Politics in Deeply Divided Societies

Politics in Deeply Divided Societies
Title Politics in Deeply Divided Societies PDF eBook
Author Adrian Guelke
Publisher John Wiley & Sons
Pages 204
Release 2013-04-25
Genre Political Science
ISBN 0745660649

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The establishment of durable, democratic institutions constitutes one of the major challenges of our age. As countless contemporary examples have shown, it requires far more than simply the holding of free elections. The consolidation of a legitimate constitutional order is difficult to achieve in any society, but it is especially problematic in societies with deep social cleavages. This book provides an authoritative and systematic analysis of the politics of so-called 'deeply divided societies' in the post Cold War era. From Bosnia to South Africa, Northern Ireland to Iraq, it explains why such places are so prone to political violence, and demonstrates why - even in times of peace - the fear of violence continues to shape attitudes, entrenching divisions in societies that already lack consensus on their political institutions. Combining intellectual rigour and accessibility, it examines the challenge of establishing order and justice in such unstable environments, and critically assesses a range of political options available, from partition to power-sharing and various initiatives to promote integration. The Politics of Deeply Divided Societies is an ideal resource for students of comparative politics and related disciplines, as well as anyone with an interest in the dynamics of ethnic conflict and nationalism.

Negotiating in Civil Conflict

Negotiating in Civil Conflict
Title Negotiating in Civil Conflict PDF eBook
Author Haider Ala Hamoudi
Publisher University of Chicago Press
Pages 326
Release 2013-11-12
Genre Political Science
ISBN 022606879X

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In 2005, Iraq drafted its first constitution and held the country’s first democratic election in more than fifty years. Even under ideal conditions, drafting a constitution can be a prolonged process marked by contentious debate, and conditions in Iraq are far from ideal: Iraq has long been racked by ethnic and sectarian conflict, which intensified following the American invasion and continues today. This severe division, which often erupted into violence, would not seem to bode well for the fate of democracy. So how is it that Iraq was able to surmount its sectarianism to draft a constitution that speaks to the conflicting and largely incompatible ideological view of the Sunnis, Shi’ah, and Kurds? Haider Ala Hamoudi served in 2009 as an adviser to Iraq’s Constitutional Review Committee, and he argues here that the terms of the Iraqi Constitution are sufficiently capacious to be interpreted in a variety of ways, allowing it to appeal to the country’s three main sects despite their deep disagreements. While some say that this ambiguity avoids the challenging compromises that ultimately must be made if the state is to survive, Hamoudi maintains that to force these compromises on issues of central importance to ethnic and sectarian identity would almost certainly result in the imposition of one group’s views on the others. Drawing on the original negotiating documents, he shows that this feature of the Constitution was not an act of evasion, as is sometimes thought, but a mark of its drafters’ awareness in recognizing the need to permit the groups the time necessary to develop their own methods of working with one another over time.

The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies

The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies
Title The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies PDF eBook
Author Ayelet Harel-Shalev
Publisher Studies in Public Policy
Pages 0
Release 2010
Genre Citizenship
ISBN 9780739126844

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"Harel-Shalev's study is outstanding. Finally, a cogent and intelligent analysis of the myriad ways deeply divided societies maintain and negotiate democratic practices. This book will prove to be essential reading for anyone interested in the topics of identity politics, public policy, and democracy."---Rebecca Kook, Ben Gurion University --

Mediating Power-Sharing

Mediating Power-Sharing
Title Mediating Power-Sharing PDF eBook
Author Feargal Cochrane
Publisher Routledge
Pages 165
Release 2018-01-12
Genre Political Science
ISBN 135125054X

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This book focuses on the design and operation of power-sharing in deeply divided societies. Beyond this starting point, it seeks to examine the different ways in which consociational institutions emerge from negotiations and peace settlements across three counter-intuitive cases – post-Brexit referendum Northern Ireland, the Brussels Capital Region and Cyprus. Across each of the chapters, the analysis assesses how the design or mediation of these various forms of power-sharing demonstrate similarity, difference and complexity in how consociationalism has been conceived of and operated within each of these contexts. Finally, a key objective of the book is to explore and evaluate how ideas surrounding power-sharing have evolved and changed incrementally within each of the empirical contexts. The unifying argument within the book is that power-sharing has to have the capacity to adapt to changing political circumstances, and that this can be achieved through the interplay of formal and informal micro-level refinements to these institutions and the procedures that govern them, that allow such institutions to evolve over time in ways that increase their utility as conflict transformation governance structures for deeply divided societies. This book fills the gap in the published literature between theoretical and empirical studies of power-sharing, and will be of much interest to students of peace and conflict studies, consociationalism, European politics and IR in general.

The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation

The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation
Title The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation PDF eBook
Author John McGarry
Publisher Routledge
Pages 276
Release 2013-06-17
Genre Political Science
ISBN 1136146601

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This major and timely collection addresses one of the world's most visible and tragic problems: ethnic conflict and its regulation. It begins with a guide to the primary methods used to eliminate or manag eethnic conflict, and is followed by a global sample of case studies written by leading authorities in their fields.

Democracy and Deep-rooted Conflict

Democracy and Deep-rooted Conflict
Title Democracy and Deep-rooted Conflict PDF eBook
Author Peter Harris
Publisher
Pages 444
Release 1998
Genre Law
ISBN

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How does one build democracy in the aftermath of a violent, deep-rooted conflict? This handbook shows how to structure negotiations and design democratic institutions which address the real needs and interests of conflicting parties. It provides practical advice for policy-makers and political leaders in post-conflict societies and presents a wealth of options that can be drawn upon to build a sustainable peace. Aimed at those negotiating a peace settlement, this book provides a thorough overview of democratic levers - such as power-sharing formulas, questions of federalism and autonomy, options for electoral reform, when to use truth commissions, transitional justice mechanisms, methods of preserving minority rights, constitutional safeguards and many others. It also analyses actual negotiated settlements from various countries and illustrates the many, often unrecognized, options that negotiators can draw upon when attempting to build or rebuild democracy.

Power Sharing and International Mediation in Ethnic Conflicts

Power Sharing and International Mediation in Ethnic Conflicts
Title Power Sharing and International Mediation in Ethnic Conflicts PDF eBook
Author Timothy D. Sisk
Publisher US Institute of Peace Press
Pages 180
Release 1996
Genre Political Science
ISBN 9781878379566

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Can power sharing prevent violent ethnic conflict? And if so, how can the international community best promote that outcome? In this concise volume, Timothy Sisk defines power sharing as practices and institutions that result in broad-based governing coalitions generally inclusive of all major ethnic groups. He identifies the principal approaches to power sharing, including autonomy, federations, and proportional electoral systems. In addition, Sisk highlights the problems with various power-sharing approaches and practices that have been raised by scholars and practitioners alike, and the instances where power-sharing experiments have succeeded and where they have failed. Finally, he offers some guidance to policymakers as they ponder power-sharing arrangements.