scholarly journals Judicial Independence and Peace Duration: An Assessment of Political Institutions in the Post-Conflict Environment

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Madden
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Judicial Independence ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Peace Duration

scholarly journals The Perception of the Legitimacy of Citizens’ Assemblies in Deeply Divided Places? Evidence of Public and Elite Opinion from Consociational Northern Ireland

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
John Garry ◽  
James Pow ◽  
John Coakley ◽  
David Farrell ◽  
Brendan O'Leary ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Elite Interviews ◽  
Support Decision Making ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract How much public and elite support is there for the use of a citizens’ assembly – a random selection of citizens brought together to consider a policy issue – to tackle major, deadlock-inducing disagreements in deeply divided places with consociational political institutions? We focus on Northern Ireland and use evidence from a cross-sectional attitude survey, a survey-based experiment and elite interviews. We find that the general public support decision-making by a citizens’ assembly, even when the decision reached is one they personally disagree with. However, support is lower among those with strong ideological views. We also find that elected politicians oppose delegating decision-making power to an ‘undemocratic’ citizens’ assembly, but are more supportive of recommendation-making power. These findings highlight the potential for post-conflict consociations to be amended, with the consent of the parties, to include citizens’ assemblies that make recommendations but not binding policy.

scholarly journals Bureaucratic Corruption, Democracy and Judicial Independence

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Gang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Instrumental Variable ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
Judicial Independence ◽  
Bureaucratic Corruption ◽  
Institutional Constraint ◽  
Determinants Of Corruption ◽  
The Government ◽  
Different Levels

<p>The theoretical literature in economics and political science has made numerous efforts in understanding the determinants of corruption and stressed the importance of political institutions in shaping the patterns of government corruption. Nevertheless, very few researches focus on the role of judicial system. Employing a formal model with empirical analyses, I incorporate economic factors with political constraints to investigate the different roles of democracy and judicial independence in determining the level of bureaucrats’ corruption across countries. Empirically, the instrumental variable (IV) approach is applied to resolve the endogeneity problems. The evidence indicates that different levels of corruption across countries are significantly influenced by the degrees of judicial independence. To fight corruption successfully, I contend that the judiciary, as a hard institutional constraint to resist bureaucratic corruption, has to be independent from the government. </p>

Educational Access and Peace Duration in Post-Conflict Countries

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ishiyama ◽  
Marijke Breuning
Keyword(s):  
Educational Access ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Peace Duration

POWER-SHARING AND NATIONAL COMMUNITY FORMATION: UNDERSTANDING BOSNIA’S EXPERIENCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 127-153
Author(s):  
Irina Kudryashova ◽  
Elena Meleskina
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
National Community ◽  
Post Conflict

The article explores the experience of power-sharing, i.e. consociational democracy, established in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) after the end of the ethnic war a quarter century ago. The authors’ attention is aimed at identifying a balance between the broad autonomy of the three major ethnocultural groups (segments) and the formation of a national community and common civic identity. Knowing this balance makes it possible to determine the prospects for political stability and development. For this purpose, the system of political institutions in BiH is considered, and its specificity is highlighted. Data-based analysis allows to define a number of negative trends in the Bosnian political process, in particular, the weakening of the democratic potential of the political regime, as well as the deterioration of the quality of governance and civil society’s activities. The observed rise in political participation is assessed as ineffective, since it hasn’t been accompanied by an increase in authorities’ responsibility and ability to solve acute political and socioeconomic problems. In particular, despite widespread support for the European perspective, party leaders haven’t been able to agree on the constitutional reform that is required to obtain official EU candidate status. The BiH parties’ analysis reveals their interest in promoting the ethno-nationalist discourse for keeping control over the economic and political resources of their communities. It is also noted that the role of international actors in BiH is of a dual nature: they maintain the required level of stability, but some of their decisions provoke strengthening of the nationalist forces. In the framework of the Bosnian case, the importance of the elites’ consent to joint participation in power and cooperation can be viewed as the most important condition for the successful implementation of power-sharing institutions and practices in post-conflict societies.

scholarly journals Reconsidering the settlement of civil conflict

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-108
Author(s):  
Yuichi Kubota
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Civil Conflict ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Civil Conflicts ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Policy Agendas

The settlement of civil conflict is highly relevant to both policy agendas and academic research. It is often difficult to bring to the negotiation table conflict parties who have long harbored hostility towards each other during the conflict. Even if the parties come to negotiation, it is often an arduous task to reach an agreement because the post-conflict embarkation comes with political uncertainty for the future. This special issue is aimed at addressing civil-conflict settlement from two different angles. First, it attempts to understand the requisite conditions for the successful settlement of armed civil conflicts. Second, it has a particular interest in the post-conflict design of political institutions. The academic contribution of the articles lies in theoretical advancement as it applies to the settlement of civil conflict. Each contribution adds a nuanced understanding of civil-conflict settlement to the relevant literature. The articles provide insight into the successful conditions of conflict settlement and post-conflict institutional design, such as power-sharing and the management of resources.

Why are “we” called “them”?: Storytelling and the contested terrain of post-conflict public formation

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-324
Author(s):  
David J Marshall ◽  
Lynn A Staeheli ◽  
Vanja Čelebičić
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Youth Organizations ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Ethical Commitment ◽  
Post Conflict

Efforts to repair wounded social relations and rebuild political institutions typically target young people, who are viewed with a mix of hope and anxiety as the future leaders of the country. Efforts undertaken by civil society organizations, and funded by international donors, emphasize dialogue and tolerance through civic engagement. Dialogue, tolerance, and engagement aim at inclusive forms of peaceful community building and public togetherness, yet notions of what constitutes the political community are inherently contested. Moreover, tolerance efforts targeting youth often combine face-to-face forms of dialogue with the use of digital media aiming at broader public engagement, potentially introducing further anxiety over fraught forms of community and public-ness. This paper discusses a digital story/community mapping project conducted with two youth-led civil society organizations in Sarajevo/East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the youth organizations share an ethical commitment to dialogue promotion, the dialogue produced through this creative collaboration was fraught with conflicting views of how to commemorate past violence and different definitions of what constitutes community.

scholarly journals Political stability in deeply divided and post-conflict societies

2020 ◽  
pp. 207-222
Author(s):  
Stefan Vukojevic
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
The Difference

Political stability is one of the paramount concepts in deeply divided and post-conflict societies, and its clearer determination in scientific literature is questionable for several reasons. First, the difference in political-social contexts of political stability is neglected, that is, the difference between the consolidated democratic societies and deeply divided/post-conflict societies with newly established or renewed democratic institutions, or a recently ended war. Secondly, due to the frequent normative elements, the ways of the operationalization of concepts are difficult to identify. Thirdly, political stability often serves as a synonym for the substantially different concepts, such as democratic stability, long-lasting peace and democratization. Political stability is a fundamental concept that more precisely emphasizes the problems faced by deeply divided and post-conflict societies, and precedes other concepts that can only be subsequently tested, provided there is a satisfactory level of stability. In this paper, we have applied a conceptual reconstruction of the term by extracting from the authoritative definitions forming a background concept of political stability, those basic elements that create a systematized concept adaptable to the generalization of cases of divided and post-conflict societies. Considering that the authoritative definitions refer to the political stability in stable democratic societies, we have extracted the most significant characteristics from the named definitions and inserted them into an appropriate theoretical framework. That theoretical framework emerges from debate on the institutional engineering and conflict management in deeply divided and post-conflict societies where institutional mechanisms of the distribution of political power take central place. In that way, we have reached a systematized concept of the stability of political institutions, where political institutions mean institutions which enable political elites of opposing groups to share the power. In the most general sense, it is a comprehensive concept of power sharing, containing sub-types, consociationalism and centripetalism. We have defined the concept of stability of political institutions as a stability of institutions of horizontal and vertical power which, as basic elements of institutional arrangements of power-sharing, enable its functioning and longevity. We have specified the meaning of stability of political institutions through the presence of three attributes or defining characteristics that attach meaning to the concept. Those three attributes are: 1) acceptance of the power-sharing political arrangement by political elites; 2) continuity of its constituent parts; 3) system?s ability to cope with changes coming from within or outside the system and which are aimed at its constituent parts. The concept of stability of political institutions, systematized in this way, is a guideline for a more accurate emphasis of a particular segment of political reality; it enables a theoretically more informative and distinct analysis.

Termination and Recurrence of Civil War: Which Outcomes Lead to Durable Peace after Civil War?

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
HIROTAKA OHMURA
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
War Termination ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Peace Settlement ◽  
Military Victory ◽  
Peace Duration ◽  
Durable Peace

AbstractThis article attempts to answer why some countries experience the recurrence of civil war and others do not. One of the most significant differences between civil war onset and its recurrence is that the latter has once experienced termination of civil war, while the former has not. To find the cause of recurrence, this article examines how different war termination types influence the duration of post-civil war peace. Duration analysis of the civil wars between 1944 and 1999 shows that military victory, supported by peacekeeping operations or power-sharing arrangements, leads to the most durable peace in a post-civil war country. Contrary to the accepted wisdom, negotiated peace settlement, even when supported by peacekeeping operations or power-sharing arrangements, is not positively related to post-conflict peace.

Foreign Impacts Revisited: Islamists’ Struggles in Post-War Iraq

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-172
Author(s):  
Yamao Dai
Keyword(s):  
Host Country ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Western Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Post War

AbstractA great number of scholarship has been devoted to examining the impacts of domestic politics to foreign policies. Many studies have also examined the impacts of international politics to domestic politics, focusing on democracy-building or constructing political institutions within the framework of the state-building. However, such scholarship has not focused enough on the impacts of international politics to opposition forces and their relationship to political conflict in the post-conflict era. In countries that have experienced regime change, the formerly exiled opposition forces that became the ruling parties had changed their policies under the influence of the host country and other foreign actors in international politics during their exile. This paper sheds light on the two main Iraqi Islamist parties, the Da‘wa Party and the SCIRI, and clarifies their changing policies under the influence of the host countries and international politics. It also makes clear how these changes were reflected by the political conflict in post-war Iraq. Scholars of Iraqi politics have discussed the reasons of political conflict in post-war Iraq as following: (1) sectarian conflicts as a result of the artificiality of the Iraqi state; and (2) struggles for the mobilization of votes in elections. Against these arguments, this paper considers the historical and international impacts on the formerly exiled Islamist ruling parties as a more significant factor in explaining the reasons for political conflict in post-war Iraq.By analyzing primary sources on segments of the Da‘wa Party and the SCIRI after their exile, the following two facts are clarified: First, the two Islamist parties came to have differing ideology as well as policy as a result of the influences from the host country and international politics, which reflected the political conflict in post-war Iraq. The SCIRI maintained good relations with the host country, Iran, and had its original Islamist ideology, while the Da‘wa Party, not being able to maintain cooperative relations with the host country, consequently changed its Islamist ideology to a more nationalist ideology under the direct influence of Western society. In the post-war era, the SCIRI attempted to construct a regional government in the south based on a transnational Islamist ideology, while the Da‘wa Party attempted to construct a centralized government based on a nationalism that aimed to strengthen national unity. Second, the international societies’ intervention into the Iraqi opposition forces created mutual distrust, which in turn prolonged political conflict in post-war era. Therefore, an analysis of the historical and international impacts on opposition forces is necessary to understand the reasons for the political struggles in the post-conflict countries.

Happiness in developing countries: can government competitiveness substitute for formal institutions?

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232110004
Author(s):  
Kee Hoon Chung ◽  
Tobin Im
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Instrumental Variable ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Judicial Independence ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Government Capacity

Accumulated empirical studies have examined how various qualities of governance affect happiness across countries. This study contributes to prior studies by testing a hypothesis that when developing countries lack effective legal and political institutions, capable government may substitute for their functions to promote happiness via effective policy planning and implementation. To test this expectation, this study compares which qualities of governance—government capacity, democracy, and legal system—matter for happiness in developing countries. While prior studies have overwhelmingly relied on the World Governance Indicator to measure government capacity, we introduce a new measure—government competitiveness—developed by the Center for Government Competitiveness, which overcomes some criticisms. Using this indicator, we employ pooled Ordinary Least Square and two-way fixed effects panel data analysis for 80 non-Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries spanning the years 2015–2018. As a robustness test, we conduct instrumental variable estimation, using geography as an instrument for government competitiveness. Our analysis shows that government competitiveness has a positive and statistically robust effect on happiness across all estimations, while quality of democracy and judicial independence display ambivalent effects. Our instrumental variable results suggest that judicial independence and quality of democracy display a substituting and complementing relationship with government competitiveness, respectively. Points for practitioners This article suggests that institutional arrangements for promoting happiness in developing countries differ from developed countries. In developing countries: (1) government competitiveness may play a more important role than judicial and democratic institutions; and (2) government competitiveness may complement democratic institutions but substitute for judicial institutions. For developing countries facing resource constraints, this article recommends policymakers to prioritize fostering competitive government for promoting happiness.

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