Spatializing Peace And Conflict

This volume brings to the fore the spatial dimension of specific places and sites, and assesses how they condition – and are conditioned by – conflict and peace processes. By marrying spatial theories with theories of peace and conflict, the contributors propose a new research agenda to investigate where peace and conflict take place.

This book investigates peacebuilding in post-conflict scenarios by analysing the link between peace, space and place. By focusing on the case studies of Cyprus, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland and South Africa, the book provides a spatial reading of agency in peacebuilding contexts. It conceptualises peacebuilding agency in post-conflict landscapes as situated between place (material locality) and space (the imaginary counterpart of place), analysing the ways in which peacebuilding agency can be read as a spatial practice. Investigating a number of post-conflict cases, this book outlines infrastructures of power and agency as they are manifested in spatial practice. It demonstrates how spatial agency can take the form of conflict and exclusion on the one hand, but also of transformation towards peace over time on the other hand. Against this background, the book argues that agency drives place-making and space-making processes. Therefore, transformative processes in post-conflict societies can be understood as materialising through the active use and transformation of space and place. This book will be of interest to students of peacebuilding, peace and conflict studies, human geography and IR in general.

This book investigates peacebuilding in post-conflict scenarios by analysing the link between peace, space and place. By focusing on the case studies of Cyprus, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland and South Africa, the book provides a spatial reading of agency in peacebuilding contexts. It conceptualises peacebuilding agency in post-conflict landscapes as situated between place (material locality) and space (the imaginary counterpart of place), analysing the ways in which peacebuilding agency can be read as a spatial practice. Investigating a number of post-conflict cases, this book outlines infrastructures of power and agency as they are manifested in spatial practice. It demonstrates how spatial agency can take the form of conflict and exclusion on the one hand, but also of transformation towards peace over time on the other hand. Against this background, the book argues that agency drives place-making and space-making processes. Therefore, transformative processes in post-conflict societies can be understood as materialising through the active use and transformation of space and place. This book will be of interest to students of peacebuilding, peace and conflict studies, human geography and IR in general.

This book studies relevant actors and practices of conflict intervention by African regional organizations and their intimate connection to space-making, addressing a major gap regarding what actually happens within and around these organizations. Based on extensive empirical research, it argues that those intervention practices are essentially spatializing practices, based on particular spatial imaginations, contributing to the continuous construction and formatting of regional spaces as well as to ordering relations between different regional spaces. Analyzing the field of developing practices of conflict intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU), the book contributes a new theory-oriented analytical approach to study African regional organizations (ROs) and the complex dynamics of African peace and security, based on insights from Critical Geography. As such, it helps to close an empirical gap with regard to the ‘internal’ modes of operation of African ROs as well as the lack of their theorization. It demonstrates that, contrary to most accounts, intervention practices of African ROs have been diverse and complexly interrelated, involving different actors within and around these organizations, and are essentially tied to the space-making. This book will be of key interest to students and scholars of African Politics, Governance, Peace and Security Studies, International or Regional Organizations and more broadly to Comparative Regionalism, International Relations and International Studies.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- Acknowledgments -- Foreword -- Abbreviations -- Introduction : Space, Place and Agency - Mapping Peace Across Sites -- Introduction -- Advancing the agenda -- Multi-site ethnography -- Outline of the book -- Bibliography -- 1. Space, Place and Agency -- Introduction -- Spaces and places for the construction of peace -- Rethinking and situating agency in spatial politics -- Place -- Space -- Time -- Agency at the intersection between space and place -- Turning a place into a space (space-making) -- Turning a space into a place (place-making) -- Agency through placeand space-making -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 2. Cyprus: Contesting the Island -- Introduction -- Emplacing the Cyprus problem: transformations and continuities -- Spatial politics in Cyprus - Famagusta and Varosha -- Place-making -- Space-making -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Interviews -- 3. Kosovo: Emplacing the State and Peace(s) -- Introduction -- Transition towards a state -- Spatial politics: manifesting the state -- Space-making -- Place-making -- Conclusion -- Note -- Bibliography -- Interviews -- 4. Bosnia-Herzegovina: The Ethnic Peace -- Introduction -- Transition from war to ethnic peace -- Spatial politics and the ethnicisation of peace -- Space-making -- Place-making -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Interviews -- 5. Northern Ireland: The 'Maze of Peace' -- Introduction -- Segregating the peace -- Spatial politics - the peace walls in Belfast -- Space-making -- Place-making -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Interviews -- 6. South Africa: Perpetuating Spatial Apartheid? -- Introduction -- Transitions from apartheid -- Spatial politics: mechanisms of exclusion and relocation -- Place-making -- Space-making -- Conclusion -- Notes

From handshakes on the White House lawn to Picasso's iconic dove of peace, the images and stereotypes of peace are powerful, widespread and easily recognizable. Yet if we try to offer a concise definition of peace it is altogether a more complicated exercise. Not only is peace an emotive and value-laden concept, it is also abstract, ambiguous and seemingly inextricably tied to its antithesis: war. And it is war and violence that have been so compellingly studied within critical geography in recent years. This volume offers an attempt to redress that balance, and to think more expansively and critically about what peace means and what geographies of peace may entail. The editors begin with an examination of critical approaches to peace in other disciplines and a helpful genealogy of peace studies within geography. The book is then divided into three sections. The opening section examines how the idea of peace may be variously constructed and interpreted according to different sites and scales. The chapters in the second section explore a remarkably wide range of techniques of peacemaking.This widens the discussion from the archetypical image of top-down, diplomatic state-led initiatives to imperial boundary making practices, grassroots cultural identity assertion, boycotts, self-immolation, ex-paramilitary community activism, and 'protective accompaniment'. The final section shifts the scale and focus to everyday personal relations and a range of practices around the concept of coexistence. In their concluding chapter the editors spell out some of the key questions that they believe a geography of peace must address: What spatial factors have facilitated the success or precipitated the failure of some peace movements or diplomatic negotiations? Why are some ideologies productive of violence in some places but co-operation in others? How have some communities been better able to deal with religious, racial, cultural and class conflict than others? How have creative approaches to sharing sovereignty mitigated or transformed territorial disputes that once seemed intractable? Geographies of Peace is the first book wholly devoted to exploring the geography of peace.Drawing on both recent advances in social and political theory and detailed empirical research covering four continents, it makes a significant intervention into current debates about peace and violence.

Providing nuanced accounts of how the social identities of men and women, the context of displacement and the experience or manifestation of violence interact, this collection offers conceptual analyses and in-depth case studies to illustrate how gender relations are affected by displacement, encampment and return. The essays show how these factors lead to various forms of direct, indirect and structural violence. This ranges from discussions of norms reflected in policy documents and practise, the relationship between relief structures and living conditions in camps, to forced military recruitment and forced return, and covers countries in Africa, Asia and Europe.

This book integrates research and theoretical findings from multiple disciplines to present a holistic approach to conflict resolution. It highlights the wide-ranging and compelling relevance of Conflict Resolution Studies by exploring the entire spectrum of applications in interpersonal relationships, family and group functioning, and national and international relations.

This foundational Peace and Conflict Studies text is formatted to fit inside a 14 week college/university term. The chapters are designed to provide a succinct overview of research, theory, and practice that can be supplemented with material chosen by the professor. The book introduces students to the core concepts of the field, and provides an up to date alternative to the Peace and Conflict readers. It will move from historical development of the field to the way forward into the future. Each chapter will reflect current trends and research and contain up to date examples, questions for discussion or for potential student research topics, suggested reading, and engaged teaching activities.