The effectiveness of United Nations multifunctional peace-support - comparing conflict transformation in Angola and Mozambique

This study evaluates the effectiveness of United Nations multifunctional peace-support in facilitating the transformation of the Angolan and the Mozambican internal wars into non-violent conflicts which are managed within the framework of a newly created polity. The comparison between the Angolan case, a failure, and the Mozambican case, a success, aims to contribute towards an answer to the question of under which conditions the concept of United Nations multifunctional peace-support fails and under which conditions it is successful. Since both the conflict situations in Angola and Mozambique and the kinds of United Nations intervention (in both cases multifunctional peace-support operations) were similar in many respects, the research format of this comparison is a most-similar-systems design. Similarities and differences of multifunctional peace-support operations as well as of the Angolan and the Mozambican conflict situations are outlined. The argument of this study is that a few significant differences between the Angolan case and the Mozambican case explain the fundamentally different outcomes of the two conflict transformation processes. The Angolan parties concluded a peace agreement due to a combination of two main causes: strong external pressure and military stalemate. External pressure, however, decreased after the peace agreement was concluded, and, equally important, the implementation of the accord created a new military situation. The United Nations, restricted by a lack of resources and a very limited mandate, was incapable of countering this threat. The party which perceived itself as loser of the conflict transformation process went back to war. The Mozambican parties, by contrast, agreed upon a conflict transformation process due to a combination of three main causes: external pressure, military stalemate and complete economic exhaustion. The beginning of the conflict transformation process along with the United Nations intervention altered the military situation as it had in Angola, but external pressure and the state of complete economic exhaustion persisted. The United Nations, having a comprehensive mandate and sufficient resources, repeatedly proved to be capable of putting the conflict transformation process back on track when it was stalled. Most importantly, it was highly effective in facilitating political solutions to problems arising from the implementation of the peace accord by offering financial resources to the exhausted conflict parties. The failure of multifunctional peace-support in Angola and the success of the concept in Mozambique suggest four conditions necessary for the success of this kind of United Nations intervention: first, external pressure must not stop once negotiations for a peace agreement have been successfully concluded but must persist throughout the entire conflict transformation process. Second, the conflict parties must perceive conflict transformation as gain. Third, multifunctional peace-support operations need a comprehensive mandate. Fourth, multifunctional peace-support operations need sufficient resources

Argumentation and Compromise: Why the Republic of Ireland Selected the Territorial Status Quo Norm

Streaming video requires RealPlayer to view.The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.How do states come to select norms? Kornprobst contends that, given a number of conditions are present, states select norms in three ideal-typical stages: innovative argumentation, persuasive argumentation, and compromise. Kornprobst is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Mershon Center.Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security StudiesEvent webpage, streaming vide

Structural basis for 5'-ETS recognition by Utp4 at the early stages of ribosome biogenesis

Eukaryotic ribosome biogenesis begins with the co-transcriptional assembly of the 90S pre-ribosome. The ‘U three protein’ (UTP) complexes and snoRNP particles arrange around the nascent pre-ribosomal RNA chaperoning its folding and further maturation. The earliest event in this hierarchical process is the binding of the UTP-A complex to the 5'-end of the pre-ribosomal RNA (5'-ETS). This oligomeric complex predominantly consists of β-propeller and α-solenoidal proteins. Here we present the structure of the Utp4 subunit from the thermophilic fungus Chaetomium thermophilum at 2.15 Å resolution and analyze its function by UV RNA-crosslinking (CRAC) and in context of a recent cryo-EM structure of the 90S pre-ribosome. Utp4 consists of two orthogonal and highly basic β-propellers that perfectly fit the EM-data. The Utp4 structure highlights an unusual Velcro-closure of its C-terminal β-propeller as relevant for protein integrity and potentially Utp8 recognition in the context of the pre-ribosome. We provide a first model of the 5'-ETS RNA from the internally hidden 5'-end up to the region that hybridizes to the 3'-hinge sequence of U3 snoRNA and validate a specific Utp4/5'-ETS interaction by CRAC analysis.This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (SFB638, Z4 to I. S. and HU363/15-1 to E.H. and the Leibniz programme to I.S.); Cluster of Excellence CellNetworks (EcTOP1 to I.S. and E.H.); Funding for open access charge: DFG [Leibniz Programme]. M.K. was funded by a Kekule Fellowship (VCI)

Argumentation and Compromise: Ireland's Selection of the Territorial Status Quo Norm

How do states come to select norms? I contend that, given a number of conditions are present, states select norms in three ideal-typical stages: innovative argumentation, persuasive argumentation, and compromise. This norm selection mechanism departs from the existing literature in two important ways. First, my research elaborates on the literature on advocacy networks. I explain why agents engage in an advocacy for a normative idea in the first place; I add the epistemic dimension of reasoning to argumentation theory; and I show in detail the pathways through which persuasive argumentation links an advocated idea and already-established sets of meaning. Second, synthesizing rationalist and constructivist selection mechanisms, I contend that successful argumentation makes recalcitrant actors eager to reach a compromise with the advocates as long as this does not violate their most cherished beliefs. The Republic of Ireland s eventual selection of the territorial status quo norm in the late 1990s lends empirical evidence to this norm selection mechanism.I would like to thank Michael Barnett, Steven Bernstein, Corneliu Bjola, Ian Cooper, Ted Hopf, Sandy Irvine, Jennifer Mitzen, Daniel Nexon, Nisha Shah, Janice Gross Stein, Susan Gross Solomon, Allona Sund, Vincent Pouliot, Alexander Wendt, Ruben Zaiotti, and, most of all, Emanuel Adler for very helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. I am also greatly indebted to the anonymous reviewers and the editors of IO for their detailed and insightful comments. Funding for this research was generously provided by an Ontario Graduate Fellowship, the Joint Initiative for German and European Studies at the University of Toronto, and the Mershon Center at the Ohio State University.