Building peace from below—the potential of local models of conflict prevention in Haiti

International media has established an image of Haiti as a disorganised and violent society. However, this article argues that—and reveals why—this characterisation is incorrect. The article explores how the structures and traditions of Haitian local communities react and respond to the needs of the communities and to the disputes that arise within them. It explores the causes of local conflicts and their relationship with the larger conflict picture in Haiti, and furthermore investigates the challenges faced by local models of conflict prevention and how these are affected by national policies as well as by the presence of foreign actors in the country. The analysis is based on a survey and on fieldwork carried out in different regions of Haiti during the period 2007–2013. The article concludes with recommendations to pay more attention to the challenges that local conflict prevention efforts face—as a result of the larger liberal peace-building framework.     

Strictly Australian: Tourism and ethnic diversity

The tourist industry has abandoned mono‐cultural images of Australia and is now in the business of selling the country's cultural diversity to the world. But multicultural tourism, or touristic multiculturalism, present a new set of problems and dilemmas for advocates of cultural diversity. Tourism's nostalgic appeal to cultural authenticity, and to culture as spectacle, or ‘fashion accessory’, is of little relevance to life in contemporary Australia. This paper offers examples of multicultural events produced for the tourist market in order to highlight conflicts between different images of multiculturalism.     

Madagascar between peace and conflict—domestic capabilities for peaceful conflict management

Despite severe political instability and many political crises since independence, Madagascar has experienced peace for nearly four decades. Unlike the dominant research on causes of armed conflict, this article focuses on the causes of peace. It introduces a new concept—domestic capabilities for peaceful conflict management—to identify factors related to conflict fault lines, civil–military relations and a culture of constructive conflict management, that facilitate the prevalence of peace. The domestic capabilities for peaceful conflict management perspective draws attention away from preventive diplomacy and external intervention and places the focus on internal capabilities for peace. On this basis, the article also analyses the severe crisis in 2009 and how it was handled.     

The Appearance,Taste, and Concentrations of Zolpidem Dissolved in Still Water and Carbonated Beverages

Zolpidem is a sedative that could be used to drug victims, but its suitability to dissolve in drinks is unknown. In this small study, we added either crushed or whole tablets of zolpidem hemitartrate to carbonated beverages or still water to observe how this affected the taste and appearance. Also, concentrations were measured by ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry at different time intervals. Two crushed tablets (20 mg) in cider (250 mL) lead to a maximum concentration of 84 mg/L zolpidem base after 30 min, while the corresponding concentration after adding fifteen tablets (150 mg) was 467 mg/L. There was little change in taste, but froth and turbidity were observed when adding high doses to carbonated beverages. Carbonated beverages spiked with 20 mg of crushed zolpidem hemitartrate tablets reached concentrations that could cause impairment. Spiking with 150 mg could possibly be lethal if several mouthfuls were ingested.     

Group identity—a neglected asset: Determinants of social and political participation among female ex-fighters in Guatemala

Many of the armed conflicts after World War II have had female fighters, such as El Salvador, Eritrea, Guatemala, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. In the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) process that followed the signing of the Guatemalan peace accord in 1996, altogether 766 women were demobilised. This article seeks to explain why some of these women became politically and socially active in the post-conflict peacebuilding phase, whereas others did not. Contrary to the negative experiences of female ex-fighters from Sierra Leone and West Africa, the article points out that the Guatemalan female ex-fighters preserved a positive group identity developed during the war. In particular, the war experiences represented an asset for social and political participation to those of the female ex-fighters that reintegrated collectively—together with their male ex-combatants. The article concludes that future DDR programming should take into account the importance of group identity and the needs and the own wishes of female ex-fighters from different war contexts.