Publications

Die aktuell von der EU verfolgte Migrationspolitik in Afrika basiert im Wesentlichen auf Abschottung und Bekämpfung der Symptome, statt der Ursachen der Wanderbewegungen. Damit wird sie den Ansprüchen einer nachhaltigen Migrationspolitik nicht gerecht und lässt die Potenziale einer gesteuerten Migration ungenutzt.

Extensive fieldwork in Liberia revealed that security agents and civilians alike all talked of community policing, yet they had different visions, understandings and legitimizations of the idea in mind. These ranged from community meetings to vigilante groups, and were divergent in whether they were orientated towards a Weberian-state model or the community as a primary security provider. This variation was not simply an example of hybrid policing, but revealed a multi-scalar adaption process across and between international, national and local actors and (geographical) scales.

The book offers a critical analysis of legitimacy in peacebuilding, with a focus on peace negotiations and civil society participation in particular.

»Dieses Buch richtet sich in erster Linie an uns Deutsche. Wollen wir uns mit der Vergangenheit in der Gegenwart als nötiger Grundlage für die Zukunft befassen, müssen wir bei uns beginnen, auch wenn dies andere betrifft. Dieses Buch ist ein willkommener Beitrag dazu, unsere Wahrnehmungen zu schärfen. Es plädiert eindringlich für geeignete Schritte zu einer deutsch-namibischen Begegnung im Sinne wirklicher Völkerverständigung.« (Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Bundesministerin a. D.).

Does power-sharing drive corruption in post-conflict countries? We conceptualize government elites in any post-conflict situation as rent-seeking agents who need to ensure the support of their key constituencies to remain in power. Power-sharing institutions—especially cabinet-level, executive power-sharing institutions—systematically shape these rent-seeking motives. Power-sharing cabinets create political coalitions dominated by small circles of government and rebel elites with direct access to state resources and low levels of loyalty toward the government leader.

Discussing the anā ushārik (Arabic for ‘I participate’) programme of the American National Democratic Institute (NDI) office in Jordan – one of the largest NDI democracy promotion initiatives in the Middle East – this paper seeks to analyse some of the ways in which external efforts at youth education and participation, despite their intentions, may actually come to reinforce authoritarian stability.

Although Indonesia has been hailed for its competitive elections and far-reaching decentralization reforms, the country’s democratic project has yet to realize the promise of good government. Checks and balances exerted by civil society, and in particular by societal and private-sector associations, continue to be marred by patronage politics and collective action problems.

Does respect have any value – substantive or instrumental – in international relations? This paper posits that it does. It examines the role and significance of respect by using the context of mediation. It argues that respect, conceptually and practically, has significant influence on conflict parties when they are willing, and have decided to end their violent confrontations. By employing qualitative methods (process tracing, qualitative content analysis) a taxonomy of respect is provided, explicating its role and significance.