DOCSLIB.ORG

The Unrecognised Politics of De Facto States in the Post-Soviet Space

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Unrecognised Politics of De Facto States in the Post-Soviet Space THE UNRECOGNISED POLITICS OF DE FACTO STATES IN THE POST-SOVIET SPACE Yerevan 2015 UDC 32.001:94 THE UNRECOGNISED POLITICS OF DE FACTO STATES IN THE POST-SOVIET SPACE. – Laurence Broers, Alexander Iskandaryan and Sergey Minasyan (Eds.) – Yerevan: Caucasus Institute and International Association for the Study of the Caucasus. 2015. - 240 p. This volume originated at a conference held in Sevan, Armenia, on 4-5 September 2014, entitled “De Facto States in the Post-Soviet Space”, organized by the Caucasus Institute and the Academic Swiss Caucasus Net. The Sevan conference was the first academic event engaging an English-speaking audience in the Caucasus to be dedicated to the various theoretical and practical aspects of de facto states’ development in the post-Soviet space. This collection of articles has also been published as a special issue (Vol.3, No.3, 2015) of Caucasus Survey, a journal of the International Association for the Study of the Caucasus published by Taylor & Francis. Edited by Laurence Broers, Alexander Iskandaryan and Sergey Minasyan Copy editing by Laurence Broers and Nina Iskandaryan Cover design by Matit www.matit.am Layout by Collage www.collage.am ISBN 978-9939-1-0260-3 © Caucasus Institute (CI) © International Association for the Study of the Caucasus (IASC), reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd on behalf of IASC. This volume was produced and published with the support of the Academic Swiss Caucasus Net (ASCN). Papers included in this volume reflect the personal opinions of the authors and not those of the publishers, sponsors or any other organisations including ones with which the authors are or were affiliated. TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. Introduction: the unrecognised politics of de facto states in the post- Soviet space. Laurence Broers, Alexander Iskandaryan and Sergey Minasyan ................. 5 In quest of the state in unrecognised states. Alexander Iskandaryan ...... 17 De facto statehood in Eurasia: a political and security phenomenon. Sergey Markedonov .............................................................................. 35 Western academic discourse on the post-Soviet de facto state phenomenon. Galina M. Yemelianova ................................................... 54 Elections without recognition: presidential and parliamentary contests in Abkhazia and Nagorny Karabakh. Donnacha Ó Beacháin ....................... 86 Gender and political representation in the de facto states of the Caucasus: women and parliamentary elections in Abkhazia. Karolina Ó Beacháin Stefańczak and Eileen Connolly ............................................................ 117 Resourcing de facto jurisdictions: a theoretical perspective on cases in the South Caucasus. Laurence Broers ........................................................ 135 The political economy of a de facto state: the importance of local stakeholders in the case of Abkhazia. Giulia Prelz Oltramonti .............. 169 The engagement policies of the European Union, Georgia and Russia towards Abkhazia. Nino Kereselidze .................................................... 196 Post-Soviet de facto states and European integration: the case of Transnistria. Iulia Kirnitki ..................................................................... 219 Notes on contributors ......................................................................... 229 Abstracts ............................................................................................ 231 CI publications .................................................................................... 237 INTRODUCTION: THE UNRECOGNISED POLITICS OF DE FACTO STATES IN THE POST-SOVIET SPACE .................................................................................................................. By Laurence Broers, Alexander Iskandaryan and Sergey Minasyan THE LIMITS OF ‘LOCAL’ In a world in which we are increasingly told to ‘go local’, there are still limits. As the othering binaries of imperial, ideological and developmental geographies have ceded ground to a hegemonic vision of a global community of equal states, new binaries have emerged. These contrast the state as the sole legitimate arbiter of sovereignty and primary actor in international relations with a host of challenges from above and below. Although generally invisible at the global level of politics, certainly compared to transnational threats, there are nonetheless perhaps few challenges as unsettling to contemporary states as that posed by unrecognised states. Revealing what Harvey and Stansfield (2011, 11) call the “organised hypocrisy” of the sovereign state system, un- recognised states expose the artifice of statehood, as they demonstrate the con- tingencies, occlusions and more often than not, coercions, on which many, if not most, of today’s recognised states were also built. The legitimacy of locality is therefore relative and can be withheld, as the alternate lexicon of ‘non-place’ – of margins, interstices, shadows, limbos, badlands and black holes – frequently applied to unrecognised states bears witness. ‘Going local’ in these spaces implies an unsavoury tinge of collusion with some of the least welcomed actors on the contemporary international stage. The anathematization of territorial contestation is of course not new. In an earlier era, this was expressed as “Balkanization”. As Maria Todorova observed, “By the beginning of the twentieth century, Europe had added to its repertoire of Schimpfwörter, or disparagements, a new one that, although recently coined, turned out to be more persistent than others with centuries-old tradition. “Balkanization” not only had come to denote the parcelization of 6/Laurence Broers, Alexander Iskandaryan and Sergey Minasyan large and viable political units but also had become a synonym for a reversion to the tribal, the backward, the primitive, the barbarian” (Todorova 1997, 3). At the beginning of the twenty-first century, contested territoriality in the post-Soviet space has not shaken off these stereotypes. Furthermore, de facto states in this region are implicated in the eyes of many observers in revanchist desires for another kind of reversion: to a pre-sovereign, neo-colonial politics controlled by a former and distant metropole. Yet as Harvey and Stansfield (2011, 18) observe, bottom-up splinter group secessionism – separatism – may not necessarily be the starting point of contested territoriality. They point instead to top-down dissolutions in four successive waves of “geopolitical failure” leading to territorial revisio- nism: decolonisation in Latin America in the nineteenth century, Europe following the First World War, de-colonization in the 1950s-1960s and the dissolution of socialist federalisms in the 1990s. To these a fifth wave, the implosion of Middle Eastern states in the new millennium, can be added, providing a further striking reminder of the precariousness of geopolitical orders. Furthermore, developments in the Middle East have led to the emer- gence of a new type of de facto statehood. As Mylonas and Ahram observe, what previous de facto states and entities (which they call “bounded”) strive to achieve is “just” international recognition and the acceptance of their territorial claim, whereas new de facto states such as ISIS (which they call “unbounded” de facto states) appear to disrupt the international system, seeking to undo the very foundations of sovereignty (Mylonas and Ahram 2015, 1). Yet if earlier waves of territorial revisions were ultimately accepted and le- gitimated in the post-Second World War era, the dissolution 40 years later of federalised socialist states lingers on in the form of contested territorialities in three of the Soviet Union’s successor states, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldo- va. Secessionist challenges claiming sovereignty and statehood have survived in Abkhazia, Nagorny Karabakh, South Ossetia and Transnistria for more than 20 years, despite isolation, exclusion, endemic weakness and chronic securitization. A fifth, Chechnya, was reabsorbed by Russia at devastating cost after two wars.1 Since 2014 an apparent reprise of these 1990s outcomes in eastern Ukraine, thereby expanding and embedding contested territorial- ity across the wider post-Soviet space, has revivified interest in unrecognised statehood in the post-Soviet space. Introduction: the unrecognised politics of de facto states in the post-Soviet space/7 Understandings of events and processes within de facto states remain deep- ly encrypted within predominant geopolitical discourses on the wider course of developments in Eurasia. As John O’Loughlin, Vladimir Kolossov and Gerard Toal observe, a pervasive tendency to homogenise de facto states is evident across tabloid, analytical and political audiences (O’Loughlin, Ko- lossov and Toal 2015, 3). Metropolitan narratives, whether emanating from Baku, Chisinau, Tbilisi, Kiev, or Moscow, conflate highly variable situations on the ground (Cooley 2015, Ker-Lindsay 2014); narratives emanating from de facto capitals also engage in a discursive project in homogenization, mirroring back to world opinion symbolically resonant frames justifying their presumed quest for recognition (Broers 2014). Outsider stances on de facto states are more often than not read as metonymic cues “revealing” positions on a whole host of issues, many of them unrelated to actual realities in de facto states. Hence beyond non-recognition,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Geologiis Institutis Shromata K
    t.qdyt,f xtvb vfcofdkt,kbc frfltvbrjc gtnht ufv'htkb.bc [cjdyfc . . To the Memory of my Teacher Academician Petre Gamkrelidze (1903 - 1979) C F M F H S D T K J C V T W Y B T H T , F S F F R F L T V B F FK. }FYTKB"BC CF[. U T J K J U B E H B B Y C N B N E N B ihjvt,b, f[fkb cthbf, yfrd. 111 ფ ძ CFMFHSDTKJC GFKTJUTJUHFABF LF UTJKJUBEHB UFYDBSFHT,F GFKTJUTYEH LHJIB . 1999 , , , - . - . - , , . - , , - - . - - - . - . - . - “ ”. . - .. : .-. , .. .-. , .. . .. , . я, . 111 .. . 1 9 9 9 The present book deals with detail reconstruction of paleogeography and history of geological evolution of Georgia in the Paleogene time on the base of new factual material and deep drilling data, the description being accompanied by a series of paleogeographic and lithological-facial maps compiled for different epochs of the Paleogene. In the light of the concept of new global tectonics pre-folding dimen- tions of the Paleogene flysch and epicontinental basins were reconstruct- ed that allowed to evaluate the degree of their contraction as a result of fold-and thrust formation. The work considers the general regularities of manifestation of the Pyrenean tectogenesis in the Caucasus on the whole including timing, duration and character of display of the Late Pyrenean phases on the study area. In the new light there has been presented the structure of the Sadzeguri syncline of the Jhinvali-Gombori subzone. For the first time the presence of the faunistically dated Paleocene and Lower Eocene sediments in the Kvaisa ore-bearing district has been es- tablished.
    [Show full text]
  • Foreign Observation of the Illegitimate Elections in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2019
    FOREIGN OBSERVATION OF THE ILLEGITIMATE ELECTIONS IN SOUTH OSSETIA AND ABKHAZIA IN 2019 Anton Shekhovtsov FOREIGN OBSERVATION OF THE ILLEGITIMATE ELECTIONS IN SOUTH OSSETIA AND ABKHAZIA IN 2019 Anton Shekhovtsov Contents Executive summary _____________________________________ 4 Introduction: Illegitimacy of the South Ossetian “parliamentary” and Abkhaz “presidential elections” ___________ 6 “Foreign observers” of the 2019 “elections” in South Ossetia and Abkhazia ____________________________ 9 Established involvement of “foreign observers” in pro-Kremlin efforts __________________________________ 16 Assessments of the South Ossetian and Abkhaz 2019 “elections” by “foreign observers” _____________________ 21 Conclusion ___________________________________________ 27 Edition: European Platform for Democratic Elections www.epde.org Responsible for the content: Europäischer Austausch gGmbH Erkelenzdamm 59 10999 Berlin, Germany Represented through: Stefanie Schiffer EPDE is financially supported by the European Union and the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. The here expressed opinion does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the donors. Executive summary The so-called “Republic of South Ossetia” and “Republic of Abkhazia” are breakaway regions of Georgia that are recognised as independent sovereign states only by five UN Member States: Russia (which supports their de facto independence by military, economic and political means), Nauru, Nicaragua, Syria and Venezuela. Other entities that recognise South Ossetia and Abkhaz- ia as independent
    [Show full text]
  • Muslim Communities of Georgia
    AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF ARMENIA Muslim Communities of Georgia: External Influences and Domestic Challenges A MASTER’S ESSAY SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FOR PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF ARTS BY AMALYA FLJYAN YEREVAN, ARMENIA MAY 2015 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….....4 Islam in Georgia: Background .…………………………………………………..……..6 Chapter 1: Literature Review…………………………………………………………………..8 Research Methodology………………………………………………………………………..14 Chapter 2: External Influences and Muslim Communities of Georgia.……………………....15 2.1 Turkey…………………………………………………………………………......15 2.2 Azerbaijan…………………………………………………………………………28 2.3 Iran………………………………………………………………………………...40 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………...…….45 Bibliography……………………………………………....…………………………………...47 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to people who supported me throughout the whole process of work on my Master’s Essay. First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Vahram Ter-Matevosyan. This work would not be possible without his constant support, patience, energy and dedication. The guidance and encouragement provided throughout the whole period of work on my research contributed to the overall development of my work. I was very fortunate to work with you. Further, I would like to thank the American University of Armenia and the Department of Political Science and International Affairs for creating perfect environment for academic studies. I would like specially thank Dr. Yevgenya Paturyan for her help, support and guidance during the course on Research Design. Your advice was very valuable during the first period of work on our Master’s essays. I would like to thank the Program Chair of the Department of Political Science and International for his work as program chair and support in academic endeavors.
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom of Religion in Abkhazia and South Ossetia/Tskhinvali Region
    Freedom of Religion in Abkhazia and South Ossetia/Tskhinvali Region Brief prehistory Orthodox Christians living in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are considered by the Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church to be subject to its canonical jurisdiction. The above is not formally denied by any Orthodox Churches. Abkhazians demand full independence and imagine their Church also to be independent. As for South Ossetia, the probable stance of "official" Ossetia is to unite with Alanya together with North Ossetia and integrate into the Russian Federation, therefore, they do not want to establish or "restore" the Autocephalous Orthodox Church. In both the political and ecclesiastical circles, the ruling elites of the occupied territories do not imagine their future together with either the Georgian State or the associated Orthodox Church. As a result of such attitudes and Russian influence, the Georgian Orthodox Church has no its clergymen in Tskhinvali or Abkhazia, cannot manage the property or relics owned by it before the conflict, and cannot provide adequate support to the parishioners that identify themselves with the Georgian Orthodox Church. Although both Abkhazia and South Ossetia have state sovereignty unilaterally recognized by the Russian Federation, ecclesiastical issues have not been resolved in a similar way. The Russian Orthodox Church does not formally or officially recognize the separate dioceses in these territories, which exist independently from the Georgian Orthodox Church, nor does it demand their integration into its own space. Clearly, this does not necessarily mean that the Russian Orthodox Church is guided by the "historical truth" and has great respect for the jurisdiction of the Georgian Orthodox Church in these territories.
    [Show full text]
  • Georgia/Abkhazia
    HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ARMS PROJECT HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI March 1995 Vol. 7, No. 7 GEORGIA/ABKHAZIA: VIOLATIONS OF THE LAWS OF WAR AND RUSSIA'S ROLE IN THE CONFLICT CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................................5 EVOLUTION OF THE WAR.......................................................................................................................................6 The Role of the Russian Federation in the Conflict.........................................................................................7 RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................................................8 To the Government of the Republic of Georgia ..............................................................................................8 To the Commanders of the Abkhaz Forces .....................................................................................................8 To the Government of the Russian Federation................................................................................................8 To the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus...........................................................................9 To the United Nations .....................................................................................................................................9 To the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe..........................................................................9
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    Sociopolitical Situation in the Northeast Caucasus: Challenges to Nongovernmental Organizations, Andre Kamenshikov, Vladimir Sukhov, and Mikhail Charaev Abstract casien: la Tchetchenie,l'Ingushetie, et Ie high, especially in Karabakh, Abkhazia, Dagestan, dans la perspective de l' Chechnya and Tadjikistan, where huge The authors provide a general analysis of action pratique en matiere d'intervention problems caused by war remain unsolved the sociopolitical situation in three basic charitable et humanitaire. Ces efforts sont such as the problem of hundreds of regions of the Northeast Caucasus, diriges vers une evaluation de thousands of refugees, for whom the road Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, from 1'interaction et de la mise sur pied de to their homes remains closed. the perspective of practical action in the programmes constructifs au niveau des When speaking about the reaction area of humanitarian and charitable organisations internationales et non- demonstrated by the global community in activities there. These efforts are directed gouvernementales, autant qu' au niveau reply to the arising problems and crises, it toward assisting the interaction and im- des initiatives individuelles. Les auteurs is important to note the following: plementation of constructive programs on citent donc des exemples d' organisations • First, the rapid development of events the level of international and ayant eu du succes dans la mise en place and the occurrence ofnumerous crises nongovernmental organizations, as well as de telles initiatives. Ils decrivent aussi un in the post-Soviet territory was largely on the level of individual initiatives. Thus, certain nombre de projets en unexpected (despite some predictions the authors cite examples of organizations preparations.
    [Show full text]
  • Humanitarian Action in the Caucasus: a Guide for Practitioners
    HUMANITARIAN ACTION IN THE CAUCASUS: A GUIDE FOR PRACTITIONERS Greg Hansen Humanitarianism and War Project & Local Capacities for Peace Project i Published by The Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies Brown University, Box 1970 2 Stimson Avenue Providence, RI 02912 USA Telephone: (401) 863-2809 Fax: (401) 863-1270 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Watson_Institute/ Thomas J. Biersteker, Ph.D., Director Frederick F. Fullerton, Writer/Editor Nancy Soukup, Writer/Editor George Potter, Staff Assistant Statements of fact or opinions are solely those of the authors; their publication does not imply endorsement by the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies. Copyright 1998 by the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies. All rights reserved under International and Pan American Convention. No part of this report may be reproduced by any other means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Publications Group, Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies. ii CONTENTS Preface ........................................................................................................................................... v Author’s Note...............................................................................................................................ix Acronyms......................................................................................................................................xi
    [Show full text]
  • Land Violation of Children's Rights in Gali District
    No Future Violation of Children’s Rights Land in Gali District Contacts E [email protected] W http://truth-hounds.org/en/ https://www.facebook.com/truthhounds E [email protected] W https://www.nofutureland.org/ https://www.facebook.com/Nofutureland/ Contents Executive Summary 4 Introduction 5 Sources of Information and Methodology of Documentation 7 The Rights of Children to Life and Health 8 Right to Education 12 Freedom of Movement 18 Legal Qualifications 23 The Right to Education 24 Freedom of Movement 25 The Right of Children to Life and Health 26 Conclusion and Recommendations 28 Authors of the Report 29 4 Executive Summary This report presents compelling evidence of human rights violations in occupied Abkhazian territories, specifically in Gali district, a predominantly Georgian part close to the boundary line. As for the time of the publication of this report, the people living in Gali are lacking the opportunity to cross the demarcation line without restrictions, they become victims of arbitrary detentions and illegal imprisonment, have limited accessibility to health services and are forced to apply for an “Abkhazian Passports” to get to work, to travel within and out of the region, etc. The right to education of children living in Gali is also violated. Their right and opportunity to education in their native Georgian language are deprived because Georgian was replaced with Russian at all schools of lower and upper zones of Gali in 2015. Children are the victims of “Russification”, ethnic discrimination and suppression of their Georgian identity. The amount of children crossing the boundary line on a daily basis, to study at schools on Tbilisi-controlled territory, is decreasing with every year.
    [Show full text]
  • Abkhazia: Deepening Dependence
    ABKHAZIA: DEEPENING DEPENDENCE Europe Report N°202 – 26 February 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. RECOGNITION’S TANGIBLE EFFECTS ................................................................... 2 A. RUSSIA’S POST-2008 WAR MILITARY BUILD-UP IN ABKHAZIA ...................................................3 B. ECONOMIC ASPECTS ....................................................................................................................5 1. Dependence on Russian financial aid and investment .................................................................5 2. Tourism potential.........................................................................................................................6 3. The 2014 Sochi Olympics............................................................................................................7 III. LIFE IN ABKHAZIA........................................................................................................ 8 A. POPULATION AND CITIZENS .........................................................................................................8 B. THE 2009 PRESIDENTIAL POLL ..................................................................................................10 C. EXTERNAL RELATIONS ..............................................................................................................11
    [Show full text]
  • Ghia Nodia Components of the Georgian National Idea
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ILIAUNI Open Journal Systems (Ilia State University, Tbilisi) Ghia Nodia Components of the Georgian National Idea: an Outline Since the 1980s, theoretical literature on nationalism has abounded, its most influential stars including Ernest Gellner, Benedict Anderson, An- thony Smith and Rogers Brubaker. The main thrust has been to problema- tize the concept of nation as most people have tended to perceive it since the 19th century. To reject, that is, the romanticized idea of a nation as an age- old, pre-given entity one is supposed to speak of with awe. The new scholars of nations and nationalism disdain these approaches as “primoridialist” and “essentialist” - which, for them, is synonymous with unprofessionalism and inadequacy. On the other hand, most of Georgian intellectual tradition, in- asmuch as it is preoccupied with the concept of the Georgian nation, takes the essentialist-primordialist approach for granted - even when authors dis- play sharply critical attitudes towards different aspects of Georgian social or political realities. Georgian sociologists who teach contemporary theories of nationalism rarely apply them to Georgian material.1 The latter attempts are rare and mostly belong to foreign scholars.2 The aim of this article is to propose a tentative trajectory of the evolu- tion of the idea of the modern Georgian nation. I will not go into theoretical debates on nationalism but start by briefly summarizing my general approach towards the problem. Then I will proceed with a general description of two major components of the Georgian national idea: identity-building on the one hand, and the Georgian nation as a political project.
    [Show full text]
  • An Ambivalent 'Independence'
    OswcOMMentary issue 34 | 20.01.2010 | ceNTRe fOR eAsTeRN sTudies An ambivalent ‘independence’ Abkhazia, an unrecognised democracy under Russian protection NTARy Wojciech Górecki Me ces cOM Abkhazia – a state unrecognised by the international community and depen- dent on Russia – has features of a democracy, including political pluralism. This is manifested through regularly held elections, which are a time of ge- tudies nuine competition between candidates, and through a wide range of media, s including the pro-opposition private TV station Abaza. astern e The competing political forces have different visions for the republic’s deve- lopment. President Sergei Bagapsh’s team would like to build up multilateral foreign relations (although the highest priority would be given to relations 1 Despite the lack of with Russia), while the group led by Raul Khajimba, a former vice-president international recognition, entre for it seems unreasonable c and present leader of the opposition, would rather adopt a clear pro-Moscow to use the form ‘self- orientation. It is worth noting that neither of the significant political forces appointed’ or ‘so-called’ president, or to append wants Abkhazia to become part of Russia (while such proposals have been inverted commas to the term (which also con- made in South Ossetia), and a majority of the Abkhazian elite sees Russia’s NTARy cerns other Abkhazian recognition of the country’s independence as a Pyrrhic victory because Me officials and institutions) it has limited their country’s room for manoeuvre. However, all parties are because Bagapsh in fact performs this agreed in ruling out any future dependence on Georgia.
    [Show full text]
  • Tracing Varieties of Peace
    Tracing Varieties of Peace A case study on three approaches to peace in a frozen conflict Johanna Kolli Master’s thesis, 30 credit Master’s Program in Crisis Management and Peacebuilding, 120 credit Spring semester 2020 Abstract Scholars in the peace and conflict field oftentimes argue that peace is somewhat under- conceptualised. The Varieties of Peace network has made a substantial effort in furthering the conceptualisation of peace by creating a comprehensive framework, theorising peace as three different approaches: situational, relational and ideational. In this thesis, I explored how this framework can be applied in an empirical context and how the approaches relate to each other; testing the internal validity and assumptions of the framework. By shifting the common focus of peace from stability to a dynamic process of change, I studied how peace changes in an empirical context that is typically understood as static: frozen conflicts. In a case study on Abkhazia from 1994-2008, I used process-tracing to study how the three approaches relate to each other, either harmoniously or with dissonance, and to describe the changes of peace in a frozen conflict. I conclude that the Varieties of Peace framework has proven to be useful when studying the dynamics of peace and how it changes in a post-conflict setting. It has been especially useful in capturing the cyclical dynamic of change in a frozen conflict. The framework has comparative and comprehensive advantages in studying the peace as a complex, dynamic process, but inhibits some issues regarding the trade-off between complexity and parsimony and concerning the internal validity.
    [Show full text]