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By Jacob Black-Michaud

In "COHESIVE FORCE: Feud in the Mediterranean and the Middle East," readers are taken on a gripping journey through the complex web of conflicts that have shaped the region for centuries. From ancient rivalries to modern power struggles, this book delves into the intricate dynamics at play in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

With meticulous research and insightful analysis, the author unravels the historical, political, and cultural factors that have fueled the ongoing feud in this volatile region. Through compelling narratives and in-depth exploration, "COHESIVE FORCE" sheds light on the key players, events, and ideologies that continue to shape the destinies of nations and peoples in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

A must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the turbulent forces at work in this crucial part of the world, "COHESIVE FORCE" offers a comprehensive and thought-provoking account that challenges conventional wisdom and offers fresh perspectives on one of the most contested territories on the global stage.

B. Blackwell Oxford, 1975, 270 pages

By Leopoldo Fergusson and Juan Fernando Vargas

Colombia is a Latin American outlier in that it has traditionally been a very violent country, yet at the same time remarkably democratic. This chapter explores Colombia's puzzle from a political economy perspective, shedding light on the broader relationship between democracy and violence. The chapter studies some of the most important democratization reforms since Colombia's independence 200 years ago. It argues that the reforms often failed to curb violence and sometimes even actively, though perhaps unintendedly, exacerbated violent political strife. Democratic reforms were unable to set the ground for genuine power-sharing. They were often implemented amidst a weak institutional environment that allowed powerful elites, the reforms' ex-ante political losers, to capture the State and offset the benefits of the reforms for the broader society. We conclude by highlighting the implications of the argument for other countries facing democratic reforms, as well as for Colombia's current peace-building efforts.

Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad del Rosario, Facultad de Economía, 2022. 21p.

By Bibi van Ginkel

In this Research Paper Dr. Bibi van Ginkel takes an in depth look at how multi-lateral institutions, engage with civil society to counter violent extremism. Dr. van Ginkel argues that civil society can play a crucial role in preventing and countering violent extremism in numerous ways – by working on development programs, through their work in conflict transformation, in providing a platform to raise political grievances and to facilitate dialogue, or through their work in empowering victims and survivors of terrorism. The Paper finds that over the last decade there has been a more intensive coordination of activities between the UN and other multi-lateral organisations and civil society but the question remains whether the implementation as well as the drafting of these policies will live up to their potential effectiveness. This Paper gauges how effective these measures have been and what more there is to do. The final section concludes with a series of policy recommendations.

The Hague: The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, 2012. 14p.

By Steven Dudley

El Salvador and its Central American neighbors are experiencing a terrible tide of criminal violence. Homicide rates are some of the highest in the world. This scourge of violent crime is a major concern of policymakers both in the region and in Washington, DC. Indeed, through regional security initiatives the U.S. government has invested more than $500 million in violence reduction programs during the last five years. European development agencies and international NGOs, similarly, have privileged violence reduction in their programs of financial and technical assistance to El Salvador and neighboring countries. Until recently, however, no policy initiatives seem to have made a significant dent in the problem. This paper addresses one development that has been portrayed in some circles as game-changing, and that now constitutes a critical point of reference for violence reduction programs going forward. The truce among rival gangs in El Salvador worked out in March 2012, which has held since that time, has reduced homicides to half their previous levels. The paper examines in particular the widely held belief that the Catholic Church “brokered” that truce in light of the wider set of actors actually responsible and considers the various ways that religion may have an impact on contemporary violence in the region

Washington, DC: American University - Center for Latin American & Latino Studies (CLALS), 2013. 32p.

By John Braithwaite, Valerie Braithwaite, Michael Cookson and Leah Dunn.

Indonesia suffered an explosion of religious violence, ethnic violence, separatist violence, terrorism, and violence by criminal gangs, the security forces and militias in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By 2002 Indonesia had the worst terrorism problem of any nation. All these forms of violence have now fallen dramatically. How was this accomplished? What drove the rise and the fall of violence? Anomie theory is deployed to explain these developments. Sudden institutional change at the time of the Asian financial crisis and the fall of President Suharto meant the rules of the game were up for grabs. Valerie Braithwaite’s motivational postures theory is used to explain the gaming of the rules and the disengagement from authority that occurred in that era. Ultimately resistance to Suharto laid a foundation for commitment to a revised, more democratic, institutional order. The peacebuilding that occurred was not based on the high-integrity truth-seeking and reconciliation that was the normative preference of these authors. Rather it was based on non-truth, sometimes lies, and yet substantial reconciliation. This poses a challenge to restorative justice theories of peacebuilding.

Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2010. 518p.

By Gavin Dingwall and Tim Hillier

Allocating blame in the criminal justice process. “Like many commentators, we are perturbed by a trend to criminalise in the absence of compelling justification…this development is explained in part by a greater willingness to attribute blame for events, to demand that blame is imputed onto an individual or other legal actor, and that severe consequences should then follow. We employ the modern term blamestorming to describe the deliberate process of attribution. That ‘blamestorming’ is followed in the book’s title by blamemongers and scapegoats emphasises the fact that blamestorming is not a value-neutral exercise and that significant disparities in power are often involved.

University of Bristol. Policy Press. 2015. 203p.

By Gavin Dingwall and Tim Hillier.

Allocating blame in the criminal justice process. By Gavin Dingwall and Tim Hillier. “Like many commentators, we are perturbed by a trend to criminalise in the absence of compelling justification…this development is explained in part by a greater willingness to attribute blame for events, to demand that blame is imputed onto an individual or other legal actor, and that severe consequences should then follow. We employ the modern term blamestorming to describe the deliberate process of attribution. That ‘blamestorming’ is followed in the book’s title by blamemongers and scapegoats emphasises the fact that blamestorming is not a value-neutral exercise and that significant disparities in power are often involved.

Policy Press (2016). 216 pages.