Mediating In Cyprus

The UN peacemaking operation in Cyprus has been one of the longest of its kind, but has resulted in discarded proposals, non-papers or reports. This study investigates the Cypriot parties' views of peacemaking, to shed light on the problem, and on the theoretical debates surrounding mediation.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book takes a systematic and holistic approach to examining all 41 peacemaking initiatives used to settle the Cyprus question from 1955 onward under the auspices of the United Nations and/or other actors in the international system, including the United States, Canada, the UK, Greece and Turkey. The analysis of peacemaking strategies, dynamics and obstacles fleshes out numerous relationships between: (i) peacemaking processes, dynamics and outcomes, from signaling to negotiations and to post-accord completion and implementation; (ii) concessions, constraints and leverage during peacemaking negotiations and third party mediation; and (iii) obstacles to finding an endgame solution and satisfying conditions for lasting peace expectations that all parties can agree on and implement successfully. After documenting 62 interviews with top political leaders in Cyprus (including top tier elected elites and third party mediators) and about 70 more interviews with key informants (including academics, researchers, members of negotiating teams, technical committees and working groups), this book concludes with a plethora of descriptive, as well as prescriptive, propositions on how peacemaking processes could lead to more sustainable and implementable peacemaking initiatives in Cyprus and in similar protracted and seemingly intractable cases.

This book investigates the crisis management mechanism-mediation by third parties to determine the effectiveness of mediation efforts in crisis negotiations.

Cyprus represents one of the most enduring and problematic regional conflicts. Since Cyprus' independence in 1960, the Greek and the Turkish Cypriots have been in conflict, culminating in the arrival of the UN Peace- keeping Force (UNFICYP) in 1964 and the 1974 Turkish invasion. The regional concerns of Greece and Turkey and their proclivity to protect and advance the interests of their related ethnic communities on the island have played serious roles in the maintenance of the conflict. The thesis illustrates the weakness of the international mediation effort and the obstacles to a settlement. Although third parties, such as the UN, the USA and the EU, are pressing the issue, a solution ultimately depends on the four key actors, the two Cypriot communities and Greece and Turkey, coming to a mutually acceptable agreement. More recently, the EU has become involved in the issue because of the intended accession negotiations for Cyprus, and its special relations with Greece - as an EU member - and Turkey, as an EU-membership candidate following the 1999 EU summit in Helsinki. Both the EU and USA calculate that a political federal solution of Cyprus' problems will benefit both Cypriot communities, improve Greek-Turkish relations, and formalize Turkey's European status.

What does it mean to watch two-hour long news programmes every evening? Why are some people 'addicted' to the news while others prefer to switch off? Television is an indispensable part of the fabric of modern life and this book investigates a facet of this process: its impact on the ways that we experience the political entity of the nation and our national and transnational identities. Drawing on anthropological, social and media theory and grounded on a two-year original ethnography of television news viewing in Athens, the book offers a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective in understanding the media/identity relationship. Starting from a perspective that examines identities as lived and as performed, the book follows the circulation of discourses about the nation and belonging and contrasts the articulation of identities at a local level with the discourses about the nation in the national television channels. The book asks: whether, and in what ways does television influence identity discourses and practices? When do people contest the official discourses about the nation and when do they rely on them? Do the media play a role in relation to inclusion and exclusion from public life, particularly in the case of minorities? The book presents a compelling account of the contradictory and ambivalent nature of national and transnational identities while developing a nuanced approach to media power. It is argued that although the media do not shape identities in a causal way, they do contribute in creating common communicative spaces which often catalyse feelings of belonging or exclusion. The book claims a place in the emerging sub-field of media anthropology and represents the new generation of audience research that places media consumption in the wider social, economic and political context.

Contributions to this volume consider the importance of mediation in violent conflict. Practical and applied, this publication will be of interest to scholars, academics, policymakers and practitioners. It was originally published as a special issue of Canadian Foreign Policy Journal.