Peace As Complex Legitimacy: Politics, Space and Discourse in Tajikistan’S Peacebuilding Process, 2000-2005
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PEACE AS COMPLEX LEGITIMACY: POLITICS, SPACE AND DISCOURSE IN TAJIKISTAN’S PEACEBUILDING PROCESS, 2000-2005 By John David Heathershaw A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (International Relations) University of London School of Economics and Political Science 2007 Supervisor: Mark Hoffman UMI Number: U615880 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL U SERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615880 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 I declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own. John Heathershaw 7 December 2006 2 i txnryof Political t-i-L.'' uni. • i ..<: ' £ 3Ss ABSTRACT OF THESIS Peace as Complex Legitimacy: Politics, Space and Discourse in Tajikistan’s Peacebuilding Process, 2000-2005 By John David Heathershaw This dissertation explores the process of building peace in terms of the making of complex legitimacy in post-Soviet, post-conflict Tajikistan. Since 2000, Tajikistan’s citizens have seen major political violence end, order across the country return and the peace agreement between the parties of the 1990s civil war hold. Superficially, Tajikistan appears to be a case of successful international interventions based on neo liberal internationalist assumptions. Yet, puzzlingly, the inter-Tajik peace is interpreted in a variety of often contradictory ways and correlates with authoritarian government and the tenure of a new oligarchy. On closer inspection it is evident that neoliberal international interventions in Tajikistan have largely failed to achieve the aims of peacebuilding. However, I argue they have served to facilitate an increasingly authoritarian peace and have indirectly fostered popular accommodation and avoidance strategies, as well as localised resistance. Moreover, this peace is founded upon complex relations of legitimacy. It is the product of discourse (the formation of community through communication), politics (the acquisition of power and authority in that community), and space (the differentiation of that community from other communities). I study the "political relations between three discourse/spaces (‘selves’) of Tajikistan from 2000 to 2005: those of subordinates, elites, and the international community. In addition to the discourse and spaces of neoliberal international peacebuilding, are those of popular tinji (Tajik: ‘peacefulness’/ ’wellness’) and elite mirostroitelstvo (Russian: ‘peacebuilding’). In studying the relationships between subordinate, elite and international actors I show how they both accommodate one another via discureiVe-'r ^.;'.it;j interpretation, and avoid each other by retreating into their own ‘hidden’ spaces and transcripts. These intrinsically political practices have specific material impacts on people’s lives. Moreover, I show how they have constituted new forms of authority, livelihoods and sovereignty. In each of these cases, subordinates resign themselves to power and ‘peacefulness’ and get on with their lives. These practices constitute peace as complex legitimacy. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................. 7 PREFACE...........................................................................................................................11 LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................... 12 GLOSSARY OF TAJIK AND RUSSIAN TERMS........................................................14 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS..........................................................................16 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 19 Scope and Significance ...............................................................................20 A Research Process.................................................................................... 24 PART I. Investigating Peace as Complex Legitimacy: a grounded approach Introduction to Part One ...................................................................................................30 CHAPTER 1. Peacebuilding: towards the common peace? .........................................................31 1.1. Democratic peacebuilding: peace-as-conflict-management ................34 1.1.1. Ethics....................................................................................35 1.1.11. Space................................................................................... 37 1.1.111. Time..................................................................................39 1.2. Variations Upon a Theme: justice versus order ................................... 40 1.2.1. Humanitarianism ...................................................................41 1.2.11. Statebuilding ........................................................................45 1.2.111. Inter-textuality, ‘pragmatism’ and peacebuilding ...............48 1.3. Critical Discourses ...............................................................................54 1.3.1. Moderates and radicals ..........................................................54 1.3.11. Three critiques of the common peace ................................. 57 1.3.111. Uncommon peace ............................................................... 63 Conclusions ................................................................................................ 65 2. W ar and Peace in Tajikistan ...................................................................................67 2.1. The War...............................................................................................68 2.1.1. The Origins of War ............................................................... 69 2.1.11. Civil War ............................................................................. 75 2.2. From War to Peace...............................................................................79 2.2.1. Intervention and the Peace Process, 1993-1997 ...................79 2.2.11. Agreement and Implementation, 1997-2000 ........................82 2.2.111. Emerging Peace: 2000-2005 ................................................ 85 2.3. Reviewing War and Peace: academic analyses .................................... 88 2.3.1. Hegemony .............................................................................88 2.3.11. Legitimacy, Culture and the State ........................................91 2.3.111. Complexity..........................................................................93 Conclusion ...................................................................................................97 4 3. Complex Legitimacy: Dimensions of Analysis and Evaluation ............................ 98 3.1. Discourse: peacebuilding as practice .................................................... 100 3.1.1 The false dichotomy................................................................ 100 3.1.11. Discourse Analysis and the Study of Peace..........................103 3.1.111. Scott’s hidden transcripts .....................................................106 3.2. Politics: power and its need for legitimacy ...........................................109 3.2.1. Beetham’s concept of legitimacy ...........................................I ll 3.2.11. Peacebuilding as legitimation ............................................... 113 3.3. Space: locating politics, contesting ‘the state’ ......................................115 3.3.1. Unbinding the principle of differentiation ............................115 3.3.11. Three ‘levels’........................................................................ 117 3.4. The Post-Conflict State: against itself? ................................................. 122 3.4.1. Deconstructing the common interest .................................... 123 3.4.11. Representation versus practice ............................................ 125 Conclusions ................................................................................................. 127 4. Constituting Legitimacy: Three ‘Levels’ of the Tajik peace .................................130 4.1. The Global: peacebuilding and its discontents ......................................131 4.1.1. The International Community and the Tajik Other ................132 4.1.11. From humanitarianism to statebuilding ................................135 4.1.111. Peacebuilding’s discontents .................................................138 4.2. The Local-Subordinate: the ethos of Tinji.............................................141 4.2.1. ‘Society’ ................................................................................143 4.2.11. Ethics and spaces................................................................. 145 4.2.111.Time s.................................................................................... 148 4.2.iv. Dissent and Disharmony ......................................................151 4.3.