Instructions are attached below.

Instructions are attached below.
Objectives of the Assignment I have four objectives in mind for you in this assignment, each of these goals maps to our course objectives on the syllabus. 1) Deepen your understanding of conflict and peacebuilding in the world around you (Objective 1 in the syllabus). 2) Learn how to apply the theories / frameworks and research we study in class to the real world around us (Objective 2 in the syllabus). 3) Critically evaluate potential interventions into conflict (Objective 3 in the syllabus). 4) Improve important job skills, especially research and analytical writing (Objective 4 in the syllabus). III. Assignment Each memorandum must be addressed to me. Imagine that I am considering leading a team of George Mason students to work in a particular ongoing conflict or post-conflict context. I only have a short amount of time to prepare and I ask you, as a student of conflict analysis, to write a brief memorandum based on the most recent news from that conflict context. Each memorandum therefore will discuss recent news on either conflict or a peacebuilding intervention in a locality of your choosing. For example, Based on a brief look at BBC News’ website in late August last year, the conflicts you choose could be about the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s peace process; conflict in Iraq, Syria or Venezuela; the recent attacks on civilians in Germany, France, or India; American Insurrection, meaning of reconciliation in case of post conflict South Africa, Migration to US and /or Europe and many more. The subject matter can be about a conflict that continues or about news of efforts to transform or resolve conflict. Obviously, there’s a broad range of conflicts and interventions that qualify. As we learn in class, global conflict today can involve different combinations of civil war, interstate war, terrorism, transnational crime, local conflict, one-sided violence, etc. Similarly, interventions may include those designed to prevent conflict, protect civilians, mediate between opposing sides, build peace when direct violence ends, reconcile formerly polarized groups, etc. But they may also include interventions by outside actors to help one side win. In other words, not a peacebuilding intervention, but a military one of some kind. Interventions may include the UN, regional bodies, international NGOs, sovereign states, peace constituencies within the conflict itself, etc. 3 Goals The memo must brief me about the most recent news in that conflict context or intervention. What has been happening? Who are the main actors? What have their actions been? Who is intervening? 2. The memo must analyze the conflict in light of the theories and evidence on global conflict that we read in class. What are the reasons for this conflict? How might the theories we study in this class interpret this conflict differently? What have the effects of this conflict been? What does this analysis mean for the success of interventions to resolve the conflict? Do you have any other analytical thoughts that are different from our theories and evidence in class thus far? 3. Have a clear recommendation of the way forward. In the other world what are your suggestion on what should be considered as a part of a solution to this conflict? Memos can be only two pages long, singlespaced. I will not read anything past the second page. They should be single-spaced in a normal font (e.g., Times New Roman) in 12-pt font, with an extra space between paragraphs. Please do not attempt to change the margins and font sizes; I’ll notice the differences. Use the Chicago citation style for your sources, this means using foot-notes to cite your sources; follow the rules carefully. Do not include a bibliography page; the footnotes will be enough.
Instructions are attached below.
CONF 340, Global Understanding Professor Patrick Hakizimana Announcements vYour course obstacles and concerns vReading , reading and reading vWill I be able to do the memo? Ye syou will! vOffice hours can help?vMemo #1 is due Next week vWe will cover the details of requirements after today’s lecture vVisit from a Librarian : Christopher Magee An Introduction to Theories that Impact ConflictOur World View What is Theory?vTheory and social sciencevBegin with a questionvClarify assumptionsvSpecify a logical explanation that flows from assumptionsvDerive hypotheses from that explanationvDo those hypotheses derive from reality?vTheory as a simplification of realityvAssumption that human behavior is predictablevTheory as worldviewvTheory as a way tomake meaning of what we see in the worldTheoryResearchPractice Questions? vHow are the three theories different from each other? vHow are their assumptions different? vWhat types of conflict do they explain?vHow do the theories make different assumptions about what motivates human beings?vRussian / Ukrainian; Crimea territory? How does Liberalism, Realism or Marxism may applies? Is Marxism even relevant for this particular conflict? CLASSIFYING GLOBAL CONFLICTCCRInterstate•Identity/secession•Revolution/ideological•FactionalNon-interstate•State•Insurgent•Ideological•Nationalist•Tra n s-nationalTe r r o r i s mHSRvState-based:vInterstatevIntra-statevNon-state conflictvCrimevOne-sided violencevBy governmentsvBy others THE DIFFICULTY OF CLASSIFICATIONvNew warsvConflict today is complex:vCombinations of different typesvEconomics of conflictvComplex causesvCan we classify conflict quantitatively? vExample: Iraq and Syria, vInternal conflict?vInternational conflict?vReligious/Sectarian?vState Repression?vTe r r o r i s m ?vCrime?vHow does Council on Foreign Relation, Global Conflict Tracker catabolized conflict? vWhy this important? From Last Week Lecture vGaltung’s Theory of Violence vStructural Violence vCulture Violence vDirect Violence vNegative and Positive PeacevSyllabics LogisticsvMemos John Locke 1632-1704Thomas Hobbes 1588-1679•John Locke (Father of Liberalism)•Human nature is shaped by environment •The government is to bring about cooperation •Human nature: man is a social animal•The Social Contract: man has the right to life and just and impartial protection •The state of nature –man is true to his obligations and words. •Thomas Hobbes •The government needs to control our naturally selfish nature•Authoritarian government is necessary •Human Nature: man isn’t a social animal. •The social contract: if man simply does what he is told, he is safe.•The State of nature: the life of a man would be poor and brutal in a society with continuous fear and danger. Realism and the Security Dilemma•Robert Jervis Realism Theory & cause of conflict Human Nature Realist Theory•Human pursue of power -Dominance•Ex. Hans Morgenthau ØAnimus DominadiStructural Realist Theory qThe aggressive nature of a state is caused by International structure system -•Due to the lack of high authority •Power is security •Schoolers such as •Ken waltz Realism and the Security DilemmavHobbes:vState of naturevNeed for a Leviathan –“an international authority that could guarantee access”vPreoccupation with order and violencevJervis’ neo-realismvAssumption: anarchy (no international leviathan)vThe security dilemmavSome factors worsen the security dilemma Applying Realism to To d a y ’s Wo r l dvJervis was a theory of interstate conflictvGoal: identify conditions that produced cataclysmic warvHow to apply realism to today’s world?vInterstate anarchy assumes intrastate hierarchyvA domestic security dilemma:vCollapses of state authority (or just weak states)vSomalia, Venezuela. The DRC Or Yemen? vFormer Soviet Union/Former YugoslaviavInternal anarchyvFear on the part of communal groupsvResult: heightened possibility of internal war. Stag Hunt•Two individuals on a hunt •If they choose to work togetherthey can capture the stag (more for both of them)•If they choose to go on their ownthey will not be successful in getting the stag (both loose)•If they choose to chase the rabbit, they may have a small win but no as big as capturing the stag Liberalism’s Response to RealismWoodrow WilsonImmanuel Kant The Kantian Triangle•Anarchy can create a vicious cycle, as in realism•But liberal institutions stop it•The Kantian triangle•International organizations•Democracy •Economic interdependence•They reinforce each other and peace Applying Liberalism to To d a y ’s Wo r l dvLike realism, liberalism was meant as an explanation of interstate warvWhy is the world more peaceful today (next week’s question)?vIt’s more democraticvThere’s more economic opennessvCountries participate more in IOs.vApplication to today’s world:vThese forces also undermine civil war.vPower of democracy, in particular:vDissolution of grievances against the statevThere’s some dispute to this:vFragile young democracies, especiallyvCultural critique: liberalism as a Western concept Karl Marx Marxism Ideas •How can you living in a system where you can not enjoy the product of you labor?•Capitalist get pay more while the worker receives unlivable wages •Primitive Accumulation•Profit is a theft –exploitation•Capitalism is instable –To o m a n y c r i s i s •Caused by over production of goods and bad distribution to these in need•Redistribution of wealth: Unemployment or Freedom? •Leisure can be enjoyed by everyone, because model economy is productive•Capitalism is bad for capitalist –Commodity Fetishism •ex: Bourgeois Marriage Marxism and Conflict•Conflict is class-based•Capital v. labor•“We traced the more or less veiled civil war, raging within existing society, up to the point where that war breaks out into open revolution.” (Marx)•Prediction: collapse of capitalism socialism•Causes of conflict:•Mao’s Capitalist militarism & wars•Revolution•Counter-revolution•concept of revolutionary war•Mao’s concept of revolutionary war Applying Marxism to To d a y ’s Wo r l dvLiberalism as an expectation for cultural and attitudinal change in non-Western countriesvConflict seen as a pathology of non-Western societiesvSolution: become more Western.vConflict resolution as a means topreserving the capitalist ordervLiberalism’s Kantian Triangle is a means of controlvBut the system is fundamentally flawedvConflict isn’t an aberration in conflict –it’s a a part of the system21 Comparing The TheoriesTheoryWhat do peoplewant?Mechanism thatcreates conflictWhere doeswar happens?RealismSecuritySecurityDilemmaWhere there’s a breakdown of political order LiberalismSecurity Security dilemmaIlliberalPolitical Order Marxism Money Capitalist SystemWhenthe Capitalist System collapses Memorandums Explained Conflict Memoranda vWhy Memos? vClear, concise, includes your own analysis and evidence of critical thinking vHow Many?vWe will have 4 memorandum this semester for 40% of your total grade. vYo u m a y w r i t e a 5thMemo, best 4 will be counted towards your gradevHow? vNo more than 2 single spaced pagesvIntroduction vBrief summary of Historical background of the conflictvTheoretical application/Analysis vConclusion/Recommendations Next Week: Measuring War? Declinists vs. Pessimist
Instructions are attached below.
Student ID: G 000000 Professor Hakizimana CONF 340 – Memo I Implications of Civil Conflict in Cameroon: The Anglophone Crisis Introduction This paper attempt to analyze the Cameroonian conflict between Anglophone and Francophone conflict utilizing Gurr’s theory, frustration aggression as a cause of civil conflict. Historical Context In October 2016, Anglophone leaders from the North and Southwest regions of Cameroon demanded the restoration of a two -state federat ion of the central African country 1 in discourse that can be traced back to 1961 and the country’s independence from British and French colonialism. In February 1961, British leaders from the League of Nations territory of Southern Cameroon in the west, v oted to form a federation with the French territory in the east called the Republic of Cameroon which had claimed independence from France in the prior year, to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. By 1972, former president Ahmadou Ahidjo transformed the country into a unitary state called the United Republic of Cameroon, which was then once again changed to the Republic of Cameroon (La Republique du Cameroon) by President Paul Biya in 1984 2. This reversal of the country’s name worked to fuel sentiments that would promote the marginalization of the Anglophone regions of the country for decades to come, and ultimately retaliation from those regions against a primarily French government. In the early 1990s, in an effort to protect the interests of Anglopho ne Cameroonians following the control the French had garnered over the political and educational sectors, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), the first oppositional political party to the “francophonisation” of Anglophone regions 3 was formed. Despite Anglo phone efforts, the centralized French governing powers maintained their power over the government and virtually all other aspects of Cameroonian society. In late 2016, lawyers and teachers engaged in non -violent protests across the Northwest and Southwest, decrying the long -standing infiltration of Francophone policies and guidelines into the Anglophone judicial system and schools. French had become the language used in courtrooms in English regions, and French teachers had been assigned to English schools which led to a decline in student performance due to language barriers 4. Peaceful protests were met with aggressive responses from the state’s military, including the arrest and torture of teachers and students from major university and high school campus es in Anglophone regions. By December 2016, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium was formed by activist Agbor Balla. The organization called for an end to Anglophone marginalization, a return to the two -state federation established in 1961, th e preservation of the Anglophone legal and education systems, the release of more than 100 arrested protesters, and the restoration of internet services which had been shut down by the government to limit communication in the protesting regions 5. In Janua ry 2017, Balla declared the movement’s first act of civil disobedience by in Operation Ghost Town Resistance, recognized every Monday and Tuesday in a sit -at-home ritual, virtually pausing all economic and education activities in the region. Multiple other groups were formed in resistance to the government, with the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium United Front (SCACUF) led by Sisku Julius Ayuktebe overseeing them all. On October 1 st 2017, SCACUF declared Anglophone independence from French rulershi p, with the Anglophone Southern region now referred to as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia 6. Tensions escalated in late 2017 when Anglophone separatists clashed with government military forces deployed by the Biya administration in an effort to staunch opposition to the unofficial separation of the Anglophone regions from the French. In an effort to ease and abate conflict, the Biya administration deployed bilingual teachers to English regions. To exercise more power over the people, however, multiple in filtrations of the government’s Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) to both Anglophone regions (North West and South West) were organized , with both state and civilian fighters exercising brute force on each other and on innocent civilians caught in the cr ossfire. With the displacement of almost half a million civilians and numerous separatist, military, and civilian casualties, the Cameroonian government has developed questionable justifications for their initial reaction to protests with 1 Nna -Emeka Okereke, “Analysing Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis,” International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research , Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses, 10, no. 3 (March 201 8): 8 –12, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26380430. 2 Okereke. 3 Roxana Mates, “CAMEROON’S ANGLOPHONE CRISIS: ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL, SOCIO ‐CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT,” December 30, 2021, 261 –78, https://doi.org/10.24193/subbeuropaea.2019.2.12. 4 Morgan Tebei Nwati, “The Anglophone Crisis: The Rise of Arms Trafficking and Smuggling, Its Effects on the Two English Region s of Cameroon” (Scientific Research Publishing Inc., January 26, 2021), https://doi.org/10.4236/aasoci.2021.111001. 5 Okereke, “Analysing Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis.” 6 Okereke. force by referrin g to the opposition as terrorists 7. This raises the question of democracy in the country, and of the state of limited social debate. This poses an even greater question of the validity of the state in this case, as Mates writes, “the discontent of the Ang lophone minority regarding their marginalization and constant discrimination does not represent a novel situation for the Cameroonian authorities, which could have tackled the diversity issue in a more inclusive way 8.” Overall, despite the atrocious turn of events and the scale of conflict in the Anglophone crisis, this instance of civil conflict can be linked to multiple aspects of Ted Gurr’s frustration aggression -theory, as analyzed in the following section. Analysis : Gurr’s Frustration -Aggression In Gurr’s “Psychological Theories of Aggression,” motives behind civil violence are explored, Gurr attributes violent responses or reactions to external cues, and the scale of aggression depends on how wide -spread frustration or discontent is in the correspo nding environment. In the case of the civil response(s) in Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis, the relative deprivation aspect of the frustration -aggression theory applies best. According to Gurr’s relative deprivation theory, value expectations or the “goods an d conditions of life to which people believe they are justifiably entitled,” and value capabilities or the conditions that determine people’s chances of getting and keeping said values encompasses the level at which participants feel deprived of their enti tle goods and conditions 9. Cameroon’s Anglophones experienced group deprivation and collective frustration through their gradual and prolonged marginalization of the Francophone government as their right to comprehensive legal and education systems were c ompromised by the imposition of French policies. Gurr’s concept of relative deprivation also suggests that anger as a result of relative deprivation expressed through civil violence can be satiated through inflicting immediate and severe damage or throug h prolonged “but less severe aggression. 10” This also directly applies to the civil conflict in Cameroon. While Anglophone retaliation to state military was almost immediate, the violent conflict has been going on for almost five years now with no possible end in sight. Violence has also remained contained in Anglophone regions, so casualties have arguable not been as severe as they would have if the conflict was state -wide. The previous point also touches on the variables that suggest the magnitude of ci vil violence as explained by Gurr. These variables include the degree of participation in the affected population, the destruction aggression yields, and the length of time violence persists 11. So far, actors of violence on the civilians’ part have been li mited to a small group of local men funded by members of the Cameroonian diaspora. Destruction has included the displacement of locals, civilian, military, and separatist deaths, and the destruction of property including homes, business, schools, and hospi tals 12. Lastly, violence has persisted for almost five years with intermittent periods of wide and small -scale killings, kidnappings, and property destruction. Gurr also states that discontent is “highest when misery is bearable,” which also accurately por trays the events in Cameroon. Clashes between the military and the opposition have abated in recent months. However, since the government continues to fail to meet the requests and demands of Anglophone Cameroonians, discontent remains at a constant high w hile violence reduces. Evidently, the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon mirrors key elements of Gurr’s frustration -aggression theory, as the occurrence of civil conflict resulted from years of marginalization and ensued in relative deprivation. Conclusion Civil violence in Cameroon at the scale of the Anglophone crisis has been a result of systematic grievances against citizens in the Anglophone regions of the country. Decades of French infringement upon Anglophone legal systems and schools have created sen timents of discontent and dissatisfaction with the Biya administration, which has been in power for over 4 0 years. The government’s failure to adequately address the needs of the entire country have resulted in the isolation and marginalization of the Anglophone majority. Their continued failure to meet these requests, and their violent response to peaceful pro test have created an air of tension that now pervades the nation, questions the integrity of national security, and resulted in the death and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians. Reluctance on both sides to secede has resulted in a prolon ged state of unrest that shows no promise of abating, and relative deprivation is likely to stay intact until government and separatist forces come to a compromise that appeases both parties. 7 Mates, “CAMEROON’S ANGLOPHONE CRISIS: ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL, SOCIO ‐CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT.” 8 Mates. 9 Ted Gurr, “Psychological Factors in Civil Violence” 20, no. 2 (January 1968): 245 –78, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2009798. 10 Gurr. 11 Gurr. 12 Mates, “CAMEROON’S ANGLOPHONE CRISIS: ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL, SOCIO ‐CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT.”