Networked Regionalism as Conflict Management

Most regions of the world are plagued by conflicts that are made insoluble by a confluence of complex threads from history, geography, politics, and culture. These "frozen conflicts" defy conflict management interventions by both internal and external agents and institutions. Worse, they constantly threaten to extend beyond their local geographies, as in the terrorist bombings in Boston by ethnic Chechens, or to escalate from skirmishes to full-scale war, as in Nagorno-Karabakh. Consequently, such conflicts cry out for alternative approaches to the classic, state-focused, and sovereignty-based conflict management models that are practiced in traditional diplomacy-which most often produce rather short-term, ad hoc, fragmented interventions and outcomes.

Drawing upon the cases of the South Caucasus, the Western Balkans, Central America, South East Asia, and Northern Ireland, Networked Regionalism as Conflict Management offers a theoretical and practical solution to this impasse by arguing for regional collective interventions that involve a long-term reengineering of existing conflict management infrastructure on the ground. Such approaches have been attracting the attention of scholars and practitioners alike yet, thus far, these concepts have rarely involved more than simple prescriptions for regional cooperation between grassroots actors and traditional diplomacy. Specifically, says Anna Ohanyan, only the cultivation and establishment of regional peace systems can provide an effective path toward conflict management in these standoffs in such intractably divided regions.

Auteur

Anna Ohanyan is Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Studies at Stonehill College.

Contenu

Contents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractThis chapter starts out by discussing the limitations of traditional conflict management applications in post-Communist world and the ineffectiveness of the global conflict management infrastructure in freezing, as opposed to solving, conflicts in politically divided areas (PDAs). It then presents the Regional Networked Peace Paradigm as a theoretical and policy framework of third party interventions in politically divided areas. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the organization of the book. 1Regional Theory for Conflict Areas chapter abstract Chapter 1 is an overview of the literature on regionalism. It presents a set of characteristics of regionalism in PDAs, with an emphasis on the Balkans and South Caucasus. It then delineates the key debates within regional studies, tailoring them to the specific context of PDAs. The specific debates in regional studies examined here are the importance of territoriality versus functional ties in defining regions; the importance of state versus nonstate actors in region formation processes; the role of conflict or cooperation as a regional marker; and the issue of regional autonomy relative to great-power influence over a region and its member states. One of the main purposes of the next section, then, is to expose students of conflict management and peace and conflict studies to some of the existing fault lines in the regionalism literature within international political economy. 2Network Theory of Regionalism in Conflict Areas chapter abstract This chapter begins by discussing the rationale for the network approach to studying regionalism in PDAs. It then calls for a distinction between networks and networked governance at the regional level by asking, what institutional attributes of networks matter for conflict management processes and outcomes? The section here on network attributes builds the case for the theoretical and policy value of those institutional attributes for the theory and practice of regionalism in PDAs. The following network attributes are specified: patterns of regional network mobilization (top-down versus bottom-up); the level of institutional density of regional networks (high/low); degree of power concentration (high-low); and the level of heteropolarity (high/low). The chapter then profiles several dominant regional forms in terms of these network attributes. The dominant regional forms presented in the chapter include: soft/hard regionalism, security complexes versus regional orders; and nested regionalism. 3Networking Peaceful Regions chapter abstract Chapter 3 builds on the network-based typology of regional arrangements developed in the previous chapter. It juxtaposes the traditional state-centric and country-based concepts of interventions with regional peace-building approaches. It provides a brief review of existing proposals on reforming the global conflict management infrastructure and then presents peace building as a region-building approach, largely drawing from the networked regional peace paradigm developed in this study. Chapter 3 clarifies what are considered to be a "successful outcomes." Departing from peace and conflict studies, it rejects the notion that reconciliation is the ultimate goal for interventions. Instead, at the regional level cultivating institutionalized peace systems for addressing current and future conflicts is considered the ultimate goal for interventions. This chapter examines how networks with particular attributes contribute to particular peace patterns. 4Three Regional Approaches to Conflict Management chapter abstract This chapter is an overview of the ways in which the regional cooperative structures have developed over the years in PDAs other than the Western Balkans and West Europe. Within that overview, the chapter seeks to fulfill three specific objectives. The first is to take a small step toward addressing the "high N problem" by asking, "Where else has it worked?" The second objective of this chapter is to acknowledge and appreciate the diversity of regions and institutionalized forms of cooperation they sustain. The third objective of is to apply the regional theory for conflict areas developed in Chapter 1 to Central America and Southeast Asia. 5The Western Balkans: A Region on the Move chapter abstract This chapter begins by revisiting the main theoretical divisions within the regional studies literature as discussed in Chapter 1, with an emphasis on how the case of the Western Balkans as a PDA supports, challenges, or enriches the existing theoretical debates. It then applies the network approach developed in Chapter 2 to the Balkan case of regionalism. This is followed by an in-depth investigation of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), which has been a key tool in building regional cooperation in the West Balkans. 6The South Caucasus: Weak States or a Broken Region chapter abstract The chapter examines the case of South Caucasus relative to that of the West Balkans. The key objective here is to generate comparative regional theory on politically divided areas (PDAs). In particular, the chapter applies the key theoretical themes from the regional studies literature, as reviewed in Chapter 1, to the South Caucasus. South Caucasus is examined in terms of the extent to which territory versus functional ties as regional markers; whether the regional arrangements are driven by states or nonstate actors; whether conflict or cooperation is the main regional marker; the level of regional autonomy from external powers. The chapter then moves to discuss the key network attributes of the existing, even fragile, regional peace-building infrastructure that exists in the South Caucasus. The chapter concludes with two case studies: the Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus (REC) and the South Caucasus Business and Development Network. 7Peace-building as Region-building: Theory and Practice chapter abstract This chapter begins by describing the regionally networked peace paradigm both in terms of its value as a research agenda as well as a policy framework. The chapter examines the general policy implications for region building as a …