The nature of armed conflict has changed in recent decades. This presents new challenges for the prevention of violence, the promotion of disarmament and the securing of durable peace. The essays in this book address important aspects related to these challenges, with references to the work of prominent German peace researcher Herbert Wulf. Topics covered include demilitarization, small arms control, security sector reform, post-conflict construction, peace-building in failed states and, as guiding theme, the limits and possibilities of security governance.

This edited volume takes stock of the state of research and policy on the issue of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), ten years after the UN first agreed to deal with the problem. The end of the Cold War originated a series of phenomena that would subsequently come to dominate the political agenda. Perhaps most symptomatic of the ensuing environment is the marked escalation in the scale and dynamics of armed violence, driven by the proliferation of SALW. Events in Rwanda, Somalia and Bosnia seared into global consciousness the devastating effects of this phenomenon, and of the necessity to engage actively in its limitation and prevention. This edited volume explores and outlines the research and policy on the SALW issue at this critical juncture. In addition to providing a detailed telling of the genesis and evolution of SALW research and advocacy, the volume features a series of essays from leading scholars in the field on both advances in research and action on SALW. It reflects on what has been achieved in terms of cumulative advances in data, methodology and analysis, and looks at the ways in which these developments have helped to inform policy making at national, regional and international levels. Alongside situating and integrating past and present advances in advocacy and international action, Controlling Small Arms also outlines future directions for research and action. This book will be of much interest to students of small arms, peace and conflict studies, peacebuilding, security studies and IR.

The 1990s saw a constant increase in international peace missions, predominantly led by the United Nations, whose mandates were more and more extended to implement societal and political transformations in post-conflict societies. However, in many cases these missions did not meet the high expectations and did not acquire a sufficient legitimacy on the local level. Written by leading experts in the field, this edited volume brings together ‘liberal’ and ‘post-liberal’ approaches to peacebuilding. Besides challenging dominant peacebuilding paradigms, the book scrutinizes how far key concepts of post-liberal peacebuilding offer sound categories and new perspectives to reframe peacebuilding research. It thus moves beyond the ‘liberal’–‘post-liberal’ divide and systematically integrates further perspectives, paving the way for a new era in peacebuilding research which is theory-guided, but also substantiated in the empirical analysis of peacebuilding practices. This book will be essential reading for postgraduate students and scholar-practitioners working in the field of peacebuilding. By embedding the subject area into different research perspectives, the book will also be relevant for scholars who come from related backgrounds, such as democracy promotion, transitional justice, statebuilding, conflict and development research and international relations in general.

For most of its history, Nigeria has witnessed sporadic episodes of insecurity; a phenomenon traditionally manifested in political, electoral, religious and ethnic violence, and, more recently, terrorism. This book investigates the core issues that have led to, and shaped the development and sustenance of, organised political violence in Nigeria. Focusing on elite political culture and State governance, it examines important elements of the socio-political environment, including zero-sum politics, identity politics, and the politicisation of social cleavages. As such, it represents an invaluable resource on the issue of organised political violence too often glossed over in research on insecurity in Nigeria. Scholars in security studies and national security policy analysts will find this text enlightening.

The question of how effective political tools actually are is among the most hotly debated in contemporary IR theory. There is no unanimity how to even measure the effectiveness and impact different political measures produce. This book comprehensively introduces social science students and scholars to the various fields of effectiveness and impact research in the study of international relations.

The politics of peace has undergone tremendous changes since the end of the Cold War: It moved from an ideological debate into a well-established policy field. How does this affect its content? And, what are the implications for peace research? On the occasion of its 20th anniversary, the Swiss Peace Foundation (swisspeace) invited contributions from eminent experts regarding the most controversial issues of this debate, which include state building, international interventions, civil society, and business actors. The book concludes with some thoughts on the interaction between research and politics. (Series: Internationale Politik - Vol. 3)

State Building Post-conflict related efforts by the international community towards state (re)building and reconstruction of society and economy have become a more or less regular feature of international affairs since the early 1990s. It seems that the demand for such international efforts is rather rising than diminishing. All have in common that the establishment of sound state structures and liveable economies in a given state are considered by a sizeable and powerful group of states as something that is furthering international peace and stability. The purpose of this book is to address the strategic and policy dimensions of these international state building and reconstruction efforts. The chapters take up issues relating to the economic, security-related and institutional aspects. The authors strike a balance and attempt to formulate recommendations.

This book reads the narrative of the national politics alongside deeper histories of political and social organization, as well as in relation to competing influences on modern identity formation and inter-group relationships, such as ethnic and religious communities, economic partnerships, and immigrant and diasporic cultures

"... Explores the connections between fragile statehood and violent conflict, and analyses the limitations of outside intervention from international society."--P. 4 of cover.

This book examines the role of everyday action in accepting, resisting and reshaping interventions, and the unique forms of peace that emerge from the interactions between local and international actors. Building on critiques of liberal peace-building, it redefines critical peace and conflict studies, based on new research from 16 countries.