Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Peace in Political Unsettlement pp 57–90Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Conceptualising Formalised Political Unsettlement

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 333 Accesses

Part of the book series: Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies ((RCS))

Abstract

One of the reasons behind peacebuilding’s state of affirmation is the failure to deliver on its goal of supporting the negotiation and implementation of an inclusive political settlement. Instead, the most likely outcome of peace processes is a situation of formalised political unsettlement, which is produced by the institutionalisation of radical political disagreement. Despite often being able to tame violence, formalised political unsettlement is a difficult, tough-to-love constellation that enshrines the contestation about a polity. Yet, formalised political unsettlement can also be seen as an opportunity for pragmatic transitions. Its institutional fluidity, its unsettled character and the inability of the conflict parties to win their default positions offers opportunities for engaging in transitional processes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    http://fundforpeace.org/fsi/, accessed 18 September 2018.

  2. 2.

    http://www.g7plus.org/, accessed 16 September 2018.

  3. 3.

    Evidence of Adam Tomkins, cited in House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee; ‘The EU Bill and Parliamentary sovereignty’, 10th Report (2010–2011) para. 24 (An unsettled constitution).

  4. 4.

    The Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was part of the negotiation process between the Government of the Philippines and the MILF. The Supreme Court describes the MOA-AD in its decision ‘by stating that the same contained, among others, the commitment of the parties to pursue peace negotiations, protect and respect human rights, negotiate with sincerity in the resolution and pacific settlement of the conflict, and refrain from the use of threat or force to attain undue advantage while the peace negotiations on the substantive agenda are on-going.’ After a complaint by several political stakeholders, the Supreme Court decided on 14 October 2008 that the agreement was unconstitutional since the president would have extended his powers beyond the limits of the constitution. Hence, the agreement was not signed.

  5. 5.

    ECHR Case 27996/06 and 34836/06 (merged from two initial cases). The court found the limitations on political representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the three ethnopolitical constituencies (Bosniaks, Bosnian Croats, Bosnian Serbs) to be in violation of the human rights of non-aligned minorities .

References

  • Acemoglu, Daron, and James A. Robinson. 2012. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. London: Profile.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, Michael, and Christoph Zürcher. 2009. The Peacebuilder’s Contract: How External Statebuilding Reinforces Weak Statehood. In The Dilemmas of Statebuilding: Confronting the Contradictions of Postwar Peace Operations, ed. Roland Paris and Timothy D. Sisk, 23–52. London and New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Behuria, Pritish, Lars Buur, and Hazel Gray. 2017. Studying Political Settlements in Africa. African Affairs 116 (464): 508–525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, Christine, and Jan Pospisil. 2017. Navigating Inclusion in Transitions from Conflict: The Formalised Political Unsettlement. Journal of International Development 29 (5): 576–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boege, Volker, M. Anne Brown, and Kevin P. Clements. 2009. Hybrid Political Orders, Not Fragile States. Peace Review 21 (1): 13–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, David. 1998. Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick, Wren, Tobias Debiel, Frank Gadinger (eds). 2013. Relational Sensibility and the ‘Turn to the Local’: Prospects for the Future of Peacebuilding. Global Dialogues 2. Duisburg: Centre for Global Cooperation Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Waal, Alex. 2015. The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa: Money, War and the Business of Power. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Waal, Alex. 2017. Inclusion in Peacemaking: From Moral Claim to Political Fact. In The Fabric of Peace in Africa: Looking Beyond the State, ed. Pamela Aall and Chester A. Crocker, 165–186. Waterloo, ON: Centre for International Governance Innovation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di John, Jonathan, and James Putzel. 2009. Political Settlements. GSDRC Issues Paper, Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, Birmingham.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, Michel. 2003. Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the College de France, 1975–1976. New York, NY: Picador.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fukuyama, Francis. 2012. The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution. London: Profile Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • g7+ group. 2013. Note on the Fragility Spectrum. Launched in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagmann, Tobias, and Didier Péclard. 2010. Negotiating Statehood: Dynamics of Power and Domination in Africa. Development and Change 41 (4): 539–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann, Kasper, and Tom Kirk. 2013. Public Authority and the Provision of Public Goods in Conflict-Affected and Transitioning Regions. JSRP Paper 7, LSE, International Development Department, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jahn, Beate. 2007a. The Tragedy of Liberal Diplomacy: Democratization, Intervention, Statebuilding (Part I). Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 1 (1): 87–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jahn, Beate. 2007b. The Tragedy of Liberal Diplomacy: Democratization, Intervention, Statebuilding (Part II). Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 1 (2): 211–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jamar, Astrid. 2017. The Social Life of Policy Reports: Reporting as a Tool in the Transitional Justice Battlefield in Rwanda. Revue Internationale Des Études Du Développement 232 (4): 165–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, Musthaq H. 2010. Political Settlements and the Governance of Growth-Enhancing Institutions. Unpublished Draft Paper, Version July 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemay-Hébert, Nicolas. 2013. Critical Debates on Liberal Peacebuilding. Civil Wars 15 (2): 242–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, Brian. 2014. Working with the Grain: Integrating Governance and Growth in Development Strategies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lindemann, Stefan. 2008. Do Inclusive Elite Bargains Matter? A Research Framework for Understanding the Causes of Civil War in Sub-Sahara Africa. Crisis States Discussion Paper 15, LSE, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mac Ginty, Roger. 2011. International Peacebuilding and Local Resistance: Hybrid Forms of Peace. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • McCrudden, Christopher, and Brendan O’Leary. 2013. Courts and Consociations, or How Human Rights Courts May De-stabilize Power-Sharing Settlements. European Journal of International Law 24 (2): 477–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Migdal, Joel S. 1988. Strong Societies and Weak States: State-Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Migdal, Joel S. 2001. State in Society: Studying How States and Societies Transform and Constitute One Another. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • North, Douglass C. 1991. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • North, Douglass C., John Joseph Wallis, and Barry R. Weingast. 2009. Violence and Social Orders a Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Recorded Human History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Paris, Roland. 2011. Ordering the World: Academic Research and Policymaking on Fragile States. International Studies Review 13 (1): 58–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parks, Thomas, and William Cole. 2010. Political Settlements: Implications for International Development Policy and Practice. Occasional Paper No. 2, The Asia Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pospisil, Jan. 2017. “Unsharing” Sovereignty: g7+ and the Politics of International Statebuilding. International Affairs 93 (6): 1417–1434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pospisil, Jan, and Florian P. Kühn. 2016. The Resilient State: New Regulatory Modes in International Approaches to State Building? Third World Quarterly 37 (1): 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pospisil, Jan, and Alina Rocha Menocal. 2017. Why Political Settlements Matter: Navigating Inclusion in Processes of Institutional Transformation. Journal of International Development 29 (5): 551–558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pritchett, Lant, Michael Woolcock, and Matt Andrews. 2010. Capability Traps? The Mechanisms of Persistent Implementation Failure. Working Paper 234, Center for Global Development, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richmond, Oliver P. 2016. Peace Formation and Political Order in Conflict Affected Societies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rocha Menocal, Alina. 2015. Inclusive Political Settlements: Evidence, Gaps, and Challenges of Institutional Transformation. DLP Working Paper, University of Birmingham, DLP, Birmingham.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilly, Charles. 1985. War Making and State Making as Organized Crime. In Bringing the State Back in, ed. Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol, 169–187. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Verweijen, Judith. 2016. Stable Instability: Political Settlements and Armed Groups in the Congo. London: RVI Usalama Project, Political Settlements Research Programme.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, Neil. 2014. Our Constitutional Unsettlement. Public Law 7 (2014): 529–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wise, Laura. 2018. Territorial Power-Sharing and Inclusion in Peace Processes. PA-X Report: Power Sharing Series. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Political Settlements Research Programme.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank and United Nations. 2018. Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zartman, I. William. 1989. Ripe for Resolution: Conflict and Intervention in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ASPR—Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Vienna, Austria

    Jan Pospisil

Authors
  1. Jan Pospisil
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Pospisil .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Pospisil, J. (2019). Conceptualising Formalised Political Unsettlement. In: Peace in Political Unsettlement. Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04318-6_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation