ABSTRACT Few conflicts have been subject to as much international attention and efforts at resolu... more ABSTRACT Few conflicts have been subject to as much international attention and efforts at resolution as the conflict in Darfur between 2004 and 2009. In spite of these attempts, the situation in Darfur today can at best be qualified as an unresolved conflict. This article closely examines the ways in which the Sudanese state has been perceived and qualified in order to determine how the conflict was understood and how the state was approached by outsiders. As is shown, despite frequent descriptions of the nation as a ‘fragile’ or ‘failed’ state, throughout the conflict Sudan has primarily been approached as a ‘rogue’ state. The article argues that this distinction has led to the prioritisation of certain strategies based on ‘protection’ and ‘punishment’ over attempts to resolve the underlying causes of the conflict, something a more sophisticated understanding of the Sudanese state’s internal weaknesses and instability might have allowed.
ABSTRACT This article is concerned with the rebellion in Darfur as a way to illustrate the politi... more ABSTRACT This article is concerned with the rebellion in Darfur as a way to illustrate the politics of insurgency in the era of globalisation. We first show how the Darfur rebels have projected their struggle onto the world stage, before examining the effects that this has engendered. On the one hand, Darfur's global profile solidified the rebels' cause and co-opted international actors in support of it. This translated into real leverage for the rebels, and it constrained the Sudanese government by reducing its ability to use brute force. At the same time, internationalisation encouraged the Darfur rebels to make maximalist demands at the expense of articulating a broader political vision addressing the root causes of conflict. Moreover, the substitution of local legitimacy for international connections lowered the barriers of entry for new groups and thus promoted fragmentation. The combination of these effects makes for intractable conflict scenarios, the current situation in Darfur being a case in point.
ABSTRACT Few conflicts have been subject to as much international attention and efforts at resolu... more ABSTRACT Few conflicts have been subject to as much international attention and efforts at resolution as the conflict in Darfur between 2004 and 2009. In spite of these attempts, the situation in Darfur today can at best be qualified as an unresolved conflict. This article closely examines the ways in which the Sudanese state has been perceived and qualified in order to determine how the conflict was understood and how the state was approached by outsiders. As is shown, despite frequent descriptions of the nation as a ‘fragile’ or ‘failed’ state, throughout the conflict Sudan has primarily been approached as a ‘rogue’ state. The article argues that this distinction has led to the prioritisation of certain strategies based on ‘protection’ and ‘punishment’ over attempts to resolve the underlying causes of the conflict, something a more sophisticated understanding of the Sudanese state’s internal weaknesses and instability might have allowed.
ABSTRACT This article is concerned with the rebellion in Darfur as a way to illustrate the politi... more ABSTRACT This article is concerned with the rebellion in Darfur as a way to illustrate the politics of insurgency in the era of globalisation. We first show how the Darfur rebels have projected their struggle onto the world stage, before examining the effects that this has engendered. On the one hand, Darfur's global profile solidified the rebels' cause and co-opted international actors in support of it. This translated into real leverage for the rebels, and it constrained the Sudanese government by reducing its ability to use brute force. At the same time, internationalisation encouraged the Darfur rebels to make maximalist demands at the expense of articulating a broader political vision addressing the root causes of conflict. Moreover, the substitution of local legitimacy for international connections lowered the barriers of entry for new groups and thus promoted fragmentation. The combination of these effects makes for intractable conflict scenarios, the current situation in Darfur being a case in point.
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Papers by Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert