1,720,978 research outputs found
Migraciona dinamika na Kosovu : implikacije po demokratiju i političko učešće
No full textShpend Kursan
Contested states : the struggle for survival and recognition in the post-1945 international order
Full text linkDefence date: 23 July 2020 (Online)Examining Board: Professor Jennifer Welsh (EUI, Supervisor); Professor Dorothee Bohle (EUI); Professor Nina Caspersen (University of York); Professor Eiki Berg (University of Tartu)One of the most fundamental principles underpinning the post-World War II order, on which there is a broad and long-held consensus, is that once admitted into the club of universally recognized states, a political entity’s territory and borders become sacred. The phenomenon of the “contested state,” however, stubbornly challenges this sacred consensus, by suggesting that the current membership in and territorial configuration of the international society may not be entirely fixed. With three standalone substantive chapters, this thesis investigates three different aspects of contested states’ relationship with the existing society of states. In Chapter 1, I attempt to make sense of the existence of these entities alongside other actors in the international system. By employing an ontological approach, I argue that a constellation of four dimensions constitutes a contested state as an independent non-UN member state, over which another State lays claim. My approach not only establishes these entities more clearly as a separate analytical category in world politics, worthy of detailed study, but also specifies these entities’ distinct behavior when compared to other actors populating the same international system. Departing from the empirical reality that more than half of the thirty contested states have already died, Chapter 2 investigates the conditions under which contested states survive in the post-1945 international order. By employing an original time-series dataset and applying a comparative configurational analysis of the universe of cases of contested states, I show that three pathways to survival sufficiently capture the patterns underlying the persistence of these entities. The Chapter shows that, while external support is not a necessary condition for contested state survival, what happens outside a contested state’s own “domestic” realm, nevertheless, plays a crucial role in keeping these entities alive. The findings of this Chapter unearth a contradiction that exists between the prerogatives of territorial integrity and the aims for peace and stability of the post-WWII international legal and normative order. Chapter 3 conducts a critical analysis of the nature and effect of contested states’ struggle for recognition by focusing on Palestine and Kosovo. While seeking recognition and maintaining the hope of eventual membership in the society of states is an understandable objective, I argue that for contested states, recognition has a price. The post-WWII international legal and normative order has presented contested states with a trade-off. In seeking to achieve universal international recognition, contested states must curb their claims to self-determination and sacrifice some of the elements of empirical statehood they have managed to establish. Taken together, these chapters make a set of empirical, methodological, and theoretical contributions, not only for the study of contested states but also for the general discipline of IR
Reconsidering the contested state in post-1945 international relations : an ontological approach
No full textPublished online: 14 December 2020Most would agree that the recent emergence of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in Ukraine, and perhaps the Islamic State, will soon find their place in the already growing literature on contested states. Yet, despite the historical and present importance of these entities for the study of alternative forms of political authority, sovereignty, statehood, international legitimacy, as well as wars within and between states, there is very little agreement in the existing literature on what constitutes a contested state. After illustrating some of the theoretical and empirical shortcomings of the current conceptual approaches in the treatment of these entities, this article proposes and adopts an ontological approach to conceptualizing and studying contested states in international relations. I argue that the contested state's internal nature can be understood through four constitutive dimensions, which accentuate the phenomenon's distinct interaction with its environment when compared to other phenomena. The article also provides a way to resolve the discord that currently exists on what the theoretical concept of contested state ought to capture empirically, by introducing an explicit and systematic procedure when applying the concept to the empirical world
Kosovo's migration dynamics : implications for democracy and political participation
No full textShpend Kursan
Dinamika e migracionit në Kosovë : implikimet për demokracinë dhe pjesëmarrjen politike
No full textShpend Kursan
Salafi pluralism in national contexts : the secular state, nation and militant Islamism in Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia
No full textPublished online: 23 May 2018This article explores the question of how Albanian Salafi Muslims have engaged with and provided religious interpretations to issues peculiar to Albanians' historical and sociopolitical context, as well as considering the ethnic group's recent engagement in Middle Eastern conflicts. Utilizing Salafism's doctrinal concepts of takfir (excommunication of another Muslim) and al-wala'wa-l-bara'(loyalty and disavowal) as guiding analytical tools, the article investigates Albanian Salafi Muslims' position and discourse on the following three Albanian-specific issues: (i) engagement with the secular state by voting for their representatives (leaders) (ii) the question of nation and nationalism and (iii) the question of militant Islamism related more recently to the Syrian conflict. Though there are different nuances among Albanian Salafi Muslims, the article shows the sharper distinctions and divergences that exist between the mainstream and rejectionist Salafis when considering the ways they have engaged with the three issues under analysis. Also, despite the general agreement in literature about Salafism's globalized acculturalization impact on localized Islam(s), the analysis deduces Salafism's 're-culturalized' and 're-nationalized' face in the Albanian-specific context, something prevalent among the mainstream Salafi Muslims of this ethnic group in the Balkans
Foreign policy coordination vis-à-vis the international norm of sovereignty Macedonia's and Montenegro's recognition of Kosovo
No full textPublished online: 23 May 2017Historically, recognition of new states is widely acknowledged to have been a function of the society of states’ normative judgement about sovereignty during different historical periods. Despite recognition being an individual practice of each state, ‘Great Powers’ have often preferred to take a coordinated action amongst themselves when recognizing new states, setting thus a normative standard for smaller states to follow. This article sets to examine how small states coordinate recognition when ‘Great Powers’ fail to do so. By adopting an analytical framework which enmeshes the domains and conditions in which foreign policy change and international norms interact, this article examines the cases of Macedonia’s and Montenegro’s coordinated foreign policy change vis-a`-vis Kosovo’s independence. The article finds that Macedonia’s and Montenegro’s coordinated foreign policy change was enabled only after the conditions primarily in the domain of politics and polity at the international level changed, enabling coordination to take place. Unlike the dominant claims in Foreign Policy literature that conceive of the ‘window of opportunity’ as exogenously given to actors, this article introduces the notion of foreign policy coordination arguing that actors can in fact be actively engaged in creating a ‘window of opportunity’ to materialise their desired foreign policy change
Shaken confidence: violation of norms as driver of expenditure increase
Full text linkThe United States‘ alliances with Japan and the Philippines, built on the principle of mutual defense, stand in stark contrast to the United States‘ security cooperation with Taiwan which does not guarantee mutual defense in any capacity. Taiwan is thus quite vulnerable due its ongoing sovereignty dispute with China and its ambiguous international legal status. Yet curiously, since 2022 both Japan and the Philippines have increased their defense expenditure at a significantly faster rate than Taiwan, despite possessing much more solid security guarantees than Taiwan. Qualitative cross-case analysis of these three cases reveals two potential explanations. Firstly, within Japanese and Philippine negotiations with China, violation of confidence between leadership can be observed before the 2022 expenditure increase. This is not observable within Taiwanese-Chinese negotiations however, whose leaders largely refrained from formal contact and there was thus little trust to be broken in the first place. Secondly, as a de facto state, Taiwan‘s security situation does not benefit from international norms on non-aggression between states to the same extent as de jure states like Japan and the Philippines, and thus does not necessarily face the same pressure to respond to violation of said norms. The findings of this thesis contribute to understanding the strategic motivations of de facto states, as well as highlighting how dependency on international norms can affect diplomatic and strategic behavior.https://www.ester.ee/record=b5699113*es
(Non)combatants and insurgency: a comparative study of military identity in Hezbollah and Hamas
No full textThis thesis investigates the divergent use of military uniforms by two similar non-state actors: Hezbollah and Hamas. While both groups share numerous characteristics, including Islamic ideological foundations, anti-Israeli resistance agendas, Iranian sponsorship, territorial governance, and being non-state actors, they differ significantly in one key behavioral outcome: Hezbollah frequently employs standardized military uniforms, whereas Hamas rarely does. In order to isolate the independent factors causing this behavioral divergence, the study uses Most Similar Systems Design (MSSD), which enables the control of shared variables. This thesis finds that the most compelling explanation lies in the interplay between operational environment, strategic logic, and structural incentives. Hamas’s avoidance of uniforms is a deliberate tactical adaptation to Gaza’s densely populated urban terrain, which favors stealth, civilian camouflage, and asymmetrical warfare. This decision also serves propaganda purposes, potentially inflating civilian casualty figures and enhancing international sympathy. Conversely, Hezbollah’s use of uniforms is facilitated by its more rural and mountainous, less densely populated operational environment and greater access to consistent Iranian support, which all make blending in with the civilian population less advantageous. Even though they are taken into account, theories such as shifting global recognition or resource constraints are ultimately found to be insufficient to explain the pattern that has been observed. Even though there is a resource disparity between these groups, this does not fully account for Hamas's activities, especially given its ability to fund complex infrastructure like Gaza's tunnel system. Instead, the study concludes that uniform use is best understood as a function of operational necessity, strategic objectives, and external constraints rather than material capability alone. This research contributes to the broader literature on armed non-state actors by demonstrating how variations in tactical environments and organizational strategy can lead to divergent military practices, even among otherwise similar groups.https://www.ester.ee/record=b5755877*es
- …
