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Tags: Middle East

Islam and its seeming incompatibility with the West

The wave of largely non-violent, popular movements that swept across large portions of the Arab world in early 2011 to demand government accountability, social responsiveness, women’s rights, and other social reforms, is not necessarily incompatible with liberal democracy — even if it is firmly based in political Islam.

Indigenous Conflict Resolution and Durable Peace in Cyprus

Cyprus remains deeply divided, despite (or perhaps because of) years of legalistic and nationalistic attempts to resolve the conflict. In this essay, researcher Oluwaseun Bamidele argues that greater emphasis should be put on “indigenous” models of negotiation and reconciliation, common to both Greek and Turkish Cypriots, as well as to a “politics of feelings”, in order to breakdown divisive narratives of historic trauma and strengthen the emerging culture of empathy and peace on the island.

Humiliation and Crocodile Tears

Dr Victoria Fontan reflects on the role of honor and humiliation motivating insurgents in both Iraq and Afghanistan — as well as the Afghan soldier who recently killed four French soldiers participating in the NATO mission in the country.

Rights of Due Process and the Post-Arab Spring: Paradigm Shift from International to Domestic Court Jurisdiction

Kichere Mwita draws attention to the precedent-setting role of the Arab Spring from an international law perspective. Highlighting the shift from international to domestic court jurisdiction over high-level crimes committed during the Arab Spring uprisings, Mwita argues for the implementation of a sub-international criminal court based on the model of the ad hoc tribunals created for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

The Rise of Private Military Companies and the Legal Vacuum of Regulation

This paper discusses the rise of the private military industry as a challenge to contemporary international law. In recent times, the privatization of activities preserved by governments have been proposed and implemented;, such as communication facilities, garbage collection, electricity supply, immigration services and much more. Military operations have not been left out. The increasing privatization of military activities is proving to be a major challenge to international law. The literature on Private Military Companies (PMCs) is mind-boggling, but neither extensive nor exhaustive. As a new phenomenon, it receives situational attention. For example, when the operations of Executive Outcomes and Sandline International were unearthed by the press in the 90s,’ numerous scholarly material was written, but with distinct themes like the efficiency of the corporations and the human rights violations carried out, as well as the legal vacuum created by ex-professional soldiers banding up to create and legally incorporate a mercenary outfit. The issue of PMCs being present in weak states and ravaged war-torn zones is an understatement, yet these corporations are registered mostly in the U.S., U.K. and South Africa. The articles on this issue are usually highly polarized; opponents verses proponents of these corporations, as the activities of these outfits do not fit within any conventional classification as actors of war in the law of war.
This paper describes the history and definition of PMCs and analyses how the operations of these corporations affect human rights, sovereignty and states´ monopoly of violence. The paper also focuses on the legality of PMCs and proceeds to discuss how to regulate the industry. The paper concludes in favor of tougher regulatory controls through new international legal framework and national legislation to deal with mercenaries as decisively as with other non-state actors who wield violence.

Battling against Religious Extremism: The State of Madrassah Reforms in Pakistan

It is ironic that in the centralized education system of Pakistan, there are educational institutions with different curricula. This results from the existence of three main educational systems; public, private and madrassahs. The private system is expensive and out of the reach of majority of children in Pakistan. Therefore, public schools and madrassahs provide education to most Pakistani children, where some students are exposed to Islamic fundamentalism. While there was a shift in media and governmental policies towards Pakistani madrassahs after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA, it seems as though international interest in madrassah reforms in Pakistan has faded away recently, even though this issue still exists in all its severity as has been clearly illustrated by recent radical and furious actions from the Islamabad-based madrassahs.

Against a two state solution in Isreal

Stephen Kruger argues that International Law and the International Community have unfairly discriminated against Israel for annexing territory through warfare and using economic blockades, which are standard practise among states such as the US, China, and Russia.