Civil Society, Conflicts and the Desecuritization of Human Rights

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Civil Society,

Conflicts and the Politicization of Human Rights



Civil society, conicts and thepoliticization of human rights

Edited by Raffaele Marchetti and Nathalie Tocci



Contents

Figures and tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv Johan Galtung

1 Introduction: Civil society, ethnic conicts and thepoliticization of human rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Raaele Marchetti and Nathalie Tocci

Part I: Theoretical framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2 Human rights and the (de)securitization of conict . . . . . . . . . . 13Thorsten Bonacker, Thomas Diez, Thorsten Gromes, Jana

Groth and Emily Pia

3 Conict society and human rights: An analytical framework . . . 47Raaele Marchetti and Nathalie Tocci

Part II: Case studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73



viii CONTENTS

5 Human rights, civil society and conict in Cyprus . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Olga Demetriou and Ayla Gürel

6 Human rights, civil society and conict in Bosnia-Herzegovina . 123Giulio Marcon and Sergio Andreis

7 Human rights, civil society and conict in Turkey’s Kurdishquestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Nathalie Tocci and Alper Kaliber

Part III: Comparative analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

8 Gender, conict society and human rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Diana Levantesi Copper

9 Redening European Union engagement with conict society . 181Raaele Marchetti and Nathalie Tocci

10 Human rights discourses and conict: Moving towardsdesecuritization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Emily Pia and Thomas Diez

11 The impact of civil society on conict: A qualitativecomparative analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Thorsten Bonacker, Christian Braun and Jana Groth

12 Epilogue: Civil society, human rights and conicts. Doesknowledge matter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Angela Liberatore

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246



1

1

Civil society actors have become key players in ethno-political conicts,as both violators and promoters of human rights. This has been facilitatedby the transformation of conicts, increasingly characterized by high-intensity intra-border ethno-religious tensions and strong internationalappeals for human rights protection. Nevertheless, the precise relation-ships underpinning the human rights-civil society-conict nexus havenot been fully examined. The overall objective of this volume is thus toanalyse the impact of civil society on ethno-political conicts throughhuman-rights-related activities, and identify the means to strengthen thecomplementarity between civil society and international governmentalactors such as the United Nations and the European Union in promotingpeace. These aims are addressed by analysing four case studies in the

European neighbourhood: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Turkey’s Kurdishquestion and Israel-Palestine. Through a comparative examination of these cases, this volume draws policy suggestions tailored to both govern-mental and non-governmental action.

This is a book about violent conict and about peace. It is a book abouthow violence is generated, managed, exploited, but also eradicated inethno-political conicts, and how a society can be dragged out of conictand move towards peace. The usual take on these phenomena focuses onthe role of governmental actors, both national and international. Accord-ingly, violence and peace are usually considered to be determined above

1

Introduction: Civil society, ethnicconicts and the politicization of human rights

Raaele Marchetti and Nathalie Tocci



ingly, violence and peace are usually considered to be determined above

2 RAFFAELE MARCHETTI AND NATHALIE TOCCI

non-governmental component in ethno-political conicts. Civil societyactors, or as we dene them, conict society organizations (CoSOs), are

increasingly central in view of the high degree of complexity of contem-porary ethno-political conicts. These are conicts that can only be under-stood by combining macro approaches with micro ones that focus onsociety. It is thanks to the latter approach that we can unpack the polit-ical inputs, be they good or bad, which emerge from below, from the civilsociety domain, and trickle up to the top political echelons. This is evenmore so in societies that are highly fragmented and deprived of stablegoverning institutions. It is in failing states such as those undergoingethno-political conict that much of politics unfolds “on the ground”.Hence it is there, at the micro level, that we need to explore in order tocapture fully the profound motives that trigger both violence and peace-ful transformation.

Human rights constitute the second major component of this book.When examining the activities carried out by CoSOs, we restrict ourfocus to those which are related to human rights. This is because humanrights have become a central political concept employed by activists inthe conicts we examine. In the past, other concepts such as inequality ordevelopment were central. Today, most civic activities are framed in termsof the defence of human rights. Alongside the human-rights-related ac-

tivities themselves, we also focus on the discursive self-representation of CoSOs in terms of human rights. Political claims are increasingly framedthrough the language of human rights. This is inspired at times by the in-trinsic value of these rights, and at other times by instrumental reasonssuch as enhancing public support for a particular political action, or in-creasing access to international funds. The invocation of human rights inconict settings is thus central, because they are political instrumentswhich can be interpreted and manipulated by conict actors. In order toassess CoSOs and their actions we thus adopt a multifaceted understand-ing of what human rights may mean in conicts. In other words, our aim

is to explore the multidimensional and non-linear nexus linking humanrights, civil society and conict.

The research results presented in this volume derive from a tightly knitthree-year international research project funded by the European Com-mission, based at LUISS University and involving seven institutions andover 20 researchers working in academia and civil society.1 Over thecourse of 2006–2009, the project unfolded in three main phases:• elaboration of a conceptual framework• case studies in four conict areas



INTRODUCTION 3

cluding conferences at the British International Studies Association andthe International Studies Association (special panels in Cambridge in

2007 and San Francisco, CA, in 2008), activists’ workshops in the four casestudy countries (Gaza City, Jerusalem and Ramallah 2008, Nicosia 2008,Istanbul 2008 and Sarajevo 2007), public international conferences in Rome(2006 and 2009), Birmingham (2007) and Marburg (2008) and a specialpolicy brieng session at the European Parliament in Brussels (2009).

By exploring the nexus linking conict, human rights and civil society,this book is unique in that it combines the literatures on conict and civilsociety.2 It pursues the double objective of analysing the impact of civilsociety on ethno-political conicts through human rights and identifyingthe means to strengthen the complementarity of civil society and ofcialactors. In particular, the book advances the current scholarly debate in atleast four subareas of conict and peace studies: the role of civil societyactors in conicts, the political use of human rights discourses in conict,the link between the securitization literature in international relationsand the conict and peace studies literature, and the relationship betweengovernmental and non-governmental actors in conicts.

Methodology

The research presented in this volume was carried out by combining dif-ferent disciplinary perspectives, including comparative politics and inter-national relations, political theory and sociology. Moreover, the researchbeneted from the expertise of two distinct kinds of partners: academicsand activists. This allowed reciprocal stimulation and cross-fertilizationacross different professional elds. Academics were informed by thegrassroots perspectives and practical experience of activists, while thelatter were confronted with the theoretical and comparative approachesadopted by scholars. Furthermore, the project beneted from interaction

between its participants and local activists from the conict countries.Indeed, local civil society organizations in the four conicts were involvedin several phases of the project through interviews and participation inworkshops and public conferences.

A single analytical framework, jointly discussed and approved by allproject participants, was adopted and a specic research protocol was im-plemented in the eldwork. This allowed the case study chapters to bedrafted following a similar scheme and tackling the same questions, whichin turn facilitated the ensuing comparative analysis. The analytical frame-




conict society actors, their frameworks of action, the type of humanright invoked by them and the political opportunity structure in which

they operate. The combination of and interaction between these factorsallow us to identify the impact of specic activities carried out by CoSOs.We relied on the concept of securitization to explore the impact of human-rights-related actions conducted by CoSOs. As detailed in Chapter 2,securitization occurs when an issue or actor is presented as an existentialthreat to be addressed by extraordinary measures. By applying this con-cept, we identied three main impacts: securitization, non-securitizationand desecuritization. This allowed us to advance our understanding of civil society’s role in conict beyond a simplistic normative dichotomy of “good” and “bad” impacts.

The project pursued its aims through qualitative comparative tech-niques in order to determine the principal factors which shape the civilsociety-human rights-conict nexus. The methodology of enquiry wasbased on multiple comparisons within as well as across the case studies of Israel-Palestine, Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Turkey’s Kurdish issue.The comparative analysis was enriched and made possible by the factthat the four case studies, all of which are in the wider European area,were selected on the basis of their relevance to a particular aspect of thelink between civil society, human rights and conict. The circumscribed

number of case studies also allowed for a feasible comparative analysisusing different methodologies. In each case study, three sets of referenceswere consulted: ofcial documents produced by governments, localCoSOs and international CoSOs in the selected conicts, semi-structuredinterviews (approximately 150 interviews across all cases) and scholarlystudies. Interviews were conducted with a variety of civil society actors3 as well as with government ofcials, international organizations, academ-ics and journalists working in the eld.

The comparative part of the project tested whether the project wouldyield similar results by employing two different methodologies. On the

one hand, the ndings of the case studies were examined by using dis-course analysis specically focused on how the human rights discoursehas been used and abused by CoSOs for political purposes linked to theconict (Chapter 10). On the other hand, the case study results were ana-lysed by using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) tailored to discernthe key factors, or combination of factors, leading to particular civil soci-ety impacts on conict through human-rights-related activities (Chapter11). By constructing a truth table and minimizing the combinations, weidentied a series of patterns that illustrate typical dynamics in the civil



INTRODUCTION 5

to a desecuritization of conict; these were taken into consideration whenelaborating policy suggestions aimed at both CoSOs and the European

Union (Chapter 9).

Structure of the book

This book is divided into three parts. Part I constructs a theoreticalframework to structure and analyse the details of the empirical casestudies. Part II concentrates on the in-depth analysis of four case studies.Finally, Part III draws comparative analyses from the data collected inthe case studies.

Chapter 2 by Bonacker et al. explores the relationship between conictand human rights. It starts from the observation that the public debatetoday presumes a positive relationship between human rights and bothconict resolution and conict transformation. In contrast, mediatorsfocusing on conict management traditionally have been more scepticaltowards human rights, viewing the pursuit of rights as a potential obstacleto the settlement of conict. Exploring the relationship between conict/peace and human rights, this chapter puts forward a discursive denitionof conict that builds on the concept of “securitization”, whereby the

construction of an “Other” as an existential threat leads to the legitim-ization of extraordinary measures to combat the threat. The concept of securitization is mapped against different conceptualizations of conictchange and the nature of conicts. The chapter then provides an over-view of different forms of human rights, and most crucially it differenti-ates between individual and collective rights. It argues that while bothare important, these two sets of rights often stand in tension to one an-other, and the challenge lies in the creation of spaces for an articulationof collective rights that does not rely on forms of Othering, which in turnusher the way to the violation of individual human rights. In the nal sec-

tion some hypotheses are advanced about the link between human rightsand conict: simply put, if individual and collective rights are invokedwithout reference to a specic group, these invocations can be desecuri-tizing, or the outcome may be a further securitization of conict. Thischapter thus presents the conceptual building blocks and begins high-lighting the possible causal relations between human rights invocationsand the evolution of conict.

Chapter 3 by Marchetti and Tocci introduces the third analytical build-ing block of this book, civil society, by exploring the relationship between




framework to unpack this complex relationship and assess the impact of civil society on conict. It rst analyses the implications of context for

civil society, namely the implications of statehood, democracy, national-ism, development and international presence for the nature of civil soci-ety. It then examines the role of civil society in ethno-political conicts,or as we rename it, “conict society”. The chapter next identies the fac-tors which determine the impact of civil society on conict, including thepolitical identities of CoSOs, their frameworks of action and the politicalopportunity structures in which they operate. Accordingly, differentcombinations of these factors explain when and how CoSOs can fuel andsecuritize conicts, sustain the status quo or desecuritize conict, enablinga transition towards peace.

Chapter 4 by Fourest presents the rst of the four case studies. Thischapter was drafted on the basis of data collected during eldwork con-ducted in 2008 in the occupied Palestinian territories (the West Bank,East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip) and in Israel (including with repre-sentatives of the Palestinian minority). Although their fate is closelyintertwined, Palestinian and Israeli civil societies have grown increasinglydistant and oblivious to one another since the second Intifada. The chap-ter provides an overview of both civil societies, explaining their particularconcerns, dynamics and backgrounds. It shows how the understanding of

human rights and peace varies enormously according to different actors.The chapter then focuses on the role of human rights CoSOs and theirimpact within their own society and on the conict. It explains how thisimpact varies considerably depending on two major factors: the timing(long-term versus short-term impact) and the audience (local versus na-tional, national versus international, individual versus collective). Thechapter concludes by presenting and elaborating on the views of CoSOsin the region on the European Union’s role in the conict.

Chapter 5 by Demetriou and Gürel explores the impact of CoSOhuman-rights-related actions on the “frozen conict” in Cyprus, the

second case study of this book. In the case of Cyprus, civil society is con-textualized within the two mono-ethnic state structures in the south andnorth: the Republic of Cyprus, which is internationally recognized asa state representing all Cypriots despite being run solely by GreekCypriots; and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is unrec-ognized internationally, except by Turkey, and represents exclusively theTurkish Cypriot community. From this perspective, the chapter arguesthat two factors that have shaped the impact of CoSOs activities arewhether these actions are framed through the language of human rights



INTRODUCTION 7

showing how a variety of political claims, ranging from reconciliation toethnic nationalism or majoritarianism, can be articulated through the lan-

guage of human rights, with diametrically opposite effects on the securit-ization, desecuritization or non-securitization of the conict.

Chapter 6 by Marcon and Andreis analyses relations between civilsociety and human rights in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH). Civil societyactors are considered in three time periods: pre-war, until April 1992; thewar years, from April 1992 until the autumn of 1995; and post-war, fromthe end of 1995 until 2009. In the pre-war years BiH was part of theSocialist Federal Yugoslav Republic, and struggled to move from au-thoritarian rule to democracy. The second phase witnessed open andgeneralized war, which almost entirely eliminated the political and socialspace for peaceful civic activism. Finally, the end of the war and thereconstruction years have been shaped by the new institutional realityoutlined by the Dayton Agreement (December 1995), which witnessedthe mushrooming of social, cultural and environmental CoSOs. Civilsociety in BiH is shaped by three contextual factors: the country’smultiethnicity (with three dominant nationalities), the role of religion(Orthodox Christianity, Islam and Catholicism) and the hegemony of nationalist ideologies. This is the context in which this chapter sheds lighton BiH’s civil society, including its ambiguities and peculiarities, and pro-

vides inputs to the discussion on European Union (EU) policies regard-ing conict transformation and civil society development.

Chapter 7 by Tocci and Kaliber explores the multilayered characteris-tics of civil society involvement in Turkey’s Kurdish question, the nalcase study of this book. It examines the impact of Turkish and KurdishCoSOs – securitizing, holding, desecuritizing – on the conict. It presentsa comprehensive analysis of the identities and activities of CoSOs, as wellas of the political opportunity structure in which they operate, includingtime-contingent factors, the domestic institutional and socio-political en-vironment and the involvement of external actors such as the European

Union. Despite increasing civil society involvement, Turkey’s Kurdishquestion is still strongly shaped by the nature of the Turkish state and themanner in which it has responded to the Kurdish nationalist challenge.Whereas the specicities of the state have moulded the nationalist chal-lenge, the latter, in particular the actions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party,has further fuelled the securitizing discourse of the Turkish state estab-lishment, fundamentally shaping and constraining the environment inwhich civil society operates.

Chapter 8 by Copper presents an examination of the empirical ndings




for progressive gender change. It provides a denition of gender andexplores the complex theoretical relations between discourses of gender,

conict, human rights and civil society. Gender is then mapped on theanalytical categories relevant to our understanding of civil society’s iden-tity, action and impact. The empirical ndings of this book’s four casestudies are comparatively analysed in order to formulate recommenda-tions for political action by conict society and governmental actorstowards progressive gender change.

Chapter 9 by Marchetti and Tocci elaborates the policy implications of the empirical ndings of this book, applying these to the EuropeanUnion. The two cardinal principles of human rights and democracyunderpin the EU peacebuilding strategy. The key assumption in this strat-egy is that if human rights are respected and democracy established,conicts are less likely to erupt and more likely to be resolved. Anothercritical component in the EU’s strategy regards the role of civil society.This chapter explores how EU initiatives such as the European Neigh-bourhood Policy and European Instrument for Development and HumanRights have supported civil society in various ways. When examining theEU’s direct inuence on CoSOs through dialogue, funding and training,we note a limited impact across our four case studies. In contrast, theEU’s indirect inuence on CoSOs by affecting the political opportunity

structure in which they operate has been more relevant, although it hasnot always induced a desecuritization of conict. Despite the criticisms of the European Union, this chapter argues that it would be unwise for it tostep aside. As this book shows, civil society can and does represent a crit-ical force for change in conict countries, and at times contributes todesecuritization through its human rights activities. Moreover, while theexistence and legitimacy of CoSOs cannot hinge on external support,their impact can be enhanced through EU engagement. At the same time,EU policies can gain in legitimacy and effectiveness by engaging civilsociety.

Chapter 10 by Pia and Diez provides a comparative discursive analysisof human rights articulations based on the empirical ndings from thefour case studies. It argues that it is not the invocation of a human right

per se that is most important, but rather how it is invoked. Two issues areconsidered: whether there is an inclusive notion of human rights orwhether the human right is exclusively related to one conict party,thereby reifying existing identity borders and thus antagonisms; andwhether the object of the invoked right is the individual or a collectivity.While universal human rights articulations are often seen as less prob-



INTRODUCTION 9

inclusive or exclusive. Inclusive rights articulations are more likely tohave a desecuritizing impact on conict, as they acknowledge the exist-

ence of other groups or individuals. The analysis shows that contextualfactors, and above all the timing of the articulation of human rights, arevery important in shaping the extent and likelihood of desecuritization.

Chapter 11 by Bonacker, Braun and Groth complements the compara-tive analysis in Chapter 7 by presenting results derived from a secondmethodology: qualitative comparative analysis. By examining the rela-tionship between human rights and civil society in ethno-political con-icts in the four case studies, this comparative research addresses twoquestions. The rst goal is to identify the factors that assess whetherhuman rights articulations make securitization or desecuritization morelikely. The second goal is to identify the factors that signicantly affectthe impact of civil society’s human rights articulations in the case studies.These questions are tackled by using the QCA method developed byCharles Ragin in the mid-1980s as a more formalized analysis for com-paring the qualitative case study data presented in previous chapters.QCA was used to identify the variables that explain why civil society’shuman rights articulations may contribute to the securitization of conict.The chapter nds that there is no “general law of (de)securitization”.However, mirroring some of the results of Chapter 10, QCA argues that

desecuritization tends to occur when multicultural or civic CoSOs pursuecultural or educational actions in the framework of transformation by in-voking an inclusive individual right. Like Chapter 10, QCA also high-lights the importance of timing and context: the same actions conductedin situations marked by different degrees of existing securitization mayprovoke diametrically opposite impacts on conicts.

Finally, in Chapter 12, Angela Liberatore provides some concludingremarks drawing together the principal ndings of this book and itsrelevance to the academic and policy communities alike.

Notes

1. “SHUR. Human Rights in Conicts: The Role of Civil Society”: STREP project funded

by the sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission (contract number:

CIT5-CT-2006-028816). The SHUR consortium comprised of the following institutions:

LUISS (leader), University of Birmingham, University of Marburg, Maison des Sciences

de l’Homme, Lunaria, European Public Law Centre and Peace Research Institute Oslo(PRIO). Website: www.luiss.it/shur. We would like to thank the scientic supervisor of

the European Commission Angela Liberatore for her invaluable support for this project



the European Commission Angela Liberatore for her invaluable support for this project


3. The CoSOs were selected according to the typology of the organization (e.g., NGOs,research centres, media outlets, foundations, social movements, etc.) and its political

relevance. For details on these criteria see Chapter 3.

REFERENCES

Marchetti, Raffaele and Nathalie Tocci (eds) (2011) Confict Society and Peace-

building. New Delhi: Routledge.Tocci, Nathalie (ed.) (2011) The EU, Civil Society and Confict . London:

Routledge.



© United Nations University, 2011

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not nec-essarily reect the views of the United Nations University.

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Civil society, conicts and the politicization of human rights / edited by RaffaeleMarchetti and Nathalie Tocci.

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Civil Society, Conicts and the Politicization of Human Rights

Edited by Raffaele Marchetti and Nathalie Tocci

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Contributors:

Jonathan GaltungRaffaele MarchettiNathalie Tocci

Thorsten Bonacker Thomas DiezThorsten GromesJana GrothEmily Pia

Laure FourestOlga DemetriouAyla GürelGiulio MarconSergio Andreis

Alper Kaliber Diana LevantesiCopper Christian Braun

Angela Liberatore

Civil Society, Conicts and the Politicization of Human Rights exploresviolent conict and peace. The contributors examine how violenceis generated, managed, exploited and eradicated in ethno-politicalconicts, and how societies can be dragged out of conict onto the

transition towards peace. The usual take on these phenomena focuseson the role of governmental actors, both national and international.While ofcial actors remain important, Civil Society, Conicts and thePoliticization of Human Rights examines the other side of the coin: thenon-governmental component in ethno-political conicts. Civil society

actors, or as they are dened in this book, “conict society organiza-tions” (CoSOs), are increasingly central in view of the high degreeof complexity of contemporary ethno-political conicts. CoSOs havebecome key players in ethno-political conicts, both as violators andas promoters of human rights. Nevertheless, the precise relationships

underpinning the human rights–civil society–conict nexus have not

been fully examined. This volume analyses the impact of civil societyon ethno-political conicts through their human rights-related activities,and identies the means to strengthen the complementarity betweencivil society and international governmental actors in promoting peace.

These aims are addressed by examining four case studies in the Eu-ropean neighbourhood: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Turkey’s Kurdishquestion and Israel–Palestine.

Raffaele Marchetti is Assistant Professor in the School of Govern-ment and the Department of Political Science at LUISS University, Italy.Nathalie Tocci is Deputy Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali,Head of the Institute's department ”The EU and the Neighbourhood”,

and Associate Editor of The International Spectator.

with a foreword by Jonathan Galtung

Documents

Civil Society, Conflicts and the Desecuritization of Human Rights