Why do some societies choose to adopt federal settlements in the face of acute ethnic conflict, while others do not? Neophytos Loizides examines how acrimoniously divided Cyprus could re-unify by adopting a federal and consociational arrangement inspiring similar attempts in its region.
Loizides asserts that institutional innovation is key in designing peace processes. Analyzing power-sharing in Northern Ireland, the return of displaced persons in Bosnia, and the preparatory mandate referendum in South Africa, he shows how divided societies have implemented novel solutions despite conditions that initially seemed prohibitive. Turning to Cyprus, he chronicles the breakthrough that led to the exhumations of the missing after 2003, and observes that a society’s choice of narratives and institutions can overcome structural constraints. While Loizides points to the relative absence of successful federal and consociational arrangements among societies evolving from the ‘post-Ottoman space, ‘ he argues that neither elites nor broader societies in the region must be held hostages to the past.
To effect lasting and positive change, Loizides encourages stakeholders in divided societies to be prepared to identify, redesign, and implement innovative new institutions. Examining successful peace mediations and identifying the shared experience and commonalities between Cyprus and other divided societies promises not only to inform the tackling of the Cyprus problem but also to provide transferable knowledge with broader implications for the fields of peace studies and conflict resolution.
Tabela de Conteúdo
Introduction: Institutional Innovations in Peace Processes
Chapter 1. A Federal Cyprus? Consociational Failures and Prospects
Chapter 2. The Region’s Federal Movements: Why Did (post-)Ottoman States Fail in Sharing Power
Chapter 3. Innovations in Power-Sharing: The Northern Irish d’Hondt
Chapter 4. The Way Home: Linkages, Reciprocity, and Lessons from Bosnia
Chapter 5. Mandate Peace Referendums: A South African Innovation
Chapter 6. ‘Stalemate Theory’: A Humanitarian Breakthrough in Cyprus
Chapter 7. Europeanization and Hydrocarbons: Alternative Scenario Planning in the Levant
Conclusion: Can Divided Societies Learn from Each Other?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Sobre o autor
Neophytos Loizides is Reader in International Conflict Analysis at the University of Kent.