Publications

Die Agenda 2030 verpflichtet auch Hoch-
schulen, sich für eine nachhaltige und
gerechte Welt einzusetzen. Das Potential
wäre groß.

How do competitiveness, austerity and insecurity combine in urban contexts? How are the local state’s (in)security policies shaped in conditions of fiscal restraints and competitive-cities programmes? My article in a recent Globalizations special issue deals with this set of questions. One aim Ian Bruff and Cemal Burak Tansel set for their expansion of the authoritarian neoliberalism literature is to close “empirical and geographical lacunae in accounts that theorised neoliberalisation processes”.

Why do similarly sized peacekeeping missions vary in their effectiveness to protect civilians in conflicts? We argue that peace operations with a large share of troops from countries with high-quality militaries are better able to deter violence from state and non-state actors and create buffer zones within conflict areas, can better reach remote locations, and have superior capabilities – including diplomatic pressure by troop contributing countries – to monitor the implementation of peace agreements. These operational advantages enable them to better protect civilians.

“Killing fields”, “war zones”, or “hot spots” of violent conflict; “islands of peace”, “buffer zones” and “horizontal escalation” – all these terms show that violent conflict and peace processes have spatial dimensions. Wars originate somewhere, and are fought in specific places – rarely is violence ubiquitous during civil wars. In much the same way, the “need for peace” and local forms of adaptation processes may vary from province to province or from town to town.

Mexican human rights organizations accuse the Mexican military and federal police of having taken part in tens of thousands of forced disappearances in the last decade. Curiously, the regions in which people disappear are also sites of displacement and changing patterns of land tenure and production. Yet, property relations are seldom a topic of studies on illegal state activities.

Though a common EU-African agenda of dealing with migration goes back at least a decade with bilateral, regional and continental approaches, it has gained in visible importance in recent years. But what are the actual approaches and does the rhetoric they evoke speak to their actual practice? Unpacking 76 policy documents relating to the governance of migration from African and European institutions between 2005 and 2016, the paper finds that the rhetoric is diverting in itself (both managing and controlling mobility) but also surprisingly similar.

Women’s groups were highly influential in Liberia’s peace
process, yielding long-term impacts. The Mano River Women’s
Peace Network (MARWOPNET) had formal observer status
during the peace talks, the Women in Peacebuilding Network
(WIPNET) led a mass action campaign, and activists had
informal consultations with the mediation team and conflict
parties. Women’s influence was strongest during the negotiation
period. It weakened during the implementation phase, despite
women’s groups being directly represented in the transitional

Anlässlich der Studie von Reinhart Kößler und Herbert Weiland unter Mitarbeit von Thomas Klie zur "Bedeutung der Zivilgesellschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit mit Namibia" (2016) lud die Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Namibia-Angola zu einer zweitägigen Tagung am 30./31. Mai 2017 in Windhoek ein. Heribert Weiland berichtet über diese Tagung, bei der 50 Vertreter des öffentlichen Lebens über die Rolle und Bedeutung der Zivilgesellschaft in Namibia diskutierten.

After a quarter of a century of independence Namibia can look back on a history of overall success. Compared with a number of other African states its record attests to a considerable degree of political stability and, with certain restrictions, a high level of democracy. No one foresaw such a generally peaceful development, so how can it be explained. This article presents the thesis that despite all — readily admitted — short- comings the key to Namibia’s overall success is the institutional linchpin of a liberal constitution and regular elections.

Die Vereinten Nationen nutzen Sicherheitsratsresolutionen um sich selbst und anderen Akteuren Verantwortung in der Weltpolitik zuzuschreiben. Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Entwicklung der Verantwortungszuschreibung über Zeit. Er fragt, inwieweit das Ende des Kalten Krieges und Initiativen wie die Agenda für den Frieden und das Prinzip der Schutzverantwortung (R2P) die Verantwortungszuschreibung durch den Sicherheitsrat beeinflusst hat. Die Analyse basiert auf einem Datensatz aller Sicherheitsratsresolutionen zwischen 1946 und 2015.

The FARC, Colombia’s oldest and biggest guerrilla organisation, has long been constructed as the country’s public enemy number one, an enemy that is increasingly portrayed as an outright criminal actor who abandoned all political ambitions. This image of the FARC as a criminal threat to the Colombian state and society is central to a broader turn towards criminalisation in Colombian politics.

Private Milizen, kriminelle Banden und repressiv vorgehende Militärs sind in einigen lateinamerikanischen Gesellschaften fast alltäglich geworden. Dieser Beitrag lotet aus, inwiefern eine dekoloniale Analyse aus lateinamerikanischer Perspektive zum Verständnis der Zusammenhänge zwischen staatlicher Herrschaft und anhaltenden Gewaltphänomenen beiträgt. Der Artikel will zeigen, wie sich die Diskussion um Decolonialidad mit der Forschung zu Staat und Gewalt verbinden lässt. Zunächst nähert sich der Beitrag dem Gegenstand von zwei Seiten an, ausgehend von 1.

Although not usually thought of as a haven of refugee protection, the Gambia has a fairly sizeable refugee population and some sophisticated legal frameworks and protection mechanisms. However, the political context of its refugee protection should not be underestimated.

Do peace agreements generate socio-economic peace dividends for citizens in post-war countries? While much research has focused on the elite level implications of peace agreements for the survival of peace, little is known about the micro-level, redistributive effects of peace agreements. We investigate the impact of peace agreement provisions and their implementation—specifically power-sharing arrangements—on individually reported measures of well-being.

Since the 'refugee crisis' crossed the frontiers of Europe, a common EU-African agenda of dealing with the challenges of migration has visibly gained in importance for policy stakeholders on the two continents. In 2015, more than 60 heads of states and government met in Valetta for the first summit between the EU and Africa solely dedicated to the topic of migration. In reality however, consultations go back at least a decade with common approaches addressed on a bilateral, regional and continental level.

African cities already are and will be facing enormous challenges arising from changing climate conditions. Increased frequencies of rainfall or sea-level rises threaten huge parts of urban settlers living in flood prone areas. City districts are likely to be submerged by the ocean in the coming decades. Coincidently, projections of population trends suggest that urbanization rates will remain at high levels. Rural-to-Urban migration increase the pressure on informal settlements that are exactly situated in those areas most exposed to changing climate conditions.

Selbst Jahrzehnte nach seinem gewaltsamen Tod am 30. Januar 1948 ist wohl kaum ein anderer Inder weltweit so bekannt und angesehen wie Mahatma Gandhi. Er, dieses dürre Männlein mit Wickeltuch und Wanderstab, gilt allgemein als der furchtlose Kämpfer, der mit den Mitteln des gewaltlosen Widerstands die Unabhängigkeit Indiens von der übermächtigen britischen Kolonialmacht im August 1947 errungen hat.

Indien wird gemeinhin als „die größte Demokratie der Welt“ bezeichnet. Diese Bezeichnung gilt zu Recht für ein Staatswesen, das nach China die zweitgrößte Bevölkerung aufweist. Mit ca. 1,1 Milliarden Menschen und ca. 700 Millionen Wahlberechtigten organisiert diese außereuropäische Demokratie ein Sechstel der Menschheit und damit weit mehr Bürger und Wähler als alle etablierten Demokratien der westlichen Welt zusammen.

Dieser Sammelband bietet einen umfassenden und aktuellen Einblick in die Geschichte, Dimensionen, Sachthemen und migrationsspezifische Aspekte der deutsch-türkischen Beziehungen aus der Sicht von Experten aus der Türkei und Deutschland.
Das Buch skizziert die Geschichte der deutsch-türkischen Beziehungen seit den osmanisch-preußischen bzw. osmanisch-habsburgischen Beziehungen bis in die Gegenwart und thematisiert historische sowie aktuelle Beispiele.