Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Between the two ends of the spectrum of ending a violent conflict - military victory of either the rebel group (leading to secession) or the state (successful repression) - there exists a range of regimes based on federal designs, integrative and/or consociational power-sharing, and the protection of minority rights, many of which require the establishment of territorial autonomy, such as in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, and Papua New Guinea. This commonplace resort to territorial autonomy reflects the assumption, but not necessarily the reality, that it contribute to local, regional and international stability. Using the aforementioned four cases, this paper tests this assumption, focusing on the capacity of institutions in autonomous regions to establish a stable political process in their own region and in relation to the central government, including their ability to deal with challenges by spoilers and to address persisting grievances among their constituents. The aim of the paper is to determine whether and under what (tentative) conditions the institutional design of territorial autonomy can provide a durable resolution to violent ethnic conflicts.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In confronting the question of ethics, existentialism has focused primarily on the ontological structure of the self. However, a concrete ethical theory that could provide the individual with authentic awareness and an understanding of how one ought to act has remained elusive. In Becoming a Cosmopolitan, Jason Hill confronts this problem by describing the self as a ‘moral becoming’, bringing together ethics, selfhood and cosmopolitanism. However, he is unable to fill the void. Going beyond Hill, I argue that Dewey’s conception of self, its inferential accumulation and praxis-oriented learning and communication can be used as grounding for a communicative ethics.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The central argument made in this paper is that alleged ‘technocratic issues’ concerning (a) the municipality structure within a country on the one hand, and (b) questions about self-government (i.e. the division of labor between the central and local government) on the other, needs to be analyzed at the same time. It is first when we do this that a meaningful and more nuanced discussion about the local level’s function in the political system can be carried through. Taking the two dimensions ‘municipality structure’ and ‘local self-government’ as points of departure, we analyze conceivable implications of alternative ways to institutionally design the prerequisites for local government. Using the Swedish case as an illustrative case, we discuss how well various combinations of "many" versus "few" municipalities on the hand, and "weak" versus "strong" self-government perform from a democratic as well as a efficiency enhancing perspective, and how well various designs can make a countries local level an important part of a vertical power-sharing project.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The problem of self-determination, namely the search for greater autonomy and even secession has become important anew - though in a more restrictive dimension. In the emerging international system since September 2001 issues of the State, protection of the suppressed, possible humanitarian intervention, and readiness to redraw external boundaries have given way to immediate concerns of security, terrorism, international terror networks and problems of economic security. Arguably, the world has entered a much more uncertain, unpredictable and indeed insecure period than during the cold war with its mutual assured destruction and super power hegemony. Besides the fear of terror attacks and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, recent secession crises have also shed light on the influence of organized crime in the realm of activists for self-determination, thus providing incentive for central authorities to embark on more restrictive - some would say repressive - policies against activists for independence. While the independence of East Timor was the high point of the search for sovereignty and independence in recent times, sovereignty issues in Kosova, Chechnya, and Kashmir remain unresolved to this day.
It appears increasingly unlikely that the international community would easily recognize a new state. This the more since such state formation would imply rearranging boundaries of presumably more than just one state and hence will cause change and potential instability in a region, in addition to setting a potentially dangerous precedence. No creation of a new state is possible without international recognition, and the ap-proval by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Nevertheless, to simply deny a community the right for greater independence as a matter of principle will remain with limited success in light of the general awareness of human and group rights in today's international environment and the individual empowerment. On the other hand, sustained avoidance or suppression of such demands by the central authority will over time only exacerbate the explosive potential of such problems. But experience with self-determination crises has also proven that in most cases where one specific community is looking for greater independence from the center, at least one other community exists as well within the same sovereign territory, though frequently more. This community/ies also will be affected by the outcome of the search for greater autonomy of the one community. Hence that struggle for self-determination is rarely a zero-sum game between one community and the center, but has repercussions for other communities within the same state, and in neighboring states as well. In light of the de-creased readiness to recognize new states in the emerging international system it is thus important to offer new concepts that can on the one hand address the search of a community for greater independence as well as fulfill their dream of relatively independent outside (international) presence and wide-ranging autonomy in interaction with other sub-states, states, international, and supranational organizations. In the emerging international system it is important to try to achieve that, however avoid triggering new state formation and redrawing of existing boundaries.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Examining how the prevalence of the so called new wars in the 1990s and the predominance of the liberal internationalist doctrine combined in a unique way to make the development and application of new tools for war termination possible, this paper begins by outlining major trends in the development of self-determination conflicts of the 1990s, the way in which they affected the international order, and the strategies that specific agents within this order took in response to them. It then goes on to consider the changing character of war and the new-found resolve of the international community to respond, where necessary with force, to humanitarian emergencies as a factor that had a profound impact on the nature of international relations and that, because of its selective application, changed the opportunity structures for some self-determination movements (positively or negatively) while leaving those of others unaffected. As this had a noticeable impact on patterns of escalation and de-escalation, the paper contends that the new hegemonic unilateralism will have similar implications. Looking at the likely consequences of the shift towards hegemonic unilateralism in the United States' foreign policy strategy and the implications of this in terms of different allocation of resources and the increasing lack of credibility of Western approaches to conflict resolution and mediation, the paper concludes that this most recent shift in international norms will have equally significance for the development of self-determination conflicts around the globe, altering yet again regional and international balances of power with yet unclear consequences.