Role Of Civil Society In Promoting Just And Lasting Peace In The Middle East

This publication contains the proceedings of 12th annual international media seminar on Peace in the Middle East, held in China in June 2004. It was organised by the UN Department of Public Information, in co-operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, and participants included present and former policy-makers from Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, and civil society representatives, as well as senior UN officials, international experts and representatives of the world media.

This book investigates the power of civil society in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), in the context of the post-Arab Spring era, as well as more long-standing challenges and constraints in the region. In recent years, local civil society actors have faced significant challenges from social conservatism, conflict, violence, and the absence of democracy and exclusive political systems. Over the course of the book, the authors investigate how the sector has succeeded in achieving its own objectives despite these shifting conditions, the restrictive political environment and the complexity of the socio-cultural and economic context. Structured around the three themes of peace-building, development, and change, the book also addresses challenges faced by civil society organizations linked to ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversities as well as religious salient differences that are crucial markers of social and political identity. Case studies are drawn from the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Jordan, Iran, Nigeria, Niger, Egypt, and Morocco, and particular effort has been made to showcase original research from contributors who are from the region . This book will be of particular interest to researchers working on development, peace-building, conflict resolution, civil society, and politics within the MENA region.

This book is a comparison of two ethnic-national "apartheid" states – South Africa and Israel – which have been in conflict, and how internal dissent has developed. In particular it examines the evolution of effective white protest in South Africa and explores the reasons why comparably powerful movements have not emerged in Israel. The book reveals patterns of behaviour shared by groups in both cases. It argues that although the role played by protest groups in peace-building may be limited, a tipping point, or ‘magic point’, can become as significant as other major factors. It highlights the role played by intermediate variables that affect the pathways of protest groups: such as changes in the international system; the visions and strategies of resistance movements and their degree of success; the economic relationship between the dominant and dominated side; and the legitimacy of the ideology in power (apartheid or Zionism). Although the politics and roles of protest groups in both cases share some similarities, differences remain. Whilst white protest groups moved towards an inclusive peace agenda that adopts the ANC vision of a united non-racial democratic South Africa, the Jewish Israeli protest groups are still, by majority, entrenched in their support for an exclusive Jewish state. And as such, they support separation between the two peoples and a limited division of mandatory Palestine / ‘Eretz Israel’. This timely book sheds light on a controversial and explosive political issue: Israel being compared to apartheid South Africa.

What exactly is the power that is exercised in civilian power relations? How and where does it manifest itself, and how does it shape the reality of interaction between states? This book provides an original look at civilian power, taking into account fundamental power theory as well as current debates on this subject. In this framework, it presents a comparative analysis of Euro-Israeli and Euro-Egyptian relations. The author thus makes an innovative contribution to power theory by offering new insights into the role of civilian power in Euro-Mediterranean relations.

EU policy-makers have in the past decade endeavoured to formulate a substantial redefinition of the organisation's international ambitions. Attempting to carve out a new role as a key foreign and security policy actor in international politics, the EU has been involved in peace negotiations across the globe. Here, Taylan Ozgur Kaya looks at how this is enacted, with particular reference to the Middle East peace process. Expanding its political, diplomatic, economic and security role in the region, the EU, whilst still being the junior partner to the US, has increasingly played a more conspicuous role in the attempts to resolve (or at least mediate) the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bearing this in mind, Kaya examines to what extent the EU manages to live up to its self-image as a key player in conflict resolution and crisis management in the region and beyond. With the financial and diplomatic future of Europe ever more in the spotlight, this book will appeal both to researchers of the Peace Process and to policy-makers.

a. The set generallySince the publication of its first edition in 1950, the Annual Review of United Nations Affairs has stood as the authoritative resource for scholars, students, and practitioners researching the latest developments of that august body. From the insightful introduction, prepared each year by adistinguished expert on UN affairs, to the full-text presentation of reports and resolutions and the helpful subject index, ARUNA provides a practical tour of each year''s U.N. actions and debates. The expert selection of documents by Joachim Muller and Karl Sauvant and the topic-based organizationof those documents make any researcher''s task much easier than the vast searching, sorting, and pruning required by the U.N.''s website. The series'' topic-based organization of the materials and subject index lend invaluable guidance to all researchers.ARUNA presents comprehensive documentation of the work of the UN on an annual basis, starting in September of each year with the beginning of the regular sessions of the General Assembly. Coverage of the UN''s key organs is provided, including the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economicand Social Council (ECOSOC), the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. In addition, selected reports of intergovernmental bodies and expert groups are included. Solely official UN documentation is used. ARUNA occupies a special place in the publications on the work of the UN, as itallows readers to obtain an overview of the principal developments in its key organs. This makes it an important reference source for policy-makers and academic researchers.b. The 2009-2010 volumesThis year''s edition continues to focus on the world financial crisis and the reaction of the United Nations and the international financial system to that crisis. The Overview to this year''s edition, written by Joachim Muller and Karl Sauvant, examines the changing role of the United Nations andexplores ways in which the management of the financial crisis has impacted that role.The Introduction to this year''s edition also examines the effects of this crisis; this Introduction is drawn from the "Report of the Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System," as well as a slightlyedited version of a Preface to that report written by Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz. The Introduction discusses the findings of the Commission and proposes the creation of a new institution, a Global Economic Coordination Council, which would be supported by an International Panel of Experts with ageographically diverse membership that would represent the interests of emerging and developing countries as well as those of developed countries.Dr. Joseph E. Stiglitz, who served as Chairman of the Commission and wrote the Preface to the Commission''s Report, holds joint professorships at Columbia University''s Economics Department and its Business School. He is also Co-founder and Co-President of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue. From 1997to 2000 he was the World Bank''s Senior Vice President for Development Economics and Chief Economist. From 1995 to 1997 he served as Chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers and as a member of President Clinton''s cabinet. From 1993 to 1995 he was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers.He was previously a professor of economics at Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and All Souls College. Dr. Stiglitz is also a leading scholar of the economics of the public sector and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001 in addition to the American Economic Association''s biennial John BatesClark Award in 1979. His recent publications include Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy (2010), Making Globalization Work (2006), Fair Trade for All (2005), and Globalization and its Discontents (2002).The 2009-2010 volumes of ARUNA therefore also devote considerable attention to the financial crisis as well as other international crises. Among the documents in the 2009-2010 volumes are the complete General Assembly resolutions, as well as the Report and Resolutions of the Security Council and theEconomic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Annual Reports of note include reports of the United Nations Children''s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Programme and UN Population Fund, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Relief and Works Agency forPalestine Refugees in the Near East, and the World Food Programme. Mr. Muller and Dr. Sauvant have also selected progress reports on key peacekeeping, peace-building, and political missions, including those for Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq, the Middle East, Sudan,and West Africa.c. Volume I (this volume)This volume contains the following:Note: ARUNA 2009/2010Overview: The United Nations Year 2009/2010: Shift from center stage - Joachim Muller and Karl P. SauvantIntroduction: The United Nations and the international financial crisis: Extracts from the final report produced by the Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System as well as from a preface written byJoseph E. StiglitzCalendar of Conferences and Meetings of the United Nations, 15 September 2009 to 16 September 2010List of AbbreviationsChapter 1: General Assembly, Sixty-fourth Session1. Statement to the General Assembly by Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, President of the General Assembly, following the opening of the sixty-fourth session, A/64/PV1, 15 September 20092. Agenda of the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly, A/64/251, 18 September 2009, and Add.1, 1 December 20093. Resolutions Adopted by the General Assembly at Its Sixty-fourth Session (Resolutions 64/1 through 64/103)d. Guest Authors of previous years'' editionsEach annual edition of ARUNA is introduced by a Guest Author, a distinguished expert on UN affairs, who highlights the outstanding themes of the year in review. Together with an overview provided by the editors, this introduction is intended to facilitate access to the material and, above all, tomake it easer for users of ARUNA to "see the forest for the trees." This year''s ARUNA includes excerpts from the "Report of the Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System" (21 Sept. 2009), and from aslightly edited version of a Preface to that report written by Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz. However, the roster of distinguished experts who have contributed this introduction in the past is also worthy of mention:Jose Antonio Ocampo: ARUNA 2008/2009 editionProfessor Jose Antonio Ocampo is Co-President of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue. He is also Professor in the School of International and Public Affairs and Fellow of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University. Professor Ocampo previously held the positions of Under-Secretary-Generalof the United Nations for Economic and Social Affairs, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Minister of Finance, Agriculture, and Planning of Colombia. In 2009, he was a member of the Commission of Experts of the President of theUnited Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System. Professor Ocampo is also the author of numerous books and articles on macroeconomics policy and theory, economic development, international trade, and economic history. His recent publications includeStability with Growth: Macroeconomics, Liberalization and Development, with Joseph E. Stiglitz, Shari Spiegel, Ricardo Ffrench-Davis and Deepak Nayyar (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).Jeffrey D. Sachs: ARUNA 2007/2008 editionProfessor Jeffrey D. Sachs is Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the UN on the Millennium Development Goals. Professor Sachs''s introduction to ARUNA 2007/2008 was titled "Towards a New Global Protocol on Climate Change," in which heargued that solving the climate change problem will demand four steps: scientific consensus, public awareness, the development of alternative technologies, and a global framework for action. He dealt, in particular, with the science underpinning the negotiations for a new global protocol on climatechange, as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Professor Sachs argued that climate change crises can only be solved through the goals, leadership, and treaty mechanisms of the UN.Edward C. Luck: ARUNA 2006/2007 editionProfessor Edward C. Luck is UN Special Advisor on the Responsibility to Protect and Vice President and Director of Studies at the International Peace Academy. From 1984 to 1994, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the UN Association of the USA (UNA-USA). Professor Luck''sintroduction to ARUNA 2006/2007 covered "The responsible sovereign and the responsibility to protect," in which he addressed the scope and content of what was agreed at the 2005 World Summit, the implications of the responsibility to protect (RtoP) for notions of state sovereignty, and some of theconceptual, architectural, and policy challenges then facing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon''s commitment to "operationalizing" the responsibility to protect and translating it "from words to deeds."Louise Frechette: ARUNA 2005/2006 editionMs Louise Frechette is Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo, Ontario. Until March 2006, she was the first Deputy Secretary-General of the UN; before that, she was Permanent Representative of Canada to the UN. Ms Frechette''s introduction to ARUNA2005/2006 covered "United Nations reform: an unfinished story." As the first Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, Ms Frechette was

This study investigates the role of civil society in forging sustainable peace in Mindanao. Civil society?s involvement in peace efforts can improve the chances of a lasting settlement?both in terms of addressing underlying causes and in terms of building a constituency for the concessions needed for a peace agreement. There are limitations to the effectiveness of civil society, however, due both to certain characteristics of these organizations (such as their ideological divisions or their lack of representativeness of the whole Filipino community) and to the inherent nature of civil society (its inability to aggregate interests in order to achieve a wider settlement). In the end, civil society can have an impact in making it politically possible for policy elites to adopt positions other than that of ?victory? (which seems to be the preferred policy stance of the general Christian Philippine citizenry). Through articulation of issues and networking, through activities parallel to the formal peace process, and through their efforts to bridge communal divides, civil society organizations keep alive the prospect for peace in Mindanao that sometimes seems forever elusive.This is the seventeenth publication in Policy Studies, a peer-reviewed East-West Center Washington series that presents scholarly analysis of key contemporary domestic and international political, economic, and strategic issues affecting Asia in a policy relevant manner.