The ICC has faced repeated charges of hypocrisy from African leaders, the African Union (AU), and... more The ICC has faced repeated charges of hypocrisy from African leaders, the African Union (AU), and prominent voices in the African public. What has caused this diplomatic conflict and what is hypocrisy so central to critiques of the Court? Do charges of hypocrisy matter and how might they be managed? This chapter investigates the politics of anti-hypocrisy in the diplomacy around the ICC. It identifies the source of the conflict between Africa and the ICC in the marginalization of African states in the diplomacy around several conflicts into which the ICC has intervened. Many of the critiques around the ICC in African diplomacy take the form of “rhetorical action,” or norms-based arguments manipulated to mobilize shame through the charge of hypocrisy. These arguments are often effective precisely because the ICC is highly susceptible to accusations of bias. The Court presents itself as politically neutral despite the manifestly political world within which it operates. Attacks that expose obvious political constraints potentially undermine the ICC’s legitimacy—and thus its authority and effectiveness. Hypocrisy is an inevitable feature of the liberal project the ICC represents, but hypocrisy can be managed. The rift between the Court and its critics in Africa can be bridged by returning to the shared social purposes that motivated initial African support for the ICC and sustained a collective willingness to overlook hypocrisy.
Why are some ethnopolitical movements divided while others are relatively unified? A growing lite... more Why are some ethnopolitical movements divided while others are relatively unified? A growing literature examines the consequences of internal divisions in ethnopolitical movements – and shows that it matters for a range of conflict outcomes – yet the mechanisms causing such divisions remain poorly understood. Our argument emphasizes competitive dynamics between states and self-determination movements and between rival factions within these movements as key determinants of fragmentation. Drawing from literatures on social movements, contentious politics, and civil war, we situate our argument vis-a`-vis three alternative and complementary sets of explanations based on theories emphasizing transnational dimensions, political institutions, and structural factors within ethnopolitical groups. Using an original dataset, we test hypotheses explaining movement fragmentation over time and use a case study of Punjab in India to identify specific causal mechanisms and missing variables. Our findings show some support for three of these theories, suggesting that ethnopolitical movements divide as a result of complex and interactive processes. But our findings also underscore that central to explaining fragmentation dynamics are factors capturing competitive dynamics, including repression, accommodation of movement demands, the turn to violence, and the dynamic and changing nature of ethnopolitical demands.
The crisis in Darfur led to one of the most powerful advocacy campaigns in recent US history. Res... more The crisis in Darfur led to one of the most powerful advocacy campaigns in recent US history. Responding to intense political pressures from this campaign, the US engaged Sudan in a heated public confrontation, increasingly echoing the rhetoric of a powerful advocacy campaign that was surprisingly indifferent to realities on the ground in Darfur. This article examines how the exceptional mobilization around Darfur affected US policy and diplomatic outcomes, using the case to explore larger theoretical questions around deception and truthfulness in International Relations. There was a curious disconnect between the exceptionally strong language US leaders used during the crisis, and the failure of these public claims, promises and threats to achieve the desired diplomatic outcomes. Such strong language should have bolstered US arguments to persuade allies to support measures against Sudan, given the US bargaining leverage with Sudan, and opened opportunities for activists to rhetorically entrap US officials into defending the norms they publicly invoked. Instead, I argue that US leaders bullshit their way through the crisis in response to advocacy and the demands it generated. Far from being a harmless form of moral posturing, this complicated US diplomatic efforts and undermined the prospects for a political solution in Darfur.
Why have Africa’s borders survived intact in the post-ColdWar era, and what changes have the past... more Why have Africa’s borders survived intact in the post-ColdWar era, and what changes have the past two decades witnessed in the relationship between sovereignty, territory and authority in African statehood? After 1989, a number of authors predicted changes to the political map of the continent, with far-reaching international changes expected to reverberate in ways the fragile borders of African states were unlikely to contain. Yet legally recognized borders remain basically fixed. Only in the cases of Sudan/South Sudan and Ethiopia/Eritrea did borders change with the consent of the states concerned. This paper tracks the transformations to the postcolonial boundary maintenance regime masked by the lack of meaningful changes to sovereign territorial jurisdictions. The end of superpower competition and the advent of donor conditionality, combined with liberal norms of conflict management and state reconstruction, have attenuated the sovereignty that once bolstered African states against internal rivals. But changes sparked by China’s deepening engagement with Africa and the emphasis placed on the effective administration of territory in the War on Terror have shored up wavering sovereigns and contested borders. The cumulative effects have been twofold: first, to diminish the formal protections afforded by juridical sovereignty even as recognized boundaries remain fixed; and second, to complicate authority relations within and across borders, undoing the great levelling of the postcolonial period that sought to replace complicated authority relations within and across states with a relatively uniform system of sovereign territorial states.
How do we conceptualize the fragmentation of internally divided movements? And how does variation... more How do we conceptualize the fragmentation of internally divided movements? And how does variation in fragmentation affect the probability and patterns of infighting? The internal politics of non-state groups have received increasing attention, with recent research demonstrating the importance of cohesion and fragmentation for understanding conflict dynamics. Yet there is little consensus on how to conceptualize fragmentation, the concept at the center of this agenda, with authors using different definitions and measures. In this paper we conceptualize fragmentation along three constitutive dimensions: the number of organizations in the movement; the degree of institutionalization across these organizations; and the distribution of power among them. We then show how variation across these dimensions can explain variation in important conflict processes, focusing on infighting.
While theoretical models of conflict often treat actors as unitary, most selfdetermination groups... more While theoretical models of conflict often treat actors as unitary, most selfdetermination groups are fragmented into a number of competing internal factions.This article presents a framework for understanding the ‘‘dual contests’’ that selfdetermination groups engage in—the first with their host state and the second between co-ethnic factionswithin groups. Using a newdata set of the number of factions within a sample of self-determination groups from 1960 to 2008, the authors find that competition between co-ethnic factions is a key determinant of their conflict behavior. More competing factions are associated with higher instances of violence against the state as well asmore factional fighting and attacks on co-ethnic civilians.More factions using violence increases the chances that other factions will do so, and the entry of a newfaction prompts violence fromexisting factions in a within-group contest for political relevance. These findings have implications for both theory and policy.
The ICC has faced repeated charges of hypocrisy from African leaders, the African Union (AU), and... more The ICC has faced repeated charges of hypocrisy from African leaders, the African Union (AU), and prominent voices in the African public. What has caused this diplomatic conflict and what is hypocrisy so central to critiques of the Court? Do charges of hypocrisy matter and how might they be managed? This chapter investigates the politics of anti-hypocrisy in the diplomacy around the ICC. It identifies the source of the conflict between Africa and the ICC in the marginalization of African states in the diplomacy around several conflicts into which the ICC has intervened. Many of the critiques around the ICC in African diplomacy take the form of “rhetorical action,” or norms-based arguments manipulated to mobilize shame through the charge of hypocrisy. These arguments are often effective precisely because the ICC is highly susceptible to accusations of bias. The Court presents itself as politically neutral despite the manifestly political world within which it operates. Attacks that expose obvious political constraints potentially undermine the ICC’s legitimacy—and thus its authority and effectiveness. Hypocrisy is an inevitable feature of the liberal project the ICC represents, but hypocrisy can be managed. The rift between the Court and its critics in Africa can be bridged by returning to the shared social purposes that motivated initial African support for the ICC and sustained a collective willingness to overlook hypocrisy.
Why are some ethnopolitical movements divided while others are relatively unified? A growing lite... more Why are some ethnopolitical movements divided while others are relatively unified? A growing literature examines the consequences of internal divisions in ethnopolitical movements – and shows that it matters for a range of conflict outcomes – yet the mechanisms causing such divisions remain poorly understood. Our argument emphasizes competitive dynamics between states and self-determination movements and between rival factions within these movements as key determinants of fragmentation. Drawing from literatures on social movements, contentious politics, and civil war, we situate our argument vis-a`-vis three alternative and complementary sets of explanations based on theories emphasizing transnational dimensions, political institutions, and structural factors within ethnopolitical groups. Using an original dataset, we test hypotheses explaining movement fragmentation over time and use a case study of Punjab in India to identify specific causal mechanisms and missing variables. Our findings show some support for three of these theories, suggesting that ethnopolitical movements divide as a result of complex and interactive processes. But our findings also underscore that central to explaining fragmentation dynamics are factors capturing competitive dynamics, including repression, accommodation of movement demands, the turn to violence, and the dynamic and changing nature of ethnopolitical demands.
The crisis in Darfur led to one of the most powerful advocacy campaigns in recent US history. Res... more The crisis in Darfur led to one of the most powerful advocacy campaigns in recent US history. Responding to intense political pressures from this campaign, the US engaged Sudan in a heated public confrontation, increasingly echoing the rhetoric of a powerful advocacy campaign that was surprisingly indifferent to realities on the ground in Darfur. This article examines how the exceptional mobilization around Darfur affected US policy and diplomatic outcomes, using the case to explore larger theoretical questions around deception and truthfulness in International Relations. There was a curious disconnect between the exceptionally strong language US leaders used during the crisis, and the failure of these public claims, promises and threats to achieve the desired diplomatic outcomes. Such strong language should have bolstered US arguments to persuade allies to support measures against Sudan, given the US bargaining leverage with Sudan, and opened opportunities for activists to rhetorically entrap US officials into defending the norms they publicly invoked. Instead, I argue that US leaders bullshit their way through the crisis in response to advocacy and the demands it generated. Far from being a harmless form of moral posturing, this complicated US diplomatic efforts and undermined the prospects for a political solution in Darfur.
Why have Africa’s borders survived intact in the post-ColdWar era, and what changes have the past... more Why have Africa’s borders survived intact in the post-ColdWar era, and what changes have the past two decades witnessed in the relationship between sovereignty, territory and authority in African statehood? After 1989, a number of authors predicted changes to the political map of the continent, with far-reaching international changes expected to reverberate in ways the fragile borders of African states were unlikely to contain. Yet legally recognized borders remain basically fixed. Only in the cases of Sudan/South Sudan and Ethiopia/Eritrea did borders change with the consent of the states concerned. This paper tracks the transformations to the postcolonial boundary maintenance regime masked by the lack of meaningful changes to sovereign territorial jurisdictions. The end of superpower competition and the advent of donor conditionality, combined with liberal norms of conflict management and state reconstruction, have attenuated the sovereignty that once bolstered African states against internal rivals. But changes sparked by China’s deepening engagement with Africa and the emphasis placed on the effective administration of territory in the War on Terror have shored up wavering sovereigns and contested borders. The cumulative effects have been twofold: first, to diminish the formal protections afforded by juridical sovereignty even as recognized boundaries remain fixed; and second, to complicate authority relations within and across borders, undoing the great levelling of the postcolonial period that sought to replace complicated authority relations within and across states with a relatively uniform system of sovereign territorial states.
How do we conceptualize the fragmentation of internally divided movements? And how does variation... more How do we conceptualize the fragmentation of internally divided movements? And how does variation in fragmentation affect the probability and patterns of infighting? The internal politics of non-state groups have received increasing attention, with recent research demonstrating the importance of cohesion and fragmentation for understanding conflict dynamics. Yet there is little consensus on how to conceptualize fragmentation, the concept at the center of this agenda, with authors using different definitions and measures. In this paper we conceptualize fragmentation along three constitutive dimensions: the number of organizations in the movement; the degree of institutionalization across these organizations; and the distribution of power among them. We then show how variation across these dimensions can explain variation in important conflict processes, focusing on infighting.
While theoretical models of conflict often treat actors as unitary, most selfdetermination groups... more While theoretical models of conflict often treat actors as unitary, most selfdetermination groups are fragmented into a number of competing internal factions.This article presents a framework for understanding the ‘‘dual contests’’ that selfdetermination groups engage in—the first with their host state and the second between co-ethnic factionswithin groups. Using a newdata set of the number of factions within a sample of self-determination groups from 1960 to 2008, the authors find that competition between co-ethnic factions is a key determinant of their conflict behavior. More competing factions are associated with higher instances of violence against the state as well asmore factional fighting and attacks on co-ethnic civilians.More factions using violence increases the chances that other factions will do so, and the entry of a newfaction prompts violence fromexisting factions in a within-group contest for political relevance. These findings have implications for both theory and policy.
The European Journal of Development Research, Apr 2001
The Political Economy of Drugs in the Caribbean edited by Ivelaw L. Griffith. London: Macmillan P... more The Political Economy of Drugs in the Caribbean edited by Ivelaw L. Griffith. London: Macmillan Press, 2000. Pp.xxii + 273. £47.50 (hardback). ISBN 0 333 71072 X The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society edited by Ann M. Florini. Tokyo and Washington, DC: Japan Center for International Exchange and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2000. Pp.viii + 295. $19.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 87003 179 1 Local Economies in Turmoil: the Effects of Deregulation and Globalization edited by Ámi Sverrisson and Meine Pieter van Dijk. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000. Pp.xiv + 208. £45 (hardback). ISBN 0 333 79242 4 Land Reform under Structural Adjustment in Zimbabwe by Sam Moyo. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2000. Pp.225. £9.95/SEK 268 (paperback). ISBN 917106 457 5 The New Regionalims and the Future of Security and Development edited by Björn Hettne, András Inotai and Osvaldo Sunkel. London: MacMillan, 2000. Pp.xxxvii + 313. £52.50 (hardback); £20.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 333 6871312 and 68714 0. Demobilization in Sub‐Saharan Africa: The Development and Security Impacts edited by Kees Kingma. New York: St. Martin's Press for Bonn International Centre for Conversion, 2000. Pp.268. £19.99. ISBN 0 333 92129 1 Women Migrant Workers in China's Economic Reform by Feng Xu. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000. Pp.xv + 239. £45 (hardback). ISBN 0 333 71708 2 Ethnicity Kills? The Politics of War, Peace and Ethnicity in Sub‐Saharan Africa edited by Einar Braathen, Morten Bås and Gjermund Saether. London: Macmillan Press, 2000. pp.240. £50 (hardback). ISBN 0 333 77381 0 Growth, Employment, and Equity: The Impact of Economic Reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean by Barbara Stallings and Wilson Peres, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press and United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2000. Pp.xiv + 252. £16.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 8157 8087 7 Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transformation by Hevina Dashwood. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000. Pp.220. £16 (paperback). ISBN 0 8020 8226 2
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competitive dynamics, including repression, accommodation of movement demands, the turn to violence, and the dynamic and changing nature of ethnopolitical demands.
competitive dynamics, including repression, accommodation of movement demands, the turn to violence, and the dynamic and changing nature of ethnopolitical demands.