Non-State Justice Entrepreneurs in Conflict and Conflict Resolution

Abstract

International relations research has long identified non-state actors – including rebel groups and insurgents as well as civil society or corporate actors – as potential drivers of violent conflicts and as contributors to conflict resolution. The circumstances that turn particular non-state actors and activism either into forces for peace or into drivers of conflict, however, remain largely unclear. This panel analyzes the explanatory power of differing notions of justice that non-state actors pursue, either for themselves or on behalf of others. It will investigate under what circumstances and to what extent non-state advocacy and struggles for justice impact situations of conflict and oppression positively (towards increased peace and freedom) or negatively (towards increasing violence and oppression). In seeking to achieve this goal, the panel looks at a range of non-state actors and at various types and levels of violent as well as non-violent conflict. Papers may, for example, inquire to what extent advocacy by human rights NGOs achieves positive change in internal conflicts or rather leads to increasing repression. Or whether faith-based activism at the global level, for example within the UN, moderates or polarizes norm conflicts. Overarching questions addressed by the panel include: To what extent does a focus on justice help to understand the role of non-state actors in peace and conflict research? Under what circumstances do justice-related conflicts involving non-state actors evolve into violent ones? Is addressing the justice claims of non-state actors a prerequisite or a hindrance to ensuring peaceful conflict management?

Title	Details
Exploiting Local Grievances for the Sake of Rebel Defeat: How the State Instrumentalised Self-Defence Militias During Civil War in Peru and Sierra Leone	View Paper Details
Calling for Justice – On the Effectiveness of International and Transnational Human Rights Criticism in the Case of Great Powers	View Paper Details
The Express Committments of Armed Groups Under International Humanitarian Law	View Paper Details