Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Liberia Civil War'

This thesis examines the phenomenon of child-soldiering from a different perspective. It seeks to challenge, using a novel approach, earlier studies on the roles of former child-soldiers in post-war societies. It focuses on the subjectivity of young veterans, that is war veterans formerly associated with armed forces and groups as children during the 14-year gruesome civil war which bedevilled Liberia between 1989 and 2003. This civil war claimed roughly 250,000 lives, and saw the active participation of approximately 21,000 child-soldiers. This thesis departs from previous works which mostly painted an apocalyptic picture of young veterans, and explores the nexus between their self-agency, Foucauldian technologies of the self and their transformation in the post-war society. The majority of previous scholarly works which have dominated the field of child-soldiering dwelt on the impact of armed conflict on the child-soldiers, the negative consequences, the causes of child-soldiering, and the rehabilitation and reintegration of the young veterans after their disarmament and demobilization. What this thesis seeks to do however, is to establish that, rather than considering the young veterans simply as social misfits, distraught and dispirited human beings, it should be noted that young veterans through their agency, are capable of ensuring their reintegration into their war-ravaged societies. Sadly, these young former fighters’ self-agency and technologies of the self in defining their civilian trajectories have often been overshadowed by vaunted humanitarian aid and multilayered war-profiteering. This study is underpinned by interpretive constructivism, symbolic interactionism, social identity theory, sociometer theory and expectancy theory, and sheds light on how young veterans’ self-agency, instrumental coalitions, and decision-making processes, synergistically shifted the negative identities foisted on them as a result of their participation in the war.

This thesis examines the relationship between ethnicity and violent group mobilisation in Liberia’s civil war (1989-2003). It focuses on Gio, Mano and Mandingo mobilisation to investigate how and why internal dynamics about moral norms and expectations motivated leadership calls for violence and ethnic support. Much of the existing literature interprets popular involvement in violent group mobilisation on the Upper Guinea Coast as a youth rebellion against gerontocracy. I argue that such an approach is incomplete in the Liberian case, and does not account for questions of ethnic mobilisation and the participation of groups such as the Gio, Mano and Mandingo. At the onset of hostilities, civilians in Liberia were not primarily mobilised to fight based on their age, but rather as members of ethnic communities whose membership included different age groups. I explore constructivist approaches to ethnicity to analyse mobilisation for war as the collective 'self-defence' of ethnic groups qua moral communities. In the prelude to the outbreak of civil war, inter-ethnic inequalities of access to the state and economic resources became reconfigured. Ethnic groups—as moral communities—experienced external 'victimisation' and a sense of internal dissolution, or threatened dissolution. In particular, the understanding of internal reciprocal relations between patrons and clients within ethnic groups was undermined. Internal arguments about morality, personal responsibility, social accountability/justice, increased the pressure on excluded elites and thus incentivised them to pursue violent political strategies. Mobilisation took on an ethnic form mainly because individuals believed that they were fighting to protect the moral communities that generate esteem and ground understandings of good citizenship. Therefore, ethnic participation in the Liberian countryside differed from the model peasant rebellion that seeks to overthrow the feudal elites. Rather than a revolution of the social order, individuals regarded themselves as protecting an extant ethnic order that provided rights and distributed resources. Even though some individuals fought for political power and resources, and external actors facilitated group organisation through the provision of logistical support, the violence was also an expression of bottom-up moral community crisis and an attempt by politico-military elites to keep their reputation and enforce unity.

This thesis as a social documentary, using images to provoke awareness of the emotions of children, their lives during the 15-year old Civil War that was in Liberia, West Africa. This thesis will visually explore different timelines, the past, the present and the future of children depicted. In depicting the past, the images capturing specific moment of what a child had to witness during the war. In depicting the present images showcase the aftermath of the war for children who have survived, and finally, for the future, images showcasing how the lives of some of the children have changed because of sacrifices made by people who observed the war and its consequences. Inspiration was gathered from several groups of artists that covered events such as the Great Depression, Vietnam, the Holocaust, etc. These artists include: Henry Mayhew, Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine, Walker Evans, and Gordon Parks among many.

All organizations involved in war are concerned with military cohesion. Yet previous studies have only investigated cohesion in a very narrow manner, focusing almost solely on Western state militaries or on micro-level explanations. This dissertation argues for the need to broaden this perspective. It focuses on three classic sources of cohesion – coercion, compensation and constructs (such as identity and ideology) – and investigates their relevance in the Second Liberian Civil War (1999-2003). More specifically, this dissertation consists of an inquiry of how the conflict's three main military organizations – Charles Taylor’s Government of Liberia (GoL), the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) – drew on these three sources to foster cohesion. Based on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork with former combatants, this dissertation contains five parts: an introduction, which focuses on issues of theory and method, and four essays that investigate the three sources of cohesion in the three organizations. Essay I focuses on the LURD rebels, and provides an insider account of their strategy. It shows that even decentralized movements like the LURD can execute strategy, and contends that the LURD fought its fiercest battles not against the government, but to keep itself together. Essay II focuses on coercion, and counters the prevailing view of African rebels’ extensive use of coercion to keep themselves together. Since extreme coercion in particular remained illegitimate, its use would have decreased, rather than increased, cohesion. Essay III investigates the government militias to whom warfighting was subcontracted. In a context characterized by a weak state and fragmented social organization, compensation may have remained the only available source of cohesion. Essay IV investigates identities as sources of cohesion. It argues that while identities are a powerful cohesive source, they must be both created and maintained to remain relevant. Taken together, this dissertation argues for a more comprehensive approach to the investigation of cohesion, and one that also takes into account mezzo- and macro-level factors.

While issues remain under-researched, peace agreement success has been linked primarily to the proper treatment of the parties’ security-related concerns. This study explores why some peace agreements succeed while others fail by using an issue-based approach arguing that issues are an expression of underlying grievances, which have caused the rebel groups to engage in armed conflict. Therefore, peace agreements that do not address the issues, which reflect grievances, will fail. I tested the hypothesis and the proposed theoretical relationship through the structured focused comparison of three peace agreements: The Lomé Peace Agreement, the Accra Peace Agreement and the Final Agreement National Government – Popular Liberation Army. The method employed in this study comprised first, determining the salience the rebel groups assigned to their issues -for which it was necessary to create a measure for issue salience- and second, examining the peace agreement’s provisions to determine if the rebel group’s issues were addressed. The results show that peace agreements that included the salient issues of the groups failed; however, peace agreements that did not include them, succeeded. Hence, the findings suggest that the inclusion of the rebel group’s issues in the peace agreement cannot account for the agreement’s success or failure.

Current political research on peace negotiations is fundamentally incomplete because it lacks the capacity to explain individual intents, choices and actions. This dissertation asks what impact individual negotiators, their approaches and choices of tactics have on peace talks and their outcomes. Individual people—be they representatives of rebel groups, non-governmental organisations or states—negotiate peace agreements. Consequently, an examination of individual motivations and actions in negotiations yields important knowledge. A fuller understanding of political negotiations, negotiators, and their tactics in Sierra Leone and Liberia is facilitated through a multidisciplinary consideration of the psychology, law and management studies literatures that consider individual motivations, biases, and behaviours. Based on extensive field research in Sierra Leone and Liberia, including numerous interviews with key players, I argue that individuals and their specific approaches and tactics influenced and altered the course of these peace negotiations, as well as their outcomes. Negotiators engaged in peace talks with underlying approaches (such as competitive, collaborative and cooperative styles) and then came to use various tactics (including shifting goalposts, hardball, silence, and bad faith), many of which were influenced by their innate biases and frames. Exploring these individuals’ conduct gives us previously unexplored insight into peace processes.

The thesis in the main, looks at the decision-making process which underlined the Economic Community of West African States' attempt to end the Liberian crisis. It examines the establishment of ECOMOG to intervene in the Liberian civil crisis and the various pacific attempts to resolve the Liberian question. It does so through the medium of decision - making theory and some of the conceptual models that have flowed out of it. The thesis' focus on the decisional process of a regional body marks an attempt to broaden the scope of application of decision - making paradigms, which are usually employed to analyse decisions of national governments. The imperative for analysing the decisional process of ECOWAS in its quest to find solution to the Liberian problem has in part been dictated by the novelty of the ECOMOG concept. It marks the first major attempt of a sub - regional economic organization to successfully find solution to a civil conflict, as a result, there are numerous lessons to be gleaned from its failures and successes. Its relevance in the African context, with its intractable conflicts cannot be overemphasized. It has also been motivated by the fact that more works need to be produced on the decision-making processes of governments and regional bodies within the continent. The thesis argues that, both rational and "irrational" elements infused the decisional process of ECOW AS in its bid to solve the Liberian Crisis. Among other things, Policy-makers were influenced in their choice of decision by rational calculations based on national interest. It examines the clash of interests which characterized the establishment ofECOMOG as an tntervention force, the impasse this fostered and how it was eventually resolved. It postulates that exteljIlal actors influenced the decision process and that policy :Qiakers were aided to make the decisions they made by other organs in the decisional chain. The "irrational" component of the process, among other things, could be seen from the fact that the Liberian question was solved in " bits and pieces". Besides, blunders were committed through defective decision - making mechanism. The thesis concludes by offering suggestions to improve the quality of ECOW AS decision-making process with regard to conflict resolution and how to achieve regional consensus.

This dissertation is a narrative history about nearly 800 newly freed black Georgians who sought freedom beyond the borders of the Unites States by emigrating to Liberia during the years of 1866 and 1868. This work fulfills three overarching goals. First, I demonstrate that during the wake of Reconstruction, newly freed persons’ interest in returning to Africa did not die with the Civil War. Second, I identify and analyze the motivations of blacks seeking autonomy in Africa. Third, I tell the stories and challenges of those black Georgians who chose emigration as the means to civil and political freedom in the face of white opposition. In understanding the motives of black Georgians who emigrated to Liberia, I analyze correspondence from black and white Georgians and the white leaders of the American Colonization Society and letters from Liberia settlers to black friends and families in the Unites States. These letters can be found within the American Colonization Society Papers correspondence files and some letters reprinted in the ACS’s monthly periodical, the African Repository. To date, no single work has been published on the historical significance of black Georgians who emigrated to Liberia during Reconstruction. What my research uncovers is that that 31 percent of the 3,184 passengers transported to West Africa by the American Colonization Society from 1865 to 1877 were Georgians, thereby making Georgia, the leading states to produce the highest numbers of blacks to resettle in Liberia and the logical focal point for the African-American emigration movement during Reconstruction.

Over 35 years of gross economic mismanagement and business failures led Liberia’s gross domestic product to collapse by 90% in less than two decades. As a result of a general lack of business skills, up to 80% of Liberian small-business entrepreneurs fail in business beyond the first year. Based on the theory of constraints, the purpose of this exploratory multiple case study was to explore the business skills that Liberian small-business entrepreneurs used to succeed in business beyond the first year. Data came from semistructured face-to-face interviews with 5 central regional Liberian small-business entrepreneurs who had succeeded in business beyond the first year. Participant observation, the use of company documents, and the use of member checking allowed for methodological triangulation and verification of the themes. Analysis of data involved using pattern-matching technique and date coding to evaluate, organize, code, and analyze the raw data. There were 3 prominent themes that emerged among entrepreneurs during data analysis: business knowledge, bookkeeping, and pricing skills. The data from the results indicated, within this particular context, Liberian small-business entrepreneurs used business skills for knowledge, finance, and marketing. Focusing on these practices may lead to increased profit and business success beyond the first year for other Liberian small-business entrepreneurs. The findings from the study could provide mechanisms for social change by giving Liberian small-business entrepreneurs additional ideas for using their business skills in their businesses. Furthermore, the findings may aid the Liberian communities to create training programs and curriculums for numerous Liberian colleges and institutions for future Liberian small-business owners.

Even though scholars and researchers have suggested that the Liberian civil war arose as a result of socioeconomic and political inequalities, oppression, discrimination, and marginalization of a certain group of people, Social Dominance Theory (“SDT”) suggests an alternate understanding: social group-based hierarchy is produced and maintained in society by legitimizing myths. SDT explains how these legitimizing myths tend to produce discriminatory and/or anti-discriminatory policies that are endorsed by dominant and subordinate groups, which, if left unattended, eventually lead to conflict.

O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar como o Partido Conservador, o Partido Liberal e os artesãos, mobilizados pelos liberais, interpretaram e justificaram sua participação na Guerra Civil de 1851 na Nova Granada. O capítulo1sintetiza o desenvolvimento político do país, desde o fim do período colonial até o momento em que se desenvolve o conflito armado. O capítulo 2 debruça-se sobre a conjuntura granadina de meados do século XIX e apresenta a Guerra Civil de 1851, analisando a produção historiográfica a respeito do tema. Os três capítulos seguintes, que formam a segunda parte da dissertação, discutem as representações que as distintas forças políticas faziam de si mesmas, de seus adversários e da sociedade que os circundava. Um epílogo conclui a dissertação, dando particular destaque ao indulto concedido aos insurgentes conservadores após o desfecho da Guerra.
The goal of this dissertation is to analyze how the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and the craftsmen, mobilized by the Liberals, have interpreted and justified their involvement in the Civil War of 1851 in New Granada. Chapter 1 summarizes the political development of the country, starting at the end of the colonial period until the moment when the armed conflict developed. Chapter 2 deals with the grenadine context during the mid-19th century and presents the Civil War of 1851, analyzing the historical production on the subject. The following three chapters, that form the second part of the dissertation, discuss the representations that different political forces made of themselves, their opponents and the surrounding society. An epilogue concludes the essay with particular prominence to the pardon granted to conservative insurgents, after the outcome of the war.

Includes abstract.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-75).
The timing of post-conflict elections is a critical element that requires careful consideration to minimize the risk of producing adverse results. Through examining the literature and studying Liberia's 1997 and 2005 elections, this work seeks to identify the best timing practices for post-contlict elections. The theoretical basis, which is inspired by the works of Roland Paris and Terrence Lyons, is that if the circumstances are to permit the long-term goal of democratization, then post-conflict elections should follow a protracted transition period prior to holding the election.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006.
Title from title screen. Andrew Altman, committee chair; Christie Hartley, Peter Lindsay, committee members. Electronic text (88 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 2, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-88).

It has long been a great riddle why Hobbes expressed his bizarre view about Christian religion in Leviathan. This thesis is a serious attempt to explain it. The procedure followed is, in the first place, to identify the precise nature of arguments distinctive of Leviathan and of the new religious challenges Hobbes faced in Leviathan, and then to connect them with religious issues in the English Civil War. The issues identified are enthusiasm, “the Foole” in Chapter 15, and the toleration controversy. The first context investigated is several rational justifications for the authority of the Bible as a reaction to enthusiasm. Works by William Chillingworth, Edward Leigh, John Goodwin, Seth Ward and Henry Hammond are examined, and the originality of Hobbes’s view on biblical authority in comparison with them is clarified. It lies in Hobbes’s radical scepticism towards all forms of the pretended word of God as his solution to the political threat of enthusiasm, and in the correspondent certainty of his answer, the civil sovereign as the foundation of biblical authority. Clarification has been given of several layers of his scriptural interpretation underlying the conclusion, such as the philological investigation about revelation in the Bible in Chapter 36, the foundation of Moses’s authority in Chapter 40. This conclusion, in turn, lays a theoretical foundation for Hobbes’s eschatology in Chapter 38. The second context examined is the Anglican defences of toleration as part of the toleration controversy most relevant to Leviathan. The possible influence Hobbes and Jeremy Taylor had on each other concerning mutual toleration is shown, together with their originalities compared with Chillingworth. Moreover an explanation is supplied of some arguments specific to Leviathan as Hobbes’s reaction to the general toleration controversy.

This thesis explores the motivations behind the American and Foreign Christian Union’s missions to Italy during the American Civil War. The AFCU was a missionary organization founded in New York City in 1849 with the ambitious goal of ridding the world of Roman Catholicism. It was born during a time of nativist fervor when American Protestants saw Catholic immigrants as a threat to American democracy. The AFCU believed they could solve the problem of Catholic immigrants by converting the Catholic world to Protestantism, starting with Italy. The leaders of the AFCU believed the world was engaged in a struggle between Liberty and Tyranny. The war against the Confederacy and the fight to free Italians from the tyrannical Pope were different fronts of the same war. The AFCU entire unsuccessful as a missionary organization. They converted virtually no one. However, their publications were essential to helping American Protestants shape their identity.

At the close of 1946, a year marked by domestic white-on-black violence, Harry S. Truman, in a dramatic move, established the President’s Committee on Civil Rights (PCCR). Five years before, his predecessor Franklin D. Roosevelt had formed the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), under pressure from civil rights groups mobilized against racial discrimination in the defense industry. The FEPC was the first major federal civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. However, when race riots later erupted in cities across the country in 1943, Roosevelt ignored his staff's recommendation to appoint a national race relations committee. Instead, he agreed to a “maypole” committee, which was, in actuality, a decentralized network of individuals, including Philleo Nash, whose purpose was to anticipate and diffuse urban racial tensions in order to avert further race riots. Superficially, Truman's PCCR seemed to resemble Roosevelt's rather conservative race relations strategy of appointing a committee rather than taking direct action under the authority of the federal government. But, as this project will argue, Truman's PCCR represented a major, historical change in the approach to civil rights that would have a profound effect on activists, such as Dorothy Tilly and Frank Porter Graham, and the movement itself. Where FDR's committees were created to avoid further racial confrontations, Truman’s committee invited and ignited controversy. Its groundbreaking report, To Secure These Rights (TSTR), unequivocally declared the federal government as the guardian of all Americans’ civil rights. In essence, Truman’s PCCR elevated the civil rights dialogue to a national level by recasting the civil rights issue as an American problem rather than just a black-American problem. Moreover, TSTR attacked segregation directly, and challenged the federal government to take the lead by immediately desegregating the armed services. These radical recommendations came only six years after a reluctant FDR formed the FEPC and six and one-half years before the Unites States’ Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas and the ensuing backlash. Thus, Truman’s PCCR and TSTR, in 1947, forged a new “civil rights frontier.”

This dissertation is a social and legal history of St. Louis and Missouri in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. The study examines African American women's individual and collective struggles for freedom and civil status in the Age of Emancipation. By mining the records of the local military police in Missouri, this project finds that freedwomen, and even enslaved women, used military courts to seize rights during the Civil War. African American women entered this legal system as petitioners and claimed specific rights, including the right to paid labor, the right to state protection from bodily assault, and the right to custody of their children. The project identifies a number of key points when emancipation took a gendered path. Union officers were more likely to allow fugitive men into their camps, as they viewed women as unfit for military work. Mothers with children were particularly unwanted in military camps and forts throughout the state. After slave enlistment began in Missouri, men were freed in return for their military service but their female relatives had to find a separate path out of slavery. As part of the process of emancipation, freedwomen developed and asserted their own beliefs regarding marital rights and obligations. These marital claims were made in dialogue with the Union army, the Military Pension Bureau, divorce law, and the African American church and community. In the crisis of the Civil War, freedwomen developed a gendered conception of citizenship that was firmly rooted in their wartime struggle to destroy slavery. By considering the claims women made before military and civil officials, we can see in detail how African American women fought for national inclusion and, furthermore, that freedwomen's claims derived from a political philosophy that fueled their visions of freedom. The struggles of this population clarify the central role of the legacy of slavery, and the process of slave emancipation, in the construction of American citizenship rights.

This essay presents and discusses John Rawls’s ‘The Law of Peoples’ and it’s ability to be used in practice. The theory’s ability to judge right and wrongful actions in liberal intervention is tested when applied to the current conflict in Syria, and is used to evaluate the actions made by the liberal state France, during its involvement in the crisis. The essay will discuss shortcomings in the theory, and possible solutions to these and will also come to discuss central ideas in the theory and the liberal ism. Other writers such as Michael Doyle and Simon Caney are discussed and presented more briefly. The essay will argue that the theory in The Law of Peoples is not sufficient to alone evaluate the conflict it is applied upon, and therefore not comprehensive enough to be used in practice without adjustments.

During the Civil War, musical fluidity led to an outpouring of songs written about the conflict. With every popular song came at least one set of alternate lyrics known as contrafacta. In this thesis, I analyze Northern anthem “The Battle Cry of Freedom,”and Southern anthems “The Bonnie Blue Flag” and “Dixie” and their contrafacta. Through the lens of contrafacta, I analyze how the North and the South understood the terms “liberty” and “freedom.”

Public sector corruption is a major problem in Monrovia. Successive national governments have instituted anticorruption measures in the 1970s and 2000s, and anticorruption agencies were established to eradicate corruption. However, there appears to be a significant lack of resources and political willpower to prosecute corrupt government officials. A failure to curb political corruption indicates that current policies are not working. Government works when there is a perception that it delivers results and that the needs and safety of the citizenry are protected. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study was to gain a deeper understanding of public sector corruption at high levels of government in Monrovia. The conceptual framework for this study was based on the sociological theory of collaboration, within which governance is seen as a component of interpersonal relationships and a way to build trust and social interactions. Data were collected from open-ended semistructured interviews with former and present government officials (N = 8). The results were coded using descriptive coding to take an inventory of the contents, and to classify the coding into themes and subthemes. Results indicated that distrust among stakeholders and various governing institutions has hindered cooperation. Civic engagement and participation, patriotism, decentralization of the central government, job creation, safety and security, law and order, education and healthcare, and diluting the powers of the presidency, etc., were some of the issues raised by the participants. This dissertation may support positive social change in a meaningful way by providing policymakers with the information to make the country safe and governable, increase the standard of living and bring needed relief to the citizenry.

El trabajo se centra en analizar la vigencia y afectación de la relación laboral por parte del derecho fundamental de la libertad religiosa. Por tal razón se examina la evolución histórica de tal derecho hasta su generalización en la Contemporaneidad en los países occidentales, con especial tratamiento del caso español. Asimismo se examina la legislación internacional y comunitaria en la materia. Posteriormente la obra analiza la pluralidad cultural y religiosa que caracteriza España en la actualidad, una riqueza que es trasladable a sus centros de trabajo. Por tal razón, y dado el carácter limitado del fenómeno secularizador, se desarrolla una argumentación encaminada a explicar las características del Derecho del Trabajo del siglo XXI, que tiene como reto la de transformarse en un Derecho inclusivo. La inclusión se produciría por tratarse de un Derecho religiosamente neutro desde el punto de vista formal en cuanto a sus preceptos, pero materialmente garantista de las convicciones de cada cual, que evitara así discriminaciones. A partir de aquí la obra se centra esencialmente en tres figuras y sus manifestaciones en la relación laboral: el derecho a la libertad religiosa, el derecho a la objeción de conciencia por razones religiosas y la tutela antidiscriminatoria del trabajador creyente. El derecho a la libertad religiosa ha de reconocerse al trabajador por cuenta ajena aunque, como los otros derechos fundamentales, podrá ser limitado a través de la oportuna ponderación con otros derechos y bienes en juego. Así, la vigencia del derecho a la libertad religiosa en el puesto de trabajo se garantiza de varios modos: 1) en los supuestos más extremos y cuando no concurre ninguna medida legal o recurso material más al alcance del trabajador, dicho trabajador puede defender sus convicciones mediante el ejercicio del derecho a la objeción de conciencia, que le permite desobedecer puntualmente respecto al cumplimiento de una obligación jurídica apta para lesionar sus convicciones (ius resistentiae); 2) el trabajador que es objeto de discriminación por razón de sus convicciones religiosas, puede utilizar las medidas antidiscriminación previstas legalmente; 3) y, finalmente, el trabajador puede ejercer el derecho a la libertad religiosa directamente, tanto para defender dicho derecho en su sentido negativo, cuando sufre algún tipo de injerencia en sus convicciones; como desde un punto de vista positivo, de forma activa, cuando es necesario remover obstáculos jurídicos y alterar las condiciones de trabajo para la óptima expansión del derecho. Y precisamente, tal es el aspecto más discutible, pero menos discutido en España, de la eficacia jurídica del derecho a la libertad religiosa; pues es el que determinaría históricamente que el Derecho del Trabajo conciba dicho derecho desde un punto de vista meramente liberal, o, por el contrario desde una visión acorde con el Estado de Derecho. Como manifestaciones de dichas figuras en el puesto de trabajo se analizan, entre otras, las festividades y descansos, el uso de indumentaria y simbología religiosa, o las actividades proselitistas. Asimismo, se examina el concepto de empresa de tendencia religiosa.
The paper focuses on analysing the validity and application of the fundamental right of religious freedom within labour relations. For this reason, it examines the historical evolution of this right until it became the norm in modern Western countries, looking in particular at the case of Spain. In addition, it examines international and community legislation in this area. The work subsequently analyses the plurality of cultures and religions that characterise Spain today, a richness that can be transferred to the countrys workplaces. Because of this, and given the limited secularist phenomenon, it provides reasoning with which it aims to explain the nature of Labour Law in the 21st century, which faces the challenge of making itself an inclusive area of law. lt is supposedly inclusive since it is a religiously neutral area of law from a formal point of view judging by its precepts, though in practice it protects the convictions of everyone, thus preventing discrimination. From here, the paper goes on to focus on essentially three aspects and their manifestations in labour relations: the right to religious freedom, the right to conscientious objection on religious grounds, and the legal protection of religious workers from discrimination. The right to religious freedom must be granted to employed workers although, as with other fundamental rights, it may be restricted when properly weighed up against other legal rights at stake. Thus, the validity of the right to religious freedom in the workplace is safeguarded in several ways: 1) in the most extreme cases and where there is no other legal measure or practical recourse available to them, workers may defend their convictions by exercising the right to conscientious objection, which allows them occasionally to breach a legal obligation that would go against their convictions (ius resistentiae); 2) workers who are subject to discrimination for their religious convictions may make use of the anti-discrimination measures provided by law; 3) and finally, workers may exercise the right to religious freedom directly, to defend the aforementioned right in its negative sense where their convictions are infringed upon, as well as actively from a positive point of view, where it is necessary to remove legal obstacles and change the working conditions in respect of the right as far as possible. And this is precisely the most debatable aspect, though less so in Spain, of the legal effectiveness of the right to religious freedom, since it is this aspect that would historically determine whether Labour Law will see this right from a merely liberal point of view or, on the other hand, from a Rule of Law standpoint. The manifestations of these aspects analysed in the workplace include, among others, holidays and breaks, the use of religious symbols and attire, and proselytising activities. Furthermore, the concept of a company with religious leanings is also examined.
El treball es centra en analitzar la vigència i l'afectació de la relació laboral per part del dret fonamental de la llibertat religiosa. Per aquesta raó s'examina l'evolució històrica d'aquest dret fins a la seva generalització a la contemporaneïtat en els països occidentals, amb especial tractament en el cas espanyol. Així mateix s'examina la legislació internacional i comunitària en la matèria. Posteriorment, l'obra analitza la pluralitat cultural i religiosa per la qual es caracteritza Espanya a l'actualitat, una riquesa que és traslladable en els seus centres de treball. Per aquesta raó, i donat el caràcter limitat del fenomen secularitzador, es desenvolupa una argumentació encaminada a explicar les característiques del Dret del Treball del segle XXI, que té com a repte el transformar-se en un Dret inclusiu. La inclusió es produiria pel fet de tractar-se d'un Dret religiosament neutre des del punt de vista formal en quant als seus preceptes, però materialment garantista de les conviccions de cadascú, que evitarà així discriminacions. A partir d'aquí ('obra es centra essencialment en tres figures i les seves manifestacions en la relació laboral: el dret a la llibertat religiosa, el dret a l'objecció de consciència per raons religioses i la tutela antidiscriminatòria del treballador creient. El dret a la llibertat religiosa s'ha de reconèixer al treballador per compte aliè tot i que com amb els altres drets fonamentals, podrà ser limitat a través de l'apropiada ponderació amb altres drets i béns en joc. Així, la vigència del dret a la llibertat religiosa en el lloc de treball es garanteix mitjançant diferents maneres: 1) En els supòsits més extrems i quan no concorri a l'abast del treballador cap mesura legal o recurs material addicional a l'abast del treballador, dit treballador pot defensar les seves conviccions mitjançant l'exercici del dret a l'objecció de consciència, el qual li permet desobeir puntualment respecte al compliment d'una obligació jurídica apta per lesionar les seves conviccions (ius resistentiae) ; 2) el treballador que és objecte de discriminació per raó de les seves conviccions religioses, pot utilitzar les mesures antidiscriminació previstes legalment; 3) i, finalment, el treballador pot exercir el dret a la llibertat religiosa directament, tant per defensar aquest dret en el seu sentit negatiu, com quan pateix algun tipus d'ingerència en les seves conviccions, com des del punt de vista positiu, de forma activa, quan és necessari remoure obstacles jurídics i alterar les condicions de treball per l'òptima expansió del dret. l precisament, el darrer és l'aspecte més discutible, però menys discutit a Espanya, el de l'eficàcia jurídica del dret a la llibertat religiosa, ja que és el que determinaria històricament que el Dret del Treball concebi esmentat dret des d'un punt de vista merament liberal, o, pel contrari des d'una visió acord amb l'Estat de Dret. Com a manifestacions de dites figures en el lloc de treball s'analitzen entre altres, les festivitats i descansos, l'ús de la indumentària i simbologia religiosa, o les activitats proselitistes. Tanmateix, s'examina el concepte d'empresa de tendència religiosa.

What conditions lead to confidence among civil war combatants that they will not face accountability for perpetrating sexual violence? This study investigates the causes of impunity for sexual violence among armed actors. It develops a theoretical framework which identifies three explanations for armed group impunity for sexual violence, namely (1) flawed prohibitions inside an armed group; (2) negligent enforcement by its authorities; and (3) pardons in the form of amnesties during the peace process. Adopting a two-pronged approach, the study first explores the associations between amnesties arising from concluding peace agreements and post-settlement levels of sexual violence in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and South Africa. A small-scale, events-based dataset of sexual violence by governments and rebel groups in the first three years after war was constructed. The second and main part of the study is a comparison between two rebel groups in Burundi’s civil war (1994-2008), CNDD-FDD (National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy) and Palipehutu-FNL (Palipehutu-Forces for National Liberation) and their practices of prohibition and punishment of wartime sexual violence, taking into account also the possible influence of amnesties. Based on original data from 19 focus groups of ex-combatants from these rebel organisations, it is found that flawed prohibitions and negligent authorities are the main explanations for armed group impunity. The findings do not support amnesties as a cause of armed group impunity for sexual violence. Moreover, additional findings suggest that accountability for sexual violence is triggered by dependency on civilian support, while impunity is facilitated by an armed group’s ability to secure recruits, material and other resources without the help of local communities.

A critical investigation of the public/private distinction as it has been conceived in Anglo-American political thinking in the second half of the 20th century. A broadly held consensus has developed amongst many theorists that public/private does not refer to any single determinate distinction or relationship but rather to an often ambiguous range of related but analytically distinct conceptual oppositions. The argument of this thesis is that if we approach public/private in the search for analytic or conceptual clarity then this consensus is correct. Against this I propose that a number of the most dominant invocations of the distinction can be understood to express public/private as an irreducibly political dialectic that mediates the relationship between the subjective and objective side of social and political life. By locating these conceptually diverse invocations within a broader and more determinate framework of the historical development and contestation of the boundaries which establish the conditions for subjectivity, as the assertion of political agency, on the one hand, and which demarcate, police and defend these particular boundaries, as part of the objectively given character of social life and institutional organisation, on the other hand, then a more determinate character to public/private can be recognized. I then seek to explore the capacity of this model to capture and explain the peculiar post-war problematisation of public/private amongst a number of new left thinkers in Britain and America.

Les révolutions de l’Est ont induit la fragmentation des Etats qui s’est accompagnée, sur le plan interne par une renaissance des partis ethniques ; ce qui ne va pas sans poser de problèmes à la démocratie politique. Les transitions et a fortiori les consolidations démocratiques font émerger un double phénomène d’interaction entre les acteurs et le système, dans la recherche d’un nouvel équilibre. Les partis ethniques se politisent alors que le système s’ouvre à l’acteur ethnique. On assiste donc à un réajustement évolutif du système devant la nouvelle donne. Le système s’ouvre aux nouvelles demandes à caractère ethnique de différentes façons et à différents degrés : entre la légalisation et la tolérance. Côté acteurs, les partis ethniques rentrent progressivement dans le jeu politique ; de différentes façons et à différents degrés. Dans notre champ problématique les relations interactives se déploient entre acteurs multi-niveaux (partis-Etats) et dans les divers champs (politique, sociétal et juridique). Leurs connexions sont croisées entre l’espace étatique et internationale, public et civil, politique et sociétal ; avec les Etats d’accueil ou d’origine, mais aussi, les Etats-tiers. Ils sont à velléités indépendantistes ou simplement des lobbies politiques. Nous avons essayé de mettre en lumière les principaux aspects de la complexité de la question ethnique dans les jeunes démocraties politiques ‘‘en consolidation’’. La problématique ethnique des PECO peut-elle nous aider à compléter en actualisant certaines visions généralistes des sciences politiques ? Les acteurs impliqués sont ainsi invités à éviter les pièges des nationalismes perçus comme ‘‘mesquins’’, voire ‘‘chaotiques’’ tout en servant la cause d’une plus souple intégration politique alias la ‘‘paix démocratique’’
The revolutions of Eastern induced fragmentation of States were accompanied internally by a revival of ethnic parties, which is not without its problems in political democracy. Transitions and even more democratic consolidation are emerging a double phenomenon of interaction between actors and the system in search of a new equilibrium. Ethnic parties then politicize the system opens the ethnic actor. We are witnessing an evolutionary adjustment of the system to the new situation. The system opens to the new demands ethnic ways and to different degrees: between legalization and tolerance. Side actors, are gradually returning ethnic parties in the political game, in different ways and to different degrees. In our problem the field deploy interactive relationships between multi-level actors (parties-States) and in the various fields (political, societal and legal). Their connections are crossed between the State and international space, public and civil, political and social, with host countries or origin, but also the third States. They are separatist ambitions or simply political lobbies. We tried to highlight the main aspects of the complexity of the ethnic issue in young democracies political '' in consolidation ''. The ethnic problem of CEEC can help us to complete updating some general visions of political science? The actors involved are invited to avoid the pitfalls of nationalism perceived as '' petty '' or '' chaotic '' while serving the cause of a more flexible policy integration to the ‘‘democratic peace’’

The essence of this thesis is to explore the role of Nigeria, West Africa's hegemon, in the intervention efforts by the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS) through its Cease-fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in both Liberia (1990-1997) and Sierra Leone (1993-2000). While the thesis has sought to understand the leading role played by Nigeria in first establishing the ECOWAS and being the primus motor for its functions, I have also attempted to analyse the rationalities for the transformation of ECOWAS from a purely economic integrative scheme to a security organisation. While the economic agendas for ECOWAS have not changed, the argument in this thesis is that security related issues and realities have taken precedence over the original economistic agendas. One of the thesis' major arguments is that the nature of results attained in both Liberia and Sierra Leone are different because of (a) the leadership role of Nigeria and (b) the nature of international responses and contributions to the resolution of these conflicts. In the thesis, I argue that in the Liberian case, Nigeria took a more domineering leadership role albeit tinged with the characteristics of the actions of a benevolent hegemon. Here, Nigeria through different processes either through leadership, consensus-seeking processes and dialogue managed to get other ECOWAS states to coalesce around its leadership. However, in Sierra Leone, Nigeria's leadership role was not permitted to unfold. The resultant effect was the shift from NIFAG to ECOMOG and eventually "rekindling hatred" of these troops as UN troops. This thesis has pointed to the utility of sub-regional organisations in resolving conflicts and demonstrates the need for further study.
Political Science
DLITT ET PHIL (INT POL)

Nepal is a small country in size that lies between India and China. This small country experienced a Maoist insurgency, known as the People’s War that started in 1996 and ended in 2006. Different social, political and individual factors caused this war that saw massive human rights violations from both the rebels and the government. Between 15000 and 16000 Nepalese were killed, made homeless/displaced and disabled, abducted and/or disappeared; and thousands of properties were stolen or destroyed (Dhruba, 2005; Gyawali, 2009; Hada, 2001; Himalayan Times, 2005; Shakya, 2006; Thapa, 2004). The Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) ended the People’s War in 2006; however, the peace process has not been completed. Nor have the massive human rights violations, causes and effects of the war been addressed. In 2015, 10 years after the CPA, a Nepali Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed. The aim of this commission was to deliver justice to those who had experienced human rights violations during the insurgency and to create an atmosphere of reconciliation in Nepali society (Kantipur, 2015). This thesis examines the causes of the People’s War in Nepal. It then presents case studies of the processes and outcomes of TRCs in Liberia, Sierra Leone and South Africa. These TRCs completed their functions in facilitating peace and delivering justice by providing the suggestions and recommendations. The special case studies provide significant guidance to the TRC of Nepal and suggest important recommendations such as reconciliation, rehabilitation and reparation procedures to complete the peace process (TRC, 1995, 2004, 2009).

The objective of this thesis is to test and analyze the proposition of whether and to what extent natural resource interests have been fundamental in either causing, fueling or prolonging civil wars in Africa. The study focuses on examples from the Liberian (1989-96 and 1999-2003) and Sierra Leonean civil (1991-2002) to better understand the workings of armed rebellion and the role of natural resources. These two conflict situations were chosen because of their international/transnational contexts and because of the large number of actors involved in either their management or resolution- (UN, ECOWAS, NGOs, and other International Non-Governmental Organizations). More importantly both nations are resource rich. This study examines closely the relationship between the management of natural resources (with focus on lootable natural resources) and armed conflicts and makes policy recommendations aimed at reducing the risk of resource-related violent conflicts.

The civil war in Mali and the perception of threat posed by Islamist Jihadists and Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists to international peace and security led to the French military intervention in January 2013 to end the terrorist take-over of Mali, prevent the collapse of the state and spread of insecurity and instability in the conflict-prone and fragile regions of West Africa and the Sahel as well as protect France’s strategic national interests. But what were the real reasons for France’s pre-emptive military intervention in Mali and what does the French and its allied UN, ECOWAS, African Union conflict stabilisation intervention say about donor-driven peacebuilding in Africa, often framed as Liberal peacebuilding intervention?
It will be published by Rienner later this year. David Francis said he would let us know when it is. - sm 05/01/2017 Emailed the publisher for permission 21/12/2016. 22/12/2016 - Lynne Rienner say they're not publishing this book!!! - emailed D Francis! - sm © 2017 Publishers. Reproduced with permission from the publisher.
The full text may be made available after publication and on receipt of permission from the publisher.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo comparar a Guerra Civil de Espanha e a Guerra Civil Síria, através de quatro níveis de análise, nomeadamente a dimensão interna, regional, ideológica e da ordem internacional. Deste modo, será utilizada uma abordagem essencialmente histórica, descritiva e explicativa, uma vez que será necessário analisar os comportamentos dos governos sírio e espanhol, a sua relação com a oposição, a política das potências internacionais e das organizações internacionais que influenciaram os conflitos em estudo. A Guerra Civil Síria é uma das maiores crises humanitárias do século XXI, tal como a Guerra Civil de Espanha foi uma tragédia para a comunidade europeia no século XX. As duas guerras civis apresentam dinâmicas muito semelhantes, que em última instância ilustram a razão pela qual algumas guerras civis terminam e outras perduram no tempo. O conflito espanhol e o conflito sírio fizeram parte de conflitos mais abrangentes, onde se imbricam interesses locais, regionais e globais. O que se passou em Espanha e na Síria teve repercurssões no sistema internacional e mostrou as limitações da ordem liberal, quando as organizações internacionais se encontravam paralisadas pelos seus próprios membros.
This dissertation aims to compare the Spanish Civil War and the Syrian Civil War, through four levels of analysis, namely the internal, regional, ideological and international dimension. Thus, an essentially historical, descriptive and explanatory approach will be used, since it will be necessary to analyze the behavior of the Syrian and Spanish governments, their relationship with the opposition, the politics of international powers and international organizations that influenced the conflicts under study. The Syrian Civil War is one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the 21st century, just as the Spanish Civil War was a tragedy for the European community in the 20th century. The two civil wars have very similar dynamics, which ultimately illustrate why some civil wars end and others endure in time. The Spanish conflict and the Syrian conflict were part of broader conflicts, where local, regional and global interests overlap. What happened in Spain and Syria had repercussions on the international system and showed the limitations of the liberal order, when international organizations were paralyzed by their own members.

Despite its presentation as a pragmatic and universally applicable path to peace, the author argues that liberal peacebuilding offers no clear break from past colonial and imperial relations. Liberal peacebuilding is, in fact, colonial in its attempt to penetrate the markets and political systems of post-conflict countries and restructure economies and political life through the hegemonic imposition of liberal norms, facilitating their integration into global capitalism and a liberal community of states. The “liberal peace” created by this political and economic order often involves violent conditions of assimilation and exclusion. Moreover, the confluence of security and development concerns in the 1990s has set the strategic foundation for the incorporation of locally-driven “civil society” approaches to peacebuilding within statebuilding operations. In this thesis, the author identifies existing criticisms of peacebuilding, and, drawing on theorists such as Michel Foucault, Partha Chatterjee, David Scott, and Jenny Edkins, initiates a deeper critique that considers the historical context of colonialism, legitimations of violence, the construction of the non-west in categories of development, and the relations of power and knowledge associated with liberal approaches to making peace. The author provides a historical and political overview of wars in Angola, proposing that discourses and practices of international peacebuilding have concealed the continuation of war by other means.