"Original versions: English and Arabic, Geneva and Ramallah, 2007"--T.p. verso.

The notion of "local ownership" has emerged in recent years as part of the contemporary commonsense of security sector reform (SSR). While the argument that externally driven reform processes are unsustainable is now widely accepted, the principle of local ownership has proven difficult to both define and operationalise. With contributions by leading practitioners, both "insiders" and "outsiders", Local Ownership and Security Sector Reform subjects the broader issue of local ownership to critical scrutiny, furthers the debate on what local ownership is and why it matters, and explores how ownership issues have played out in the context of specific SSR case studies.

This book explores and analyses the various factors that affected the formulation of the common EU policy towards the Middle East Peace Process (MEPP), as well as the specifics of the process by which the EU created EUPOL COPPS and EUBAM Rafah. It answers two central questions: firstly, why and how did the EU decide to create and deploy these missions? Secondly, where do these two missions fit into the general EU approach to the conflict in the Middle East? Based on confidential interviews with various actors in the process, uniquely granted to the author, it reveals the mechanics of decision-making behind the scenes and argues that the EU decision to expand its role in the MEPP, through the creation of the two missions, was closely related to the EU’s defined common interests in the Middle East. Further it shows, the missions were, mainly, the result of the EU’s already established approaches to further its role in the international political arena. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of European foreign policy, EU Politics, Middle East politics and studies, foreign policy analysis, and more broadly to international relations.

How can conflict-prone countries ensure better delivery of security and justice services? How can they establish structures and mechanisms which will ensure effective and accountable security and justice institutions? Although there has been ...

Almost twenty years after the Oslo Accords and the formation of the Palestinian National Authority (PA), there is a need to examine this experience in all its aspects, especially since it has not achieved its main goal: the transition from an autonomous authority to an independent state with full sovereignty over the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza Strip). This book is a comprehensive study of the PA and its experience. The 15 chapters analyze the aspects of the PA establishment and its legislative, judicial and presidential institutions, as well as the performance of successive governments. The book deals with the internal Palestinian situation, the security forces, the PA position towards the resistance forces, and economic, demographic, educational and health conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It also tackles the corruption in the PA, the relationship between the PA and the media, as well as its foreign policy. This book is a systematic, scientific study that forensically documents the PA experience. It has undergone the usual procedures of scientific editing, including the reviewing of texts and references.

This book, sponsored by the Academic Alliance for Reconciliation Studies in the Middle East and North Africa (AARMENA), focuses on peacebuilding, conflict transformation, and shifts toward approaching the reconciliation process as an inter-, trans- and multidisciplinary field. The research presented in the series focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, highlighting contributions by practitioners and scholars alike. This volume showcases research on Heritage, Reconciliation, and Social Inclusion in the Middle East and North Africa. It reflects various inter-, trans- and multidisciplinary approaches applied both theoretically and practically, and explores conflict transformation and transitional shifts towards peacebuilding and reconciliation in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. The content is divided into five sections, the first of which examines the importance of reconciliation, peacebuilding, and social inclusion in contributions by experts in the field such as Martin Leiner, Wolfgang Dietrich, Mohammad Abu Nimer, Mohmmad Alshraideh and Iyad Aldajani. The second and third section explore digital humanities and the research sciences respectively, while the fourth turns to practices of heritage and reconciliation. The fifth section presents case studies on practices, conducted by expert researchers for heritage, reconciliation, and social inclusion in higher education.

This book analyses the present European Union (EU) approach to state-building, both in policy and operation. It offers a review of the literature on peace-building, EU state-building and conflict resolution, before examining in detail the EU’s role as a state-builder in the case of the Occupied Palestinian Territories following the 1993 Oslo Accords. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and over 140 interviews carried out in Brussels, London, Jerusalem and Ramallah with EU, Palestinian and Israeli officials as well as academics, members of NGOs and civil society, the author evaluates the present approach of state-building and offers a framework to test the effectiveness of the EU as a state-builder. Examining security sector reform, judiciary sector reform and the rule of law, the book brings the ‘voices from the field’ to the forefront and measures the contribution of the EU to state-building against a backdrop of on-going conflict and a polarised social setting. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, EU politics, Middle Eastern politics, conflict resolution and state-building.