The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution
OJPCR: The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution is a resource for students, teachers and practitioners in fields relating to the reduction and elimination of destructive conflict. It is a free, yet valuable, source of information to aid anyone trying to work toward a less violent and more cooperative world.
Issue 5.1
Experience
From Peacekeeping to Peacebuilding
From Violence to Peace: Terrorism and Human Rights in Sri Lanka
Personal Empowerment as the Missing Ingredient for a Resolution of the Israel/Palestine Conflict
Creating a More Peaceful Classroom Community by Assessing Student Participation and Process
Analysis
To Protect Democracy (Not Practice It): Explanations of Dyadic Democratic Intervention (DDI)
Why did the Colombia Peace Process Fail?
Truth and Reconciliation: The Road Not Taken in Namibia
Kant's Perpetual Peace: A New Look at this Centuries-Old Quest
The Jewish Group: Highlighting the Culture Problem in Nation-States
How Can I Teach Peace When the Book Only Covers War?
Cooperation in Pluralistic Societies: An Analytic Mathematical Approach
Publications of Interest
Books
Conflict Resolution | Ethnic Conflict | History | International Relations/Diplomacy | Reconciliation | General
International Relations/Diplomacy
| The Doctrine of the
Counterstrike: The Possible Future of America and the World By András Borsányi. 2002. Bona-L BT (Budapest, Hungary). 276 pp. The Doctrine of the Counterstrike was originally published in Hungary and is Borsányi's suggestion on how to address security concerns in the 21st century. Borsányi sees American power based by the three pillars: The first made up of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan; the second the Middle East; and the third including most of Eastern Europe. He believes this American force, backed by Western Europe, could be balanced by a new "Eurasian Entente" made up of Russia, China, and Iran. He proposes that the Eurasian Entente has the potential to challenge American dominance economically, militarily, and socially. Through a series of tactical moves, the Eurasian Entente could cause great problems for the U.S. in what he calls the "Eurasian brim," between the two blocs. Borsányi's solution to this envisioned future is "The Doctrine of the Counterstrike," a rather ambitious 9-step plan to ensure the Eurasian Entente does not overtake American power and cause a world war. The plan entails some radical global playmaking. The U.S. should reconstitute the Soviet Union (as a democracy), share the Balkans with it while maintaining a neutral area in the Baltics, negotiate the consolidation of Taiwan into China, deploy neo-Soviet troops in North Korea and Vietnam, consolidate American hegemony in South Korea and Japan, resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute "equitably," establish a zone of democracy around Israel, and encourage a conflict between Iran and the newly formed "Gulf Cooperation Council" with could include Iraq. While a number of commentators have proposed plans to guarantee peace and security in the 21st Century, Borsányi's Doctrine of the Counterstrike is probably the most ambitious. In the end, Borsányi himself notes that even though these steps are necessary, he doesn't expect the U.S. to follow through. |
Language and
Diplomacy Edited by Jovan Kurbalija and Hannah Slavik. 2001. DiploProjects (Msida, Malta) 335 pp. Language and Diplomacy presents a selection of articles presented at the Second International Conference on Knowledge and Diplomacy and the First International Conference on Language and Diplomacy. All the articles examine the role of aspects of language in diplomatic negotiation and interaction, but perhaps the more unique relate to the use of the Internet in diplomatic communication. The editors of the volume argue that the Internet has recentered texts in diplomatic discourse, as more interaction is taking place in writing now. Of special interest to OJPCR readers is Drazen Pehar's article on the use of ambiguity in peace agreements. Pehar argues that ambiguities are allowed in peace agreements by mediators who are limited by time and cannot resolve substantial elements of the dispute. As a result, statements which can simultaneously maintain two valid interpretations are used to mollify the disputing parties. In the end, Pehar notes that there are both benefits and detriments to this approach.  Peacemaking by Democracies: The Effect of
State Autonomy on the Post-World War SettlementsNorrin M. Ripsman. 2002. University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press. Norrin Ripsman examines the differences between foreign policy action in democracies in this book. Specifically, he looked at the behavior of the US, Britain and France to Germany after World War II. In examining the postwar negotiations, Ripsman concludes that the differences between the foreign policy actions can be significant and that these are related to the extent to which the executive is structurally autonomous. In the US and Britain, leaders were better able to set aside public sentiment and pursue reconciliation, while in France this was not the case. Also, weaker leaders are more likely to be limited in their actions by public sentiment. However, this does not mean that limited leaders were unable to negotiate effectively. In many instances, Ripsman documents these limited leaders using their inability to counter legislative or popular opposition to gain greater concessions from their negotiating opponents. More work should be done examining the relationship of government types to post-conflict policy formation, and Peacemaking by Democracies provides a firm foundation for continued inquiry. |
The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution is published by the Tabula Rasa Institute.