First Things First: R2P Starts with Direct Negotiations

Abstract

Public debates on R2P one-sidedly focus on its forcible aspects. They should, however, also focus on R2P’s non-coercive aspects, which include the legal obligations to cooperate and to pursue peaceful conflict resolution, notably the obligation to undertake meaningful attempts at negotiation before coercive means are taken into consideration. After the Arab Spring erupted in Libya and Syria, other countries did not exhaust reasonable efforts to deal and negotiate with the incumbent powers, and to assist and encourage them to meet their obligations under R2P, even though negotiations are part and parcel of the R2P framework and constitute the very first step to be taken whenever a state seems to ignore its obligations under that framework.     

Towards a critical realist perspective on African conflicts

With various attempts being made to address religious, ethnic and political conflicts in Africa, one question which continues to feature in public discourses concerns the contributions which the African academic community could make towards the understanding and resolution of conflict. This article demonstrates that ontological issues need to be critical in any attempts at effectively analysing conflicts. The merit of the critical realist philosophy of Roy Bhaskar, with its ontological concerns, is presented as an important analytical and resolution model which the African academic community can fall back on, to look for effective solutions to conflict on the continent. The thrust in this article is that the properties of the critical realist approach to social research make it practically adequate for analysing conflicts.     

Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Education in the Age of the MOOC

Even as online learning is increasingly embraced by institutions of higher education, the past decade has seen the arrival of yet another new educational vehicle: massive online open courses (MOOCs). These courses are designed to disseminate knowledge at an unprecedented scale — even as they engender concerns about quality, learning efficacy, and the future of higher education. In this article, I discuss the MOOC phenomenon and describe a MOOC on negotiation that I developed and taught, exploring the advantages that such a course offers for negotiation and conflict resolution education in particular.     

迈向“过程导向信任”的刑事死因鉴定争议解决机制

中国当今刑事鉴定争议频发。其中当事人与办案机关鉴定冲突最剧烈、不满手段最多样,且其社会影响最大者,目前主要聚集在部分死因鉴定领域。该类鉴定争议既滋生过度重复鉴定,更促使部分当事人上访、闹事,一度还以此衍生出暴力性群体事件。死因鉴定争议的发生,主要源于影响鉴定意见可信性的一系列因素,而非仅因为、甚或主要基于鉴定意见的客观可靠性。因此,为重塑中国刑事死因鉴定的公信力,必须走向从实践出发的法律研究与制度建构立场,以回应办案部门创建、并亟须理论提炼与立法改良的“过程导向信任”的鉴定争议解决机制。其关键措施,是通过死因鉴定程序的开放性与当事人双方（包括其聘请的法医专家）的充分参与性,从而实现鉴定意见的可信性或当事人可接受性;并以此领域的鉴定争议解决为突破口,进行鉴定制度改革,以提升中国整个刑事司法鉴定的公信力与可信性。     

Best practices for the management of knowledge for conflict resolution: Lessons learned from the Great Lakes region of Africa

Abstract

This article deals with the management of knowledge for conflict resolution and innovation in Africa. After a brief discussion of the research methodology followed, a feedback is provided on the field study conducted from 2006 to 2008 in northern Uganda and Rwanda and at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, and in the DRC. As a result of the field study, certain principles and practices were identified whereby the challenges facing Africa could be examined. The author found five ‘realms’ in which knowledge management can take place and that traditional knowledge practices, if merged with more modern knowledge management practices, provide a valuable framework for using knowledge management for conflict resolution and innovation in Africa. Best practices that were identified include an intra-connected and collective knowledge production system and the production of tacit knowledge, especially among the new generation or youth. Furthermore, the importance of intellectual capital (in the form of value-driven leadership, competent managers and expert knowledge workers) and the activation of an intervention into the continuous spiral of violent conflict which will ultimately lead to the innovative transformation of African society are discussed. Finally, some recommendations are offered as possible solutions for conflict resolution and innovation in Africa.     

Introduction: Regional powers in contest and engagement: making sense of international relations in a globalised world

Over the last couple of years, ‘African ownership’ has become a buzzword in many fields. Economic development initiatives like the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) are based on it, partnership agreements like the Joint AU–EU Africa Strategy are built around it and its central concept of Africanisation guides virtually all external relations of the continent. African leaders (rightly) insist on it, international organisations (rightly) preach it and many non-African actors are (unsurprisingly) hiding behind it. The concept of African ownership is so omnipresent today that it is more than surprising that the simple question of who actually owns it has not yet been asked. It is the declared purpose of this paper to disentangle rhetoric from reality and identify the owner as well as the limits of African ownership in the sphere of peace and security.     

Turning down the heat: Influences on conflict management in enduring rivalries

Enduring rivalries represent the most difficult challenges for policy makers seeking to promote international peace and security. Once in place, enduring rivalries account for a disproportionate number of crises, militarized disputes, as well as wars, and include conflicts that are more likely to escalate than those falling in other conflict contexts. Unfortunately, we know very little about conflict management in enduring rivalries from either a theoretical or policy perspective. This study seeks to account for why some rivalries are successfully managed while others persist at high and unabated levels of conflict In addressing these concerns, we explore 35 enduring rivalries over the period 1945–1992. We find that although enduring rivalries are quite resistant to influences that produce changes in their dynamics, both endogenous and contextual influences can exercise a significant impact upon the prospects for conflict management between enduring rivals.     

The Constitution of Afghanistan and Women’s Rights

This article argues that women’s human rights were and are being violated in Afghanistan regardless of who governs the country: Kings, secular rulers, Mujahideen or Taliban, or the incumbent internationally backed government of Karzai. The provisions of the new constitution regarding women’s rights are analysed under three categories: neutral, protective and discriminatory. It is argued that the current constitution is a step in the right direction but, far from protecting women’s rights effectively, it requires substantial revamping. The constitutional commitment to international human rights standards seems to be a hallow slogan as the constitution declares Islam as a state religion which clearly conflicts with women’s human rights standards in certain areas. The Constitution has empowered the Supreme Court to review whether human rights instruments are compatible with Islamic legal norms and, in case of conflict, precedence will be given to Islamic law. Keeping this in view, it is argued that Afghanistan’s ratification of the Women’s Convention without reservations has no real significance unless Islamic law dealing with women’s rights is reformed and reconciled with international women’s rights standards.     

Shmaglena: Ethnic framework for problem mediating

The article describes traditional mediators (in Amharic, shmaglotz meaning “elders”; shmagaleh in the singular) who fill a range of roles within the community of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, as well as a mediation process (shmaglena in Amharic). The present research is a constructivist-qualitative study. Thirteen respondents participated in the study, all of whom were exposed to the shmaglena process. The data were collected through semi-structured content interviews. The research elicited that the shmaglena function has undergone transformation and adaptation to the target nation's culture. It was also found that the shmaglotz constitute an informal authority whose roles resemble those of conflict resolvers in other cultures.     

高校学生突发事件的法律应对

迅速、有效地应对高校学生突发事件,是建设和谐校园的必然要求。应采取“控制式升级”体制,赋予高校下设单位一定的突发事件确认权与紧急处置权。高校各职能部门应根据“分类管理,分工合作”原则,行使监测、预警、信息披露、紧急救助等各项具体紧急处置行为,同时完善能尽快控制或消除学生突发事件造成的损害且兼顾保障学生各项基本权利的高校学生突发事件应对法治。