openSecurity looks back at 2012

OPENSECURITY

Recovering from terror (interview 1) from openDemocracy on Vimeo.

Challenging the populist right - European precedents

ROBIN WILSON

The European left should be the most committed and consistent advocate of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in order to prevent discrimination. But further than that, it should espouse a cosmopolitan politics to manage diversity in a progressive manner. And that politics is inconceivable unless the individual citizen is understood to represent its basic unit.

M23 in the Kivus: regional war and then a repeat of the 2009 accord?

PETE JONES

M23's military campaign in North Kivu has profound consequences for Kinshasa and regionally. A regional military force to end the rebellion is hotly disputed: Rwanda and Uganda have interests in the instability, while placing any more foreign troops into this volatile region holds great uncertainty.

Lebanon: a fate beyond its control?

ZAHBIA YOUSUF and MARIE-JöELLE ZAHAR

It has increasingly become a question of when - not if - the violence in Syria will lead to sectarian fighting in Lebanon. This reflects a commonly held belief that conflict in Lebanon is shaped from outside its borders; a belief that risks ignoring the ways in which Lebanon can be responsible for its own fate.

The Jirga in modern day Afghanistan

ALI GOHAR

The complexity of local and regional conflict dynamics in Afghanistan and Pakistan would be well served by the revivification of the Jirga system, the only convincing institutional base through which to build lasting peace.

'What Sri Lanka is...': acknowledging the ethnic conflict in post-war reconciliation

AMBIKA SATKUNANATHAN

The term 'local reconciliation' may seem benign, but recent research amongst Tamils in the north of the country highlights the damaging silence hanging over the survivors of the conflict, and a determination to reach justice through transparency over past and present wrongs.

Time to reframe the debate on the Iranian nuclear programme

PAUL INGRAM
Debates on the Iranian nuclear programme tend to adopt a Manichean view depicting it as a major security threat. If we want to properly address the issue of nuclear proliferation, it is time to switch to a different framework for negotiations.

Syria's crisis: a credible threat is what is needed

STEVEN HEYDEMANN and REINOUD LEENDERS

The escalation of regime violence is not a response to the rise of an armed opposition, but the reaction of the Assad regime to a popular uprising that has demonstrated remarkable resilience.

Without a credible threat, ‘Weapons vs. Negotiations’ is a false choice.

Seven years of shifting sands: South Sudan's government must make the change

DR PAMELA L LOMORO

In seven years of independent control, South Sudan has not diversified its economy. Now the domestic agricultural sector languishes and international agri-businesses procure land for export markets. This failure could fuel conflict, if real change is not made.

What will it take to end the conflict with the LRA?

KENNEDY TUMUTEGYEREIZE

The attention brought by #Kony2012 is not in itself a solution. Ending the violence and insecurity perpetrated by the Lord's Resistance Army requires local solutions across many countries.

From the inside out: reconciliation is more than possible

VOICES FOR RECONCILIATION

Amidst the deep hurt of civil war, many think it impossible to speak with, let alone work with, people from across divisions of conflict. A diverse group of young British Sri Lankans have directly experienced this. Here they examine reconciliation as not only a possibility, but a present undertaking.

Grammars of enmity: a Golden Dawn of contemporary Greek democracy?

SALOMI BOUKALA

Far right groups like Golden Dawn are not a new phenomenon in Greece, nor do they derive from today's financial crisis. The roots of fascist groups lie in the reliance on the vilification of a political enemy to rule.

The dream of "managing militarization" in Syria

MARIANO AGUIRRE

What should be the international approach to resolving the Syrian crisis, and does diplomacy or military aid to the rebels offer a better chance of progress?

Mariano Aguirre responds to the criticisms of Steven Heydemann and Reinoud Leenders.