Un Mediators In Syria

Since 2011, the conflict in Syria has been one of the most catastrophic conflicts of our time and a dark stain on the peacemaking abilities of the United Nations (UN). At the heart of this book is a simple but critical question – what do UN mediators tasked with the responsibility to make peace actually do? By explaining this, the book offers a detailed record of what Kofi Annan, Lakhdar Brahimi, and Staffan de Mistura did in their roles as UN mediators in Syria and presents a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics that shaped their decision-making. Beyond the cases of these three mediators, Fadi Nicholas Nassar introduces a method by which to forensically identify a mediator's fingerprints on the peacemaking process and charts a map to examine their decision-making processes. In doing so, it paves the way to evaluate the performance of these mediators – to hold them accountable for their successes and failures.

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: 1,7, Free University of Berlin (Otto-Suhr-Institut), course: Authoritarianism in International Politics, language: English, abstract: This paper examines the chronology of the UN mediation launched in Syria in 2012 and the different tactics that were used by the mediators. It then analyses why the mediation was not successful at finding a long-term peace agreement. To lay the foundations, the first chapter depicts the circumstances of the war and the course of the peace process. Then a UN document is presented, which serves as a guide for successful mediation. To answer the research question, the analyses of several authors regarding the UN mediation will be summarized to find out at which point the Syrian mediation did not correspond to the guide. In the third part of the paper, the political system of Syria is identified in an authoritarian typology. In the discussion I will reflect on whether the traditional classification is sufficient or to which extent its potential shortcomings could also represent a problematic approach to the mediation process. This would be decisive for our understanding of the failure. The conclusion will summarize the explanations as analyzed in the research field and the findings of the discussion as well as the consequences this analysis has for further research.

Highlights the agency of UN mediators in conflicts like Syria and clarifies the challenges and responsibilities of their roles.

This book is the first and only practical guide to negotiating peace. In this ground-breaking book Sven Koopmans, who is both a peace negotiator and a scholar, discusses the practice, politics, and law of international mediation. With both depth and a light touch he explores successful as well as failed attempts to settle the wars of the world, building on decades of historical, political, and legal scholarship. Who can mediate between warring parties? How to build confidence between enemies? Who should take part in negotiations? How can a single diplomat manage the major powers? What issues to discuss first, what last? When to set a deadline? How to maintain confidentiality? How to draft an agreement, and what should be in it? How to ensure implementation? The book discusses the practical difficulties and dilemmas of negotiating agreements, as well as existing solutions and possible future approaches. It uses examples from around the world, with an emphasis on the conflicts of the last twenty-five years, but also of the previous two-and-a-half-thousand. Rather than looking only at either legal, political or organizational issues, Negotiating Peace discusses these interrelated dimensions in the way they are confronted in practice: as an integral whole. With one leading question: what can be done?

This cutting-edge book illuminates the key characteristics of inclusivity in mediation during armed conflicts and post-conflict peacebuilding. Daisaku Higashi illustrates the importance of mediators taking flexible approaches to inclusivity in arbitration during armed conflicts, highlighting the crucial balance between the need to select conflicting parties to make an agreement feasible and the need to include a multiplicity of parties to make the peace sustainable. Higashi also emphasizes the importance of inclusive processes in the phase of post-conflict peacebuilding.

Abstract: Representatives of the Group of Friends of the Syrian People, an international alliance that nominally supports the Syrian opposition, met in Berlin in March 2015 on the fourth anniversary of the Syrian revolt. Participants in the meeting discussed ways to revive the mission of UN mediator Staffan de Mistura, whose efforts for achieving a ceasefire in Aleppo - Syria's former commercial and industrial hub - have gone nowhere. Germany has been particularly supportive of de Mistura. But the main players in Syria and their regional supporters have shown little willingness to curb the violence, as the conflict, together with Yemen, is at the heart of what is increasingly perceived as a Sunni-Shia schism. Germany is committed to finding a political solution in Syria that addresses the regional dimension of the conflict. But this is unlikely to happen without a thaw between Iran and Saudi Arabia that would allow for tackling sticky political issues behind the religious rhetoric. (author's

Examines the role and influence of news 'fixers' in Turkey and Syria who assist foreign journalists with local sources and shape the news.