Recent studies have found a strong correlation between covid-19 and higher conflict intensity. Yet, scant attention has been paid to the ways in which covid-19 increased the conflict intensity of...Show moreRecent studies have found a strong correlation between covid-19 and higher conflict intensity. Yet, scant attention has been paid to the ways in which covid-19 increased the conflict intensity of pre-existing conflicts. Therefore, this is the gap that this thesis aims to fill. From the disaster-conflict literature, and the covid-19-conflict literature more specifically, I derive three possible causal mechanisms concerning 1) state capacity 2) conflict mitigation, and 3) foreign backers. Consequently, I test these mechanisms with the use of process tracing in the context of the Libyan conflict. The evidence reveals that all three mechanisms were partly present, but did not exactly function as theorized. Indeed, in contrast to the hypothesized causal mechanism, no evidence is found for the suspension of military activities by the state, suggesting that the emergence of covid-19 did not weaken state capacity. Besides, the suspension of conflict mitigating activities and the involvement of foreign backers led to an intensification of violence, despite the continued attention for the conflict during the pandemic. More research, therefore, is necessary to further explore the mechanisms linking pandemics and conflict intensity in pre-existing conflicts.Show less
This thesis aims to critically analyse how power relations in victimhood discourse have changed within the framework of five decades of Colombian armed conflict and how this affected the discourse...Show moreThis thesis aims to critically analyse how power relations in victimhood discourse have changed within the framework of five decades of Colombian armed conflict and how this affected the discourse of child soldiers. By analysing two case studies, the El Caguán – and the Havana peace process, this thesis aims to answer the main research question: How did power relations behind the victim change due the implementation of transitional justice during the Colombian peace processes and how has this affected demobilised child soldiers? Critical discourse analysis is used to understand which power relations determine the recognition of the victim, which will also provide an understanding of how victims and especially child soldiers have been referred to throughout the armed conflict. This thesis aims to contribute to studies of childhood, studies of transitional justice and the implementation of such justice regarding former child soldiers and victims of war conflicts.Show less
The recent revocation of the special status in the Indian constitution of Kashmir has once again drawn the situation in Kashmir into the international spotlight. The protracted nature of the...Show moreThe recent revocation of the special status in the Indian constitution of Kashmir has once again drawn the situation in Kashmir into the international spotlight. The protracted nature of the seventy-year-long conflict and the struggle for self-determination of the Kashmiri bears resemblance to the strife between Israel and Palestine since the former’s founding in 1948, though this conflict has garnered greater media attention. In both cases, the impact of seemingly endless conflict and violence has impacted the lives of generations of children. The ways in which children can, and do, influence these conflicts - actively and passively - remains a hitherto under-explored area in academia. The present investigation seeks to address this issue with reference to cultural productions in the form of graphic novels. By cross-examining against actual instances of children, who have become symbols for the respective struggles and an examination of the response by the relevant authorities, this paper teases out the importance of children to both cases. Taken together with the reception received locally, nationally and internationally, a fresh light is cast upon the role of children as symbols and agents in protracted conflicts.Show less
The study takes as point of departure recent political statements of the Israeli prime minister B. Netanyahu about the status of the Occupied Syrian Golan, which are aimed at changing the legal...Show moreThe study takes as point of departure recent political statements of the Israeli prime minister B. Netanyahu about the status of the Occupied Syrian Golan, which are aimed at changing the legal status of this area, as these are uttered in the context of the war in Syria. The thesis examines the weight of these statements through a legal, political and an historical analysis, and how the international community reacted to it. The thesis critically explores the possibilities of international law to respond to this situation.Show less
