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- Author: Maéva Clément x
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In the social sciences, recognition is considered a means to de-escalate
conflicts and promote peaceful social interactions. This volume explores the
forms that social recognition and its withholding may take in asymmetric armed
conflicts. It discusses the short- and long-term risks and opportunities which
arise when local, state and transnational actors recognise armed non-state
actors (ANSAs), mis-recognise them or deny them recognition altogether.
The
first part of the volume contextualises the politics of recognition in the case
of ANSAs. It provides a historical overview of recognition regimes since the
Second World War and their diverging impacts on ANSAs’ recognition claims. The
second part is dedicated to original case studies, centring on specific conflict
phases and covering ANSAs from all over the world. Some examine the politics of
recognition during armed conflicts, others in conflict stalemates, and others
still in mediation and peace processes. The third part of the volume discusses
how the politics of recognition impacts practitioners’ engagement with conflict
parties, gives an outlook on policies vis-à-vis ANSAs, and sketches
trajectories for future research in the field.
The volume shows that, while
non-recognition prevents conflict transformation, the recognition of armed
non-state actors may produce counterproductive precedents and new modes of
exclusion in intra-state and transnational politics.
Many contemporary violent conflicts involve armed non-state actors (ANSAs) as
conflict parties. Governments are often hesitant to enter informal talks and
negotiations with ANSAs, and yet in many violent conflicts such ‘talks’ are
initiated at some point. Engaging with ANSAs is considered risky. Talking
and negotiating usually imply gradual steps of recognising and legitimising
the counterpart. In successful cases, ANSAs can be transformed into
non-violent political parties and their legitimate goals eventually become
incorporated into state policy. But recognition can also backfire by
creating counterproductive precedents and new modes of exclusion in
politics. In unsuccessful cases, armed non-state actors might escalate the
violent struggle. At the same time, mis-recognition, which individuals or
collective actors experience as humiliation, disrespect or false
representations of their identity, can be seen as a major cause of political
resistance and escalation.
By conceptualising the (mis-/non-)recognition
of ANSAs, pointing to potential ambivalences and addressing its meaning for
conflict transformation, the introductory chapter provides the broader
analytical frame and contextualisation for the edited volume. It links the
concept of recognition as developed in international political theory to
research on ANSAs in peace and conflict studies. What forms of
(non-/mis-)recognition of armed non-state actors occur in violent conflicts?
Which risks and opportunities arise in processes of conflict transformation
when state actors recognise armed non-state actors or, conversely, deny them
recognition? The theoretical-conceptual considerations presented here draw
on examples from the case studies as discussed in the individual
contributions to the volume.