Sudan coup sets back Egypt’s GERD position

Significance Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi enjoys a strong relationship with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s top general who led the coup. Burhan has been a vocal ally of Cairo in the conflict with Addis Ababa over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Impacts Political instability in Sudan will delay the possibility of reaching a deal on the dam. If Burhan does not share power with civilian leaders, international mediation favouring the two downstream nations will be unlikely. Joint military action by Egypt and Sudan against Ethiopia is highly unlikely in the near future, despite posturing.

Ripe for Resolution

This article discusses how the institutionalization of international mediation practices and its growing relevance since the end of the Cold War coincided with the formation of an epistemic community that shares common practices for a third party. This community focuses on core concepts that structure mediation practices such as efficiency, rationality, and the management of time and information. The article analyzes the consolidation of this community through the circulation of knowledge among scholars and practitioners. In particular, it highlights the place of the concept of ripeness, developed by Ira William Zartman, in stabilizing a division between a moment of conflict and a moment of nonconflict; and it discusses the place of the UN system in its dissemination among mediation practitioners. The article argues that the project-oriented understanding of mediation practices that arises from these shared conceptions contributes to an insulation of these practices from broader views of conflict within international politics.

Qatar Soft Power: From Rising to the Crisis

Qatar has recently become a regional power and an influential actor in international politics. Qatar has adopted a foreign policy of soft power, which played a prominent role in the rise of the international scene. On 5 June 2017, a diplomatic boycott crisis has erupted against Qatar. The Arab Quartet imposed a complete blockade on Qatar and stated 13 demands. The study explores Qatar’s soft power tools such as lobbying, international mediation, scholarships, foreign aids, Al Jazeera network, which has created a national brand for Qatar. With the non-coercive foreign policy, Qatar’s stance in regional politics has transformed from neutrality to influence. This study will investigate the underlying political, ideological, and strategical factors of the 2017 crisis that has manifested the power struggles in the Gulf, the role of Qatar's foreign policy of soft power in the context of the crisis. Finally, the study will analyze whether the current situation demonstrates transient appeasement or a permanent resolution.

Analysis of Normative Orders in International Mediation: Lessons learned from the Colombian Peace Process

The following paper summarizes the findings of a bachelor thesis that analysed the role of normative orders in international mediation by examining the norms applied during the Colombian peace process. The objective of the investigation is defined by the research question, which lessons-learnt can be derived from the Havana Process for the categorization of normative orders in international peace mediation? For answering that question the author analyses the norms and principles applied during the Colombian peace process and thereby, shows the potential to enhance existing scientific models and log-frames for the analysis of norms in peace mediation. The paper provides a new model for classifying normative frameworks by integrating the stage of negotiation as another classifying dimension. Therefore, the model is called “Process-Oriented Model for Categorizing Norms in International Mediation”. The research is built upon a qualitative research conducted in the Colombian cities Medellin and Bogota, where the author held interviews with scientific researchers, political decision-makers, and civil society organisations. The results of the research are complemented by a substantial review of existing academic literature about norms in international peace mediation and the Colombian peace process.

Norm Diffusion in International Peace Mediation

This chapter elucidates the relevance of norm diffusion as a strategic tool through which mediators assert not only their control over the peacemaking process, but manage to use it to institute, consolidate and boost their international relevance, credibility and reputation more generally. While both legitimacy and soft power have received ample attention from various subfields in social sciences, surprisingly, very little is known about the role they play in international mediation broadly, and norm diffusion through mediation in particular. Building on existing international relations literature on legitimacy and soft power, the chapter aims to address this gap and examine which factors enable or deter norm diffusion through mediation, and their impact on mediators’ choices in peacemaking.