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Rituals in Conflict Resolution: a Helpful Tool Or a New Medium?

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Rituals in Conflict Resolution: a Helpful Tool Or a New Medium? important to participate in the building of new ideas, to criticize the established order and Politikon: IAPSS Political Science Journal Vol. Nr.19, May 2013 Volume 19: April 2013 Academic year 2013-2014 Editor in Chief Rodrigo Vaz Catholic University of Portugal Portugal Editorial Team Gabriela MARZONETTO, Argentina Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Mendoza, Argentina Weronika MYCK, Poland University of London, London, UK Conrad REIN, Germany UCC; Cork, Ireland Advisory Board Manuel Garreton, Chile, João Carlos Espada, Portugal, Carole Pateman, England, Leonardo Morlino, Italy, Phillippe Schmitter, USA Politikon: IAPSS Political Science Journal Vol. Nr.19, May 2013 Content Editorial Message.....................................................................................................................................................1 RODRIGO VAZ Challenges, Cooperation and Paradoxes in the Coca Cocaine Complex........................................................ 3 MARIA DE LOS ANGELES LASA Rituals in Conflict Resolution: a helpful tool or a new medium?...................................................................15 ANNA BILOUS Russia’s position towards the missile shield project..........................................................................................24 IRAKLI GELUK’ASHVILI Political Dogma Stroll’s non political moral decision making.........................................................................33 IBRAHIM NOORANI; KHURRAM SHAKIR; MUDDASIR HUSSAIN Political Cosmogony: Three Matrices of Political Theology...........................................................................45 DANIEL NUNES PEREIRA The Maguindanao Massacre: A serious challenge to human security in the Philippines............................55 FRANCE JEANNE L. SARMIENTO Features of the International Regulation of Space Activities.........................................................................69 ELENA SIDOROVA Politikon:IAPSS Political Science Journal Vol. Nr.19, May 2013 Editorial Message Dear Reader, Let me start by welcoming you to yet another issue of POLITIKON. This issue’s publication consolidates the path we have taken in making POLITIKON a prestigious publication in Political Science and related disciplines, and in having the publication promote students and young talented scholars. This issue marks a point of transformation for POLITIKON and, to some extent, for the whole Academic Department. A new layout has been introduced, which we hope to keep in future editions. This is also the last issue put together by this Editorial Board which means that we say goodbye to Gabriela Marzonetto, Weronika Myck and Julio Aguirre, who leave the Editorial Board to engage in other challenges. This past Editorial Board was, along with me, responsible for getting POLITIKON back on track after a hiatus of two years and they have excelled in their work. To all of them, I would like to give my deepest thanks for their efforts and wish them very well on their future endeavours. Out with the old, in with the new, and from last edition on, we will welcome the new IAPSS Publications Coordinator, Alexandru Volacu, and a new Editorial Board of POLITIKON. Let me also use this space to let you know about our plans for the future of POLITIKON: we plan on having, in addition to this one, three more issues published by the end of the year: one by the end of June, consisting of a special issue dedicated to the contributions of the academic panels in Rome, and two others, by the end of September and December. This will be the first time that POLITIKON publishes 4 issues per year and we look forward to making this achievement come true. Regarding Publications, I am currently working with Alexandru and I am quite happy to let you know that we are soon re-launching ‘A Different View’, a former IAPSS online monthly magazine, but this time in the form of a popular-scientific blog, where authors are welcome to post contributions on pressing global political issues and other related matters. You can find the call for applications on the IAPSS website, facebook page and on many other places online. We also plan to launch two new publications still this year – but more on that on the coming months. For now, I will leave you with the excellent articles this issue’s authors have submitted. The topics covered are very heterogeneous and diverse, and I am sure you will find many that suit your likes. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at [email protected]. 1 Politikon:IAPSS Political Science Journal Vol. Nr.19, May 2013 Enjoy, Rodrigo Vaz Editor in Chief 2 Politikon: IAPSS Political Science Journal Vol. Nr.19, May 2013 Challenges, Cooperation and Paradoxes in the Coca Cocaine Complex MARIÁ DE LOS ÁNGELES LASA1, University of Camerino Italy Abstract he coca-cocaine complex in South America is one of the most serious threats to the region’s political, economic and social institutions. It has infected the public and private sectors with the virus of T corruption and violence, and it has brought about the intervention of extra-regional actors that have contributed to worsening the situation. In the fight against this threat since the 1970s, South American countries have had the support of the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) which, these being the world’s largest consumers of cocaine in the world, has become the source of a vicious paradox: the challenges for South American states arise not only from the coca-cocaine complex itself, but also from the cooperation of those world superpowers in the fight against it. This paper analyses both the cooperation among drug actors –an issue that has historically been overlooked–, and the previously mentioned paradox in the case of South American states and the EU. 1 Mariá de Los Ángeles Lasa, born in Argentina 1986 is a CUIA Scholar and Doctoral Fellow in Social Sciences on Work and Legality at the Department of Law and Politics, School of Advanced Studies, Università degli Studi di Camerino (Italy). She is currently Visiting Researcher at the Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas at Austin). She has published several articles on public corruption, drugs and organized crime in books and academic journals in Argentina, Italy, Mexico and Switzerland. Her interests include security studies, drug trafficking, counternarcotics policies, and violence and criminality in Latin America. She would like to thank her Ph.D. Advisor, Dr. Giovanna Ricci, for providing useful comments on her first drafts, Prof. Andrea Vartalitis, from the National University of Villa María (Argentina), for her advice and careful editing of the final English version of this paper. 3 Maria de Los Angeles Lasa Challenges, Cooperation and Paradoxes in the Coca Cocaine Complex Introduction effects. In large doses it can lead to loss of coordination, collapse, blurred vision, oca leaves have been chewed by dizziness, anxiety, heart attacks, chest pain, Andean people for centuries “to help respiratory failure, strokes, seizures, combat hunger and to overcome headaches, abdominal pain, nausea, and Cfatigue and exhaustion caused by the paranoia (Mejía and Posada, 2010, 256). high altitude, as well as for traditional and Cocaine is the second most consumed illegal religious practices” (Dreyfus, 2001, 22). drug in the US (after marihuana) and the Since Pre-Columbian times the coca bush is third in most European countries after deeply rooted in the Andean culture, but its marihuana and heroin (Mejía and Posada, rich cultural dimension has no bearing on 2010, 256). From the perspective of the the harmful effects it has had on the rest of demand of drugs, in fact, the US is to have the world once it is transformed into the largest number of cocaine users cocaine. worldwide with more than 5 million users The coca plant is a medium-sized bush that aged between 15 to 64; followed by Western grows in tropical climate regions, “anywhere European countries with an estimated between 100 and 1.700 meters above sea number of 4 million users within the same level” (Mejía and Posada, 2010, 255). There age range (UNODC, 2011, 86). are more than 250 varieties of coca bushes that can be harvested from three to six times The coca-cocaine complex: a real threat per year for a period of 10 to 25 years to South American countries depending on the level of care it receives. Depending on the coca variety, the Specialized literature in the field of geographical region and the number of International Security Studies defines drug bushes cultivated per hectare, trafficking as both an emerging post-Cold War global problem and a national security 1 hectare planted with coca bushes problem (Cf. Belikow, 2003; Dreyfus, 2001). produces, on average, between 1,000 and Regarding South American countries, while 1,200 kilograms of fresh coca leaf per the first statement may be debatable for harvest. Between 1.1 and 1.4 kilograms of illicit cocaine production, traffic and cocaine can be produced from 1 kilogram of consumption has clearly been a threat to this coca leaf. Using an average of four harvests region long before the collapse of the per year (…), we arrive at a general bipolar world, the coca-cocaine complex is production estimate of between 5 and 6 definitely a national security problem in kilograms of cocaine per hectare per year.” South America.2 (Mejía and Posada, 2010, 255). According to the 2012 World Drug Report, the total number of hectares illegally cultivated with coca
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