Jewish population and large numbers of Ukrainians, Russians, and Poles, specifically in Volhynia. The fact that many police commanders and large numbers of policemen in various locations and formations followed orders from the OUN-B by deserting en masse from their service, in particular in Volhynia in the spring of 1943, and forming the basis of the UPA shows that these commanders and police members were de facto controlled by the OUN-B.

The European Union (EU) has closely correlated different aspects of the peace process in Bosnia with progress towards European accession. The ‘power of attraction’ of EU membership would presumably induce the Bosnian authorities to accept the adaptation costs of political and economic transformation. However, the Europeanisation approach has not produced the expected results. The track record of the EU’s policies towards Bosnia represents a paradigmatic case of what would happen if almost nothing works as efficiently as in the case of the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. The article investigates the causes of EU policy failure in Bosnia and claims that the EU has not effectively responded to three challenges: 1) adjust the process to the needs of an ethnically divided post-war state; 2) preserve the credibility of accession conditionality, and 3) convey the proper messages on how to comply with EU rules. Therefore, the article argues for a more cohesive and consistent EU approach towards Bosnia.

Although suicide attacks have been carried out for hundreds of years, suicide bombings have only been a permanent feature of conflicts since the 1980s. In recent years, though, their use has dramatically escalated. AOAV, which collects data on explosive violence, has recorded a total of 1,191 suicide bombings globally between 2011 and 2015, resulting in 31,477 civilian deaths and injuries.

The vast majority of suicide bombings within these years have been carried out by international Salafi-Jihadi terrorist organisations.

In light of this, AOAV’s extensive report Understanding the rising cult of the suicide bomber investigates what makes individuals give their lives, and take others, for causes propagated by these transnational terrorist groups.

It also looks at what effect such attacks have had on local and regional conflicts, as well as on the communities exposed to them.

Furthermore, the report proposes how states and other actors in the international community might seek to prevent their use and further escalation based on the reports’ findings.

The report is based on extensive field-work, as well as a thorough mapping and investigation of specific suicide bombings and the individuals that perpetrated them.

Among the deficiencies demonstrated by the world financial crisis of 2008–9, one was the limited capacity of G-8 to provide for global economic governance. The developed economies quickly realised that they should seek joint solutions and coordinated policies in cooperation with the leading emerging-market economies. As a result, the G-20 turned into the main forum for managing the crisis. This in fact pointed to an early institutional acknowledgement that important changes were underway in the global distribution of power. These changes derive from the substantially higher growth rates of the emerging-market economies in comparison with those of the developed economies, a trend named ‘the rise of the rest’ (Zakaria, 2008, pp. 2–3).

This article argues that the post-Dayton political organisation of Bosnia represents an exemplary illustration of the difficulties associated with the empirical application of the pluralist model of “consociational democracy”. The country’s political system has been predicated on the existence of consensus and the spirit of cooperation among the three ethnic groups without, however, offering any electoral or political incentives to their leaderships to cooperate. Also, the inclusion of several elements to the Dayton accords of a partition approach to conflict resolution has even encouraged the ethnic leaderships to maintain their nationalistic programs and their endeavours to exploit the aforementioned power-sharing arrangements. Indeed, the structural deficiencies of the Dayton agreement have permitted nationalists to continue implementing their ethnic
agendas and have accounted for the slow progress towards the implementation of the Bosnian peace process. Therefore, this article elaborates on the international policies in Bosnia, aimed at transforming the country into a viable multiethnic state, and highlights the significance of motivations for implementing the peace process.

The visual reconstruction of shooting at Maidan protesters and journalists demonstrates that Maidan protesters were shot by snipers in the Hotel Ukraina and other Maidan-controlled buildings during the Maidan massacre in Ukraine on February 20, 2014. The bullet holes identified in government forensic expert reports, videos, and photos from directions of the Maidan-controlled buildings are in the area, height, and directions that match the shooting of the protesters.  The forensic examination reports by government investigators, videos and photos by journalists suggest that journalists from ABC (Australia), ARD TV (Germany) twice, Associate Press, BBC, Sky News, and RT in the Hotel Ukraina rooms facing Maidan were shot at from the Maidan-controlled areas. The visual reconstruction and the same data along with videos and media reports by journalists from these media suggest that ABC News (US) and TVP (Poland) journalists in the Hotel Ukraina were most likely shot at by snipers from the Maidan-controlled Bank Arkada. They suggest that a Ruptly reporter in the Hotel Ukraina was hit by a ricochet from a direction of a Berkut barricade. Russian journalists in other three locations of the Hotel Ukraina were shot at by Maidan snipers and/or by Berkut and Omega, which shot at snipers at the Hotel Ukraina.               

The visual reconstruction based on similar data shows that the Berkut police and Omega were generally shooting above protesters at the second and higher floors of the Hotel Ukraina and in electric poles, a flower box, and trees. Synchronized videos show that Maidan protesters in the massacre zone were in a blind spot below the line of Berkut police fire from behind a truck.             

This is an online appendix H of papers presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association in Boston and the “Regimes and Societies in Conflict: Eastern Europe and Russia since 1956” conference by the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University and the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies in Uppsala in 2018.

Επιβλέπουσα Καθηγήτρια: ΝΑΣΚΟΥ-ΠΕΡΡΑΚΗ Παρασκευή Τηλ.: 2310 891499 Email: perraki@uom.gr Β΄ Μέλος Εξεταστικής Επιτροπής: ΜΠΕΛΛΟΥ ΦωτεινήΤηλ.: 2310 891479 Email: fbellou@uom.gr
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Λέξεις Κλειδιά:

ασφάλεια, ειρήνη, τάξη, σταθερότητα, ισχύς, συνεργασία, συγκρούσεις, περιπτωσιολογικές μελέτες, φάσμα, εκκρεμές, πλαίσιο, πρίσμα, νομιμότητα, νομιμοποίηση, δόγμα, στρατηγική αντίληψη, σύστημα, ηγεμονία, αρχή, επέμβαση, ευθύνη, προστασία"

Συμπέρανα ότι, το ΝΑΤΟ μετεξελίσσεται σε οργανισμό που έχει τα χαρακτηριστικά ενός διεθνούς περιφερειακού οργανισμού, σε παγκόσμια όμως διάσταση, όπου με βάση το δόγμα "Ευθύνη Προστασίας" (Responsibility to Protect), αναλαμβάνει ρόλο χωροφύλακα, που επιδιώκει τη διασφάλιση της διεθνούς ασφάλειας και του εσωτερικού τομέα ασφαλείας, σε οριακές συγκρούσεις ανά την υφήλιο, πχ Βοσνία, Κόσσοβο, Λιβύη και προσεχώς Συρία."

The massacre of almost 50 Maidan protesters on February 20, 2014 was a turning point in Ukrainian politics and a tipping point in the conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine. This mass killing of the protesters and the mass shooting of the police that preceded it led to the overthrow of the pro-Russian government of Viktor Yanukovych and gave a start to a civil war in Donbas in Eastern Ukraine, Russian military intervention in Crimea and Donbas, and an international conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine. A conclusion promoted by the post-Yanukovych governments and the media in Ukraine that the massacre was perpetrated by government snipers and special police units on a Yanukovych order has been nearly universally accepted by the Western governments, the media, and many scholars. The Ukrainian government investigation identified members of the special company of Berkut as responsible for killings of the absolute majority of the protesters, but did not release any evidence in support, with the exception of videos of the massacre.
              The question is which side organized the “snipers’ massacre.” This paper is the first academic study of this crucial case of the mass killing. It uses a theory of rational choice and a Weberian theory of instrumental rationality to examine actions of major actors both from the Yanukovych government, specifically various police and security forces, and the Maidan opposition, specifically its far right and oligarchic elements, during the massacre.
          The paper analyzes a large amount of evidence from different publicly available sources concerning this massacre and killings of specifics protesters. Qualitative content analysis includes the following data: about 1,500 videos and recordings of live internet and TV broadcasts from mass media and social media in different countries(some 150 gigabytes), news reports and social media posts by more than 100 journalists covering the massacre from Kyiv, some 5,000 photos, and nearly 30 gigabytes of publicly available radio intercepts of snipers and commanders from the special Alfa unit of the Security Service of Ukraine and Internal Troops, and Maidan massacre trial recordings. This study also employs field research on site of the massacre, eyewitness reports by both Maidan protesters and government special units commanders, statements by both former and current government officials, estimates of approximate ballistic trajectories, bullets and weapons used, and types of wounds among both protesters and the police. This study establishes a precise timeline for various events of the massacre, the locations of both the shooters and the government snipers, and the specific timeline and locations of nearly 50 protesters’ deaths. It also briefly analyzes other major cases of violence during and after the “Euromaidan.” This study includes two video appendixes.
            This academic investigation concludes that the massacre was a false flag operation, which was rationally planned and carried out with a goal of the overthrow of the government and seizure of power. It found various evidence of the involvement of an alliance of the far right organizations, specifically the Right Sector and Svoboda, and oligarchic parties, such as Fatherland. Concealed shooters and spotters were located in at least 20 Maidan-controlled buildings or areas. The various evidence that the protesters were killed from these locations include some 70 testimonies, primarily by Maidan protesters, several videos of “snipers” targeting protesters from these buildings, comparisons of positions of the specific protesters at the time of their killing and their entry wounds, and bullet impact signs. The study uncovered various videos and photos of armed Maidan “snipers” and spotters in many of these buildings. The paper presents implications of these findings for understanding the nature of the change of the government in Ukraine, the civil war in Donbas, Russian military intervention in Crimea and Donbas, and an international conflict between the West and Russia over Ukraine.

A growing body of research suggests that conflict can be beneficial for groups and organizations (e.g., De Dren &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; Van De Vliert, 1997). This paper articulates the argument that to be in conflict is to be emotionally activated (Jones, 2000) and utilizes Galtung&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s (1996) triadic theory of conflict transformation to locate entry points for conflict generation. Application of these ideas is presented through exemplars that demonstrate the utility of addressing emotions directly in the management of organizational conflicts.

A two-day international conference titled Music in Detention organized at the University of Goettingen in the context of a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship MUSTERMAN, held by Anna Papaeti at the Musicology Department. Keynote speakers were musicologist Suzanne G. Cusick (New York University) and music therapist Harmin Sijercic (Freedom From Torture, London).

Silahlı çatışmaların ekonomi üzerindeki negatif etkisi ve barış, güvenlik ve ekonomik gelişme arasındaki pozitif ve doğrudan ilişki çatışma çözümü alanının artan oranda ilgi duyduğu konulardan biri haline geldi. Alanda artan farkındalıkla beraber iş dünyasının ve özel sektörün demokrasi inşasındaki rolünü konu eden çalışmaların sayısı da bu gelişmeye bağlı olarak sevindirici biçimde artış göstermekte. Okumakta olduğunuz bu rapor da konuya, Kuzey İrlanda örneği özelinde ve ülkedeki iş dünyasının barışın ekonomik getirilerini dile getirmede, çatışmanın barış ile çözülmesi için lobi faaliyeti yürütmede ve barışın ekonomik boyutunu ele alan siyasi tartışmaları güçlendirmede oynadığı role ve çalışmalara odaklanmaktadır. Raporda, Kuzey İrlanda iş dünyasının kullandığı ve barışın sağlanmasına katkı sunan metot, yaklaşım ve etkileşim yöntemleri ayrıntılarıyla ele alınmaktadır. Ülkede barış anlaşmasının sağlanmasının ardından, anlaşma sonrası süreçte yabancı yatırımın barışın getirdiği ekonomik kazanımların yaygınlaştırılmasında ve bu sayede barışı teşvik etmede oynadığı pozitif rol de ayrıca ele alınmaktadır. Kuzey İrlanda deneyimi, barışın sağlanmasına yönelik kolektif kurumsal eylemler repertuarı bakımından, dünyanın farklı yerlerinde çatışmalardan etkilenen diğer ülkeler için ufuk açıcı bir uygulama veya uyarlama örneği olmayı sürdürmektedir.

This course is designed to develop:
(1) An understanding of the potential risks, dangers, challenges and constraints involved in working in war and post-war contexts;
(2) The ability to devise resourceful, ethical, and appropriate responses to them; and
(3) Knowledge of qualitative field research fundamentals.
      “Qualitative Research in Communities Affected by War” is intended for students who are thinking of working in war or post-war situations, or on war-related issues. While it will of course address qualitative research issues and methods, the course is also aimed at developing a deeper understanding of community dynamics in war and post-war contexts and providing practical instruction about how to effectively and ethically gather useful information about such communities.
      As a result, the course is designed not only for researchers but for others who aim to somehow assist or engage with war-affected communities in the future.

Dr David Roberts argues that matters normally prioritized as security issues in international politics, such as terrorism and nuclear weapons, cause very limited harm, and that preventable global infant and maternal mortality, counted in the millions, is dismissed from security agendas by policy makers, who are mostly white, mostly male, and mostly secure. He will argue that the security needs of the most vulnerable do not resonate with the people who determine what security those people can have; and that international law does not apply to the public institutions which most undermine human security. Dr Roberts will propose a fast-working solution to this dilemma that will reduce the scale of deaths substantially almost overnight, and will identify the means by which this change can be effected.

La conflictividad laboral no puede ser comprendida solamente a partir de datos cuantitativos, aun cuando se reconozca la utilidad que presta en la investigación y en los estudios sectoriales sobre la materia. El contexto actual de las relaciones laborales requiere de una comprensión del fenómeno del conflicto mucho más profunda. Se propone una revisión del concepto de conflictividad, incorporando en su estudio variables cualitativas e instrumentos que hoy día están a disposición de los investigadores del área de la administración y los recursos humanos. Se sugiere una metodología mixta, tanto cuantitativa como cualitativa para el estudio de la conflictividad, apoyándose tanto en datos de conflictividad como en el análisis de esta.

The killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhou reportedly by agents of Israel‟s Mossad service in Dubai a year ago1 serves as a quick reminder that extrajudicial executions, assassinations and other targeted killing operations are taking place and are part of a modern democracy‟s arsenal of antiterrorism and counter-terrorism means. Targeted Killing Operations reportedly form part of NATO‟s operational practice: depending on the circumstances they represent just another option of the lawful use of force in an armed conflict or assimilated situations. Consequently, it is argued that International Law does not impose an explicit ban on the lethal neutralization of certain persons in an armed conflict scenario. This opinion provides a provocative view on possible justifications using targeted killing as an actual means of present day security operations – which must not be confused with traditional methods of domestic „policing‟ in a democratic state.

This paper investigates to what extent the ‘new war’ thesis, the notion that the character of warfare is progressively changing since the Second World War (Kaldor 2006), is supported by empirical evidence. Existing analyses (Chojnacki 2006, Melander et al. 2006, Newman 2004), commonly failing to find evidence in favour of the ‘new war’ thesis, focus on absolute trends and overall classifications of conflict, which may obscure trends within conflicts. This paper finds that within-conflict empirical evidence does support the idea that warfare increasingly targets civilians. Evidence on the participation of non-state combatants is mixed.

El concepte de Seguretat Humana és present avui dia en la majoria d'anàlisis de les ciències socials, i es caracteritza per ser un terme amb significats molt variats i amplis. Tot i això, el concepte presenta una força que radicaria, d'una banda, en la seva capacitat per definir una nova realitat en la qual l'Estat no pot continuar el seu monopoli en les qüestions relatives a la seguretat (es passa de la Seguretat Nacional a la Humana), i de l'altra, en el seu potencial per construir sinèrgies i sumar esforços amb l'objectiu d'aconseguir el canvi social.

D'aquesta manera, la idea de Seguretat Humana ha estat capaç d'aglutinar moviments socials, intel·lectuals i diplomàtics a l'hora de situar les persones en el centre dels debats i també de les polítiques, i en ella conflueixen diferents perspectives com el desarmament, el desenvolupament o els drets humans. En aquesta monografia, de manera rigorosa però també molt propera a la realitat dels col·lectius afectats, s'analitza el concepte de Seguretat Humana i Construcció de Pau a Colòmbia a través d'una sèrie d'articles que tracten de forma àmplia totes les propostes i alternatives que s'estan donant avui dia al país. Així, s'analitzen, entre altres temes, la política de Seguretat Democràtica, la seguretat ciutadana i les estratègies d'intervenció policial, la militarització de la societat amb la irrupció d'actors poc visualitzats com els mercenaris, la seguretat alimentària i mediambiental, amb especial incidència en els recursos hídrics, la participació de la societat civil en els processos de pau, i les propostes dels pobles indígenes del Cauca i afrodescendents del Pacífic en Construcció de Pau i Drets Humans.

Most of the critical peace literature has put 'a local turn' as an important aspect of a paradigm shift in liberal peacebuilding, both in academic and practice-oriented terms. Although most of the made criticism is valid, it is still being disputed by Western academics with their epistemologies, ontologies and methodologies. The voice of researchers who live in post-conflict or conflict-affected societies is still very much restricted by structural, institutional or personal constraints. Consequently, by drawing mostly from the experience of local researchers in the Balkans, the paper analyses the main causes for the limited impact of local researchers in the liberal peace debates, and proposes several steps that could lead to their stronger involvement in this discussion. We are doing something we don't understand fully, and the best we can do is admit we don't understand it, and that we also don't have time to understand it. 1

The Syrian crisis has generated the largest refugee movement since the Rwandan genocide and is described as the defining refugee crisis of our era. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, Syrian refugees are about to replace Afghans as the world’s largest refugee population. 1 Within this refugee population older, disabled and injured refugees face specific challenges that contribute to their vulnerability, yet, studies of humanitarian programming show that these same groups are often neglected in the assessment, data collection, design and delivery of responses. Therefore, in October and November 2013, Handicap International and HelpAge International undertook a research project to highlight the number and needs of Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon living with impairment, 2 injury 3 and chronic disease 4 – for the purposes of this study these groups are referred to as “people with specific needs”. Throughout the report specific consider...

Relative deprivation, being a significant term in academia, explains the feelings or the measures of social, economic, and political deprivation by demonstrating an objective comparison. Focusing on these aspects, the entry introduces the term by contextualizing it through historical perspectives. In doing so, the ideas of basic theorists, including Samuel Stouffer and Colleagues (1949), Merton and Kitt (1950), Davis (1959), Pettigrew (1967), Runciman (1966), Townsend (1979, 1987), and Gurr (1968, 1970), are incorporated to understand the construction and development of the term. Afterward, a comprehensive overview of different forms of relative deprivation is discussed in the following section which explains egoistic (or personal), fraternalistic (or group), and double deprivation standpoints with ample examples (Runciman 1966). This section also discusses Townsend’s (1987) forms of relative deprivation to understand the relativity of people’s needs and wants to explain the social conjecture nature of it. In the next section, considering a list of indicators of standard of living, it is aimed to highlight the relative and the absolute deprivations demonstrating the material and social aspects (Townsend 1979). It further integrates the patterns and dimensions to understand the concept comprehensively (Gurr 1968, 1970; Runciman 1966; Townsend 1979). Later, this entry explores the root causes and consequences of relative deprivation studying the focuses and links between them. Finally, it also exhibits frustration and dissatisfaction-driven tensions and then highlights the association between conflict and relative deprivation. However, the connections of extremism, migration, and unconventional movement with relative deprivation are precisely explained in this contribution. Thus, this study illustrates the relationship between sustainable development goals (SDG-16) and deprivation to understand the impediments for establishing a peaceful, inclusive, and just society. In addition, the critiques of relative deprivation are delineated to discern it beyond the term.

The paper analyses the meaning of the ‘stage of reduction and concentration of settlements’
and its place in the evolving structure of a Neolithic settlement system. It considers whether
this stage of the development of the settlement system was a specific event, limited only to the evolution
of a Funnel Beaker Culture settlement in south-eastern Poland, or whether it was a structural
element in other areas too. Analysis of the collected cases, representing various geographical zones,
cultural traditions and time horizons, allows us to formulate a thesis that describes the transformation
of large settlements (from central places to the stage of reduction and concentration) were caused
by internal social conflicts, rather than by climate or economic changes.

The chapter deals with the essential question of the nature of the relationship between law and religion. It is concerned with the scenarios where two elements overlap and/or collide. It is concerned with the questions surrounding the patterns and conditions for the mobilization of religion towards an expansion of one's legal rights. The discussion confirms the importance of context in defining and studying the impact of religion on legal empowerment but argues that providing more public space to religion and the exercise of religious rights is necessary but not self-sufficient. It also cautions that not all differences ought to be legally protected within the growing disorder of legal hybridity within multicultural societies.