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General – Spring Term 2011 – Exporting the Northern Irish Model AKC 9 AKC 9 – 21 March 2011 Conflicts & Conflict Resolution Lecture 9: Exporting the Northern Irish Model, Applying theory and practice to divided territories in the Middle East Professor Clemens Sedmak, Dept of Theology & Religious Studies, KCL Dr Michael Kerr, Department of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies, KCL Questions: What is the Irish model? What symbolic and constitutional issues were addressed by the Northern Ireland’s Good Friday agreement? Why was it successful? What conflicts might it be applicable to the Middle East? What are the issues at the core of regional and international conflicts in the Middle East? How do these relate to local conflicts? What role do international actors play in these conflicts? What are the limitations to external intervention in divided societies? Is power-sharing or democratic pluralism a model for regulating conflict in the Middle East and restructuring its state system? Examples: Arab-Israeli Conflict Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Iraq Lebanon Egypt Key Readings F. Halliday, The Middle East in international relations: power, politics and ideology, Cambridge University Press, 2005 Kerr, Michael, Imposing Power-Sharing: Conflict and Coexistence in Northern Ireland and Lebanon (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2006) J McGarry & B O'Leary, The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation, London: Routledge, 1993 Stefan Wolff, Ethnic Conflict: A Global Perspective, Oxford: OUP, 200 M. Yapp, The Near East Since the First World War: A History to 1995, Longman, 2nd edition, 1996 Reflecting upon Paradigm Shifts and Dealing with the Past (Clemens Sedmak) Epistemology of terrorism “strong beliefs” / “life as a mission” and larger context / epistemic objects” / “social cohesion” high affective valence regarding an ideological issue / a personal stake-such as strongly perceived oppression or humiliation; strong need for identity or glory / low cognitive flexibility, low tolerance for ambiguity / a capacity to suppress both instinctive and learned moral constraints against harming innocents single most important issue: personal commitments example: Eamon Collins, “Killing Rage” Dealing with the Past - Memory (key words: emotional contents; collective/cultural/communicative) - “the ethics of remembering” (duties; x remembers C because of R in mode M) The example of Germany after 1989 *Stability in Germany enabled prosecution (no “reconciliation” agenda) * discussion of general amnesty as expression of public joy about unification (“Jubelamnestie”) – but not granted * no clear cut lines between victims and perpetrators (Richard von Weizsaecker) * Egon Krenz: “victor’s justice” reproach * prosecution focused on major human rights violations like the death strip and the fatal shots at the Berlin wall and the inner German border * guiding principles: the assumption that reconciliation did not exclude punishment / the punishment of the perpetrators was given priority over their undiscerning integration * “life chances lost” was not part of the debate * recognition of SED regime as dictatorship * Federal Office for the Personal Records of the State Security Services – “right to know” * After 1990, incriminated staff in offices and institutions were not "destasified" according to the example of the "denazification" after 1945, but those who had personally committed crimes or grave offences were professionally disqualified – estimates say that around 200 000 citizens worked as informal informants (informal operatives) * In August 1991, Pastor Friedrich Schorlemmer called for an institution involving the whole German society to promote integration and reconciliation - on March 20th, 1992, the Federal Parliament’s Enquete Commission for the Reappraisal of the History and Consequences of the SED Dictatorship was established (head of the commission: the evangelical pastor and the civil rights campaigner Rainer Eppelmann). This commission worked from 1992 until 1994. In 1995, a second commission was installed (until 1998): Overcoming the Consequences of the SED Dictatorship in the Process of the German Unification. These two commissions were set the task to engage in the historical and political analysis and the political and moral evaluation of the SED dictatorship. At the same time, the commissions were meant to contribute to the rehabilitation of the victims by public hearings and other measures accompanying the legislation. The commissions tried to fulfil these tasks by listening to witnesses of the events and to researchers, by conducting public hearings and considering the reports of experts *establishment of “victims’ perpetrators’” dialogues The AKC Examination :Friday, 1st April,14.30-16.30 Last year’s exam paper: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/structure/dean/akc/archive