conflicts

Even when guns are silent, the ideas behind them threaten. Warfare and conflict resolution urgently need to be explained, their causes clarified, and creative solutions explored.
Wednesday 1st February

Capoeira and security: the view from upside-down

Zoë Marriage, 1 February 2012
Through an account of capoeira, the Brazilian dance-fight-game, we uncover two simultaneous stories of security: first, the gradual monopolisation of violence by the state; second, a somatic, lyrical representation of a history of violence, oppression and liberation.
Friday 27th January

Arda’s flags: a postcard from Abkhazia

Oliver Bullough, 27 January 2012
The strategic significance and territorial claims on the region of Abkhazia have meant its citizens have become used to a life lived in geopolitical limbo. Following the 2008 South Ossetia war, however, a small number of small countries began to recognise Abkhazian independence. A tailor thought of a novel way to mark the development, reports Oliver Bullough.
Thursday 19th January

Uncertainty looms amid progress in talks with the Taliban

Arif Rafiq, 19 January 2012
The Afghan Taliban and the United States have begun talks, advancing prospects that coalition forces can withdraw from Afghanistan. But there are many potential pitfalls on the road to peace: a real risk of a political and military stalemate in Afghanistan, forcing the United States to leave the region under uncertain and possibly dangerous terms.

Strait of Hormuz: Iran’s bluff and the west’s fears

Richard Rousseau, 19 January 2012
Iranian military action in the Strait of Hormuz is highly unlikely. It would not at all benefit most global and regional powers and would have disastrous consequences for Iran itself.
Monday 16th January

Taliban leadership decries sectarian attacks

Christopher Anzalone, 16 January 2012
Recent bombings in Afghanistan have raised fears of mounting violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites. This cannot be in the Taliban's strategic interest, argues Christopher Anzalone.
Friday 13th January

The Akunin-Navalny Interviews: part II

Boris Akunin and Alexei Navalny, 13 January 2012
oD Russia continues publication of a remarkable exchange between two leaders of the Russian protest movement — writer Grigory Chkhartishvili, a.k.a Boris Akunin and politician-blogger Aleksey Navalny. In this part, the discussants compare their forecasts for the year ahead. 2012 will present an historic challenge to the authorities, they conclude, but will Russia's "arrestocratic" class be able to muster anything in response?
Thursday 29th December

Russia’s Smouldering 'White Revolution'

Nicolai N Petro, 29 December 2011
The Putin regime has little to fear from the latest public protests which, despite drawing large crowds, are apolitical. True politics will only become possible in Russia when both the opposition and the regime focus on the tedious work of practical politics, says Nicolai N. Petro in his highly personal view of recent events.
Tuesday 20th December

Water in the Arab Spring

Andrew Wigley, 20 December 2011
Water scarcity in the Middle East & North Africa is at the root of the region’s uprisings. In the coming years, it will also be the source of further social unrest across the region.
Monday 12th December

Ante Marković: the last Yugoslav leader

Goran Fejic, 12 December 2011
A sustained effort to reform Yugoslavia before the country was drowned in tide of senseless nationalism has been near forgotten. The death of the prime minister who led it has lessons for today, says Goran Fejic.
Monday 5th December

The material stakes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo elections

Pete Jones, 5 December 2011
Private interest, not public voice, governs the immediate future of the DRC - the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Saturday 3rd December

Iraqi regionalism and its discontents

Zaid Al-Ali, 3 December 2011
The incompetence of Iraq's central governance is fuelling demands for the formation by local provinces of self-governing regions. But such a course is most unlikely to solve the core problems Iraqis are facing, says Zaid Al-Ali.
Friday 2nd December

SOS from a Congolese peacebuilder: rescue the young democracy of DR Congo!

Flory Kazingufu, 2 December 2011
There are concrete steps the Congolese political establishment can take to avert post-election violence, if external pressure helps to engender the necessary political will.
Monday 21st November

Advocating the two state solution: the best bet?

Brigitte Herremans, 21 November 2011
We need to convince our governments and the EU to invest in a political strategy that reverses the destructive dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They need to understand that respect for international law is not a detail, but lies at the very heart of the conflict.
Friday 18th November

Kashmir: from national to human security

Wajahat Qazi, 18 November 2011
It is about time that saner heads in the Indian national security establishment mull over the implications of the continuation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Kashmir, says Wajahat Qazi
Wednesday 16th November

Armed conflict, land grabs and big business: Colombia’s deadly pact

Kyla Sankey, 16 November 2011
The recent assassination of Colombian marxist insurgent group leader Alfonso Cano has been hailed internationally as an advance towards peace, giving Colombia a boost down the path to becoming the latest emerging market of Latin America. A closer look at the history and nature of Colombia's nearly 50 year-long armed struggle, however, tells us otherwise.
Tuesday 15th November

The Palestinian crossroads

Ghassan Khatib, 15 November 2011
The Palestinians' current political impasse offers them only difficult choices, says Ghassan Khatib.
Tuesday 18th October

Relocation failures in Sri Lanka

Robert Muggah, 18 October 2011
The tragic consequence of internal displacement in Sri Lanka and the failure of the government to address the situation will most likely be renewed instability.
Thursday 6th October

Somalia: livelihood and politics

Ioan M Lewis, 6 October 2011
Somalia's long civil war and political fragmentation define the country to the world. Yet the society also contains potent resources of allegiance and solidarity, says the doyen of Somali studies, Ioan M Lewis.
Monday 3rd October

Libya's revolution: tribe, nation, politics

Igor Cherstich, 3 October 2011
The Libyan war is often portrayed through a “tribal” lens that fails to explain how the country’s tribes coexist with a sense of nationhood, says Igor Cherstich. 
Wednesday 10th August

The war on drugs: time to demilitarise

Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, 10 August 2011
The United States armed forces have played a leading role in the “war on drugs” across much of Latin America. The results are damaging and counterproductive, says Juan Gabriel Tokatlian.
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