Reclaiming the local in EU peacebuilding: Effectiveness, ownership, and resistance

Since the early 2000s, the "local turn" has thoroughly transformed the field of peacebuilding. The European Union (EU) policy discourse on peacebuilding has also aligned with this trend, with an increasing number of EU policy statements insisting on the importance of "the local." However, most studies on EU peacebuilding still adopt a top-down approach and focus on institutions, capabilities, and decision-making at the EU level. This special issue contributes to the literature by focusing on bottom-up and local dynamics of EU peacebuilding. After outlining the rationale and the scope of the special issue, this article discusses the local turn in international peacebuilding and identifies several interrelated concepts relevant to theorizing the role of the local, specifically those of effectiveness, ownership, and resistance. In the conclusion, we summarize the key contributions of this special issue and suggest some avenues for further research

Cryopyrin-Associated Periodic Syndrome: An Update on Diagnosis and Treatment Response

Cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS) is a rare hereditary inflammatory disorder encompassing a continuum of three phenotypes: familial cold autoinflammatory syndrome, Muckle-Wells syndrome, and neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease. Distinguishing features include cutaneous, neurological, ophthalmologic, and rheumatologic manifestations. CAPS results from a gain-of-function mutation of the NLRP3 gene coding for cryopyrin, which forms intracellular protein complexes known as inflammasomes. Defects of the inflammasomes lead to overproduction of interleukin-1, resulting in inflammatory symptoms seen in CAPS. Diagnosis is often delayed and requires a thorough review of clinical symptoms. Remarkable advances in our understanding of the genetics and the molecular pathway that is responsible for the clinical phenotype of CAPS has led to the development of effective treatments. It also has become clear that the NLRP3 inflammasome plays a critical role in innate immune defense and therefore has wider implications for other inflammatory disease states

Distributive justice and the durability of peace agreements

This study explores the relationship between principles of distributive justice (DJ) and the durability of negotiated agreements. Sixteen peace agreements negotiated during the early 1990s were coded for the centrality of each of four principles of DJ – equality, proportionality, compensation, and need – to the core terms of the agreement. The agreements were also assessed on scales of implementation and durability over a five-year period. Another variable included in the analysis was the difficulty of the conflict environment. These data were used to evaluate three sets of hypotheses: the relationship between DJ and durability, the role of the conflict environment, and types of DJ principles. The results obtained from both statistical and focused-comparison analyses indicate that DJ moderates the relationship between conflict environments and outcomes: when principles of justice are central to an agreement, the negative effects of difficult conflict environments are reduced; when principles are not central, the negative effects of difficulty are heightened. These relationships are accounted for primarily by one of the four DJ principles – equality. Implications of these findings are discussed along with a number of ideas for further research

Review of Virginia Page Fortna. 2008. Does peacekeeping work? (Princeton: Princeton University Press)

This is an excellent book which addresses an interesting, important, and under-studied issue. Peacekeeping has been used in an increasing number of internal conflicts since the end of the Cold War, but we really know quite little about how effective a strategy of conflict management it is. General media descriptions of peacekeeping often focus on dramatic failures and listening to scholars and policymakers ’ general sentiments could suggest that it is an ineffective tool. While there are a large number of studies that examine specific cases of peacekeeping, and one recent systematic study of the role of the United Nations in “building peace” (Doyle and Sambanis 2006), Fortna’s study is the first to systematically examine the effect of peacekeeping. The book’s title sums up Fortna’s main research question, however, there are really three, related, questions. First, where do peacekeepers go? Do peacekeepers pick “easy ” cases or go to the conflicts where they are most needed? Second, once they have been deployed, does peacekeeping actually prolong peace? Finally, if peacekeeping is effective, why? What does peacekeeping do that makes peace longe

The Fragile Road Towards Peace and Democracy: Insights on the Effectiveness of International Support to Post-Conflict Burundi

How can international engagement support fragile states on their path towards peace and democracy? In light of perpetuating and recurring armed conflict all over the world, this question is of utmost importance to many policymakers. In order to better understand factors influencing the effectiveness of this support, this present paper analyses international support for peace and democratisation in the so far relatively successful case of Burundi. After one decade of civil war, a seriously weakened Burundi state faced the double challenge of overcoming not only its violent past but also the legacy of socio-political exclusion and ethnic antagonism. Since then, the international community has engaged strongly in supporting Burundi on its road towards peace and democracy. The country has made remarkable achievements in this regard – such as adopting a new constitution in 2005 and dissolving its rebel armies through integration and demobilisation. Recently, however, progress has stalled. The 2010 elections were overshadowed by the opposition’s boycott, further narrowing the already limited political space. Each of these three processes was shaped by political power struggles and had a decisive impact on Burundi’s future development. By analysing each of them in detail, this research generates valuable insights into internal dynamics of post-conflict peace and democratization as well as international support thereto. The research was guided by three explanatory factors (hypotheses) drawn from academic literature, which suppose that 1) prioritising stability over democracy , 2) choosing coopera­tive over coercive forms of cooperation , and 3) high levels of coordination enhance the effectiveness of international support for peace and democracy. However, only the last presumption was confirmed: coordination of donor activities did indeed have a positive impact on its effectiveness. Yet, contrary to expectations from the literature, prioritising stabilisation has hampered democratisation and actually reduced the effectiveness of democracy support. Similarly, the Burundi case calls for qualifications regarding the second explanatory factor: depending on the circumstances, either cooperative or coercive measures rendered external support more effective