Georg Frerks

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• Dr
• Professor Emeritus at Utrecht University

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were defeated militarily by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in 2009. The LTTE had established its own governance structures for considerable periods of time in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka. This article shows how the LTTE’s governance and leader Prabhakaran are remembered in those areas and how this creates...

On February 27, 2010, Greater Concepción (GC), Chile, was hit by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake that triggered a tsunami. This article presents the findings in a qualitative and exploratory study format that used the disaster subculture framework as a lens to learn more about the vulnerability, specifically capacity of response, that people in GC exper...

This article investigates the phenomenon and practice of intercountry adoption from a historical perspective by using applied history methods. In particular, we employed the method of historicizing current concerns, such as the notion of abuses, and contextualizing them in history. With these methods, we contributed to the Dutch governmental assess...

This paper addresses processes of delegitimation and counter-legitimation by which existing forms of governance and their claimed legitimacy are challenged by a variety of actors. It pays attention to how legitimacy is framed, challenged and attacked by those actors from below, and examines contemporary empirical examples of the proclaimed ‘Western...

The current warfare and peace-fare are radically different from how they were imagined after World War II when the United Nations (UN) was established and the foundations for international peace (keeping) operations were formulated. Though peace (keeping) operations have over the years evolved into different generations to adapt to changing circums...

At the end of their bachelor degree program War Studies and the initial military training Dutch cadets and midshipmen have to learn in which political and policy environment they have to operate in their future professional life. This competence is part of the ‘thinking soldier’ concept that guides their education at the Faculty of Military Science...

This chapter discusses the motives and legitimation of female cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) joining the fight against the Sri Lankan government. Tamil young women were, among others, motivated by grievances against the treatment of the Tamil minority by the government, their experience of sexual and gender-based violence by...

This article outlines the engagement of the European Union (EU) with the conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It analyses the EU’s interventions through a Whole-of-Society (WoS) lens encompassing both comprehensiveness and inclusivity. Gradually the EU became a more articulated actor, attaining a ce...

This article focuses on how the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) insurgency performed de facto sovereignty and public authority in Northeastern Sri Lanka. It is situated within the wider academic debate on governance by state and non-state actors. We venture to unravel the complex linkages between the LTTE's governance practices and legitima...

The full article is available open access: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13698249.2017.1419611- Abstract: In this special issue we broaden the academic debate on rebel governance by examining additional armed actors – militias, police and foreign intervenors, and the ‘layers’ of governance they add. We develop the notion of ‘multi-la...

The full article is available open access: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13698249.2017.1393265 Abstract: Based on extensive fieldwork in Sri Lanka, we analyze how the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) acquired legitimacy and how legitimation impacts civilian perceptions of the rebels. Despite the LTTE’s reliance on coercion to...

Th is chapter presents the main conclusions of this book, organised around three questions: 1) “What is exit?” 2) “How can we understand exit?” and 3) “What can we do about exit?”

Why is it so difficult to say something meaningful about the exit from state building missions? Or to put it otherwise: why is the evaluation thereof so problematic? In this article I reflect on the nature of exit from state-building missions and the challenge of evaluating it. I do this by first discussing the growing importance of evaluation and...

This chapter describes the nature of the international and local civilian presence in peace operations, based among others on fieldwork in Afghanistan and Liberia. It describes the tensions between the classical humanitarian principles vis-à-vis the evolving integrated peace operations and whole-of-government approaches that have become increasingl...

The introduction to the volume provides an overview of recent issues central to political, military, and academic debates about political and military exit strategies from conflicts and wars. One important concept is the supposed political-military divide, time and again expressed in the dichotomy end states versus end dates. Th e different contrib...

This internal working paper is focusing on the academic and policy related debates surrounding the policy term 'Fragile States'. It is a critical analysis of the challenges and shortcomings within the concept and it offers alternative ways of looking at fragile statehood.

This working paper is one of the first in a series of papers on fragile states, produced jointly by the five Working Groups which are part of the Knowledge Network Peace, Security and Development in Fragile States2. The purpose of this working paper is to identify the common denominator in different definitions, to review the discourse on fragile s...

In recent years, resilience has rapidly become a mainstream notion in addition to disaster vulnerability. The concept of social resilience focuses on the social capacities available beyond the capacities of the formal disaster management sector, and is also redressing the victimising and disempowering effects of the vulnerability notion. While havi...

Lebanon’s history has been scarred by repeated episodes of armed conflict: the Civil War, the Israel-Lebanon war, the Nahr-el Bared clashes, the recurrent clashes in Tripoli between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jebel Mohsen, and, more recently, the spill-over from the war in Syria. This has resulted in tragic human loss, trauma, disruption of communities an...

In debates on governance in weak or fragile states, non-state actors are often overlooked. A particularly under-recognized governance actor is the rebel group. Rebel groups have substantive involvement in several governance domains, and as such acquire authority and legitimacy among their constituents. While previous research shows that non-state g...

This book seeks to bridge the gap between academic, political and military thinking concerning the success and failure of peacekeeping operations and their termination. Exit strategies have recently gained attention in political, military, academic and public debates, due to the Western engagement in international and intrastate conflicts since the...

What determines the disaster vulnerability of countries? In this study a theoretical model was tested, linking disaster vulnerability to physical hazards and cultural and historical factors. Associations between the World Vulnerability Index and Hofstede's cultural dimensions scores were explored using quantitative methods, while taking exposure to...

The Netherlands knows a persistent threat of flooding. To adapt to this dangerous reality, the Dutch have cultivated what disaster research literature has labeled ‘disaster subcultures’ or a set of cultural (tangible and intangible) tools to deal with the recurrent hazard. While there is abundant attention for the way the Dutch ‘coastal’ and ‘low-l...

http://www.mepc.org/journal/middle-east-policy-archives/review-essay-lebanon-challenge-moving-analysis-beyond-state

Much conceptual confusion exists over the concepts of vulnerability and (social) resilience, reinforced by the different paradigms (the article identifies four) and disciplinary traditions underlying their use. While since the 1980s the social construction of "vulnerability" as a driver for disaster received considerable attention, in recent years...

Paper presented at the conference ‘Critical World Issues’, held at Initiatives of Change, March 10-14, 2011, Caux, Switzerland. In 1994 the UNDP launched the notion of ‘human security’ in its World Development Report. The concept was welcomed, but also criticised due to its lack of operationalisation and vagueness. The War on Terror pushed it agai...

All that we're wrecking is stones" was Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar's dismissal of the Taliban's destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan, the largest standing statues of Buddha in the world. The intention of the fighters was not only the destruction of foreign idols, but breaking the soul of a culture. Cultural Emergency in Conflict and Disaste...

Lucien Stopler & Georg Frerks discuss the plight of the Tamil ex-child soldiers in Sri Lanka, an unresolved heritage of a bloody war. In the wake of the defeat of the LTTE, the Sri Lankan government has not shown much effort in addressing the root causes of the conflict and in building peace. It has also largely ignored the re-integration of ex-chi...

The connection between community security and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) is a largely omitted topic in most current policy approaches and is relatively unexplored in both academic and policy literature. The few available reports indicate that community security and community-based DDR initiatives have something to offer and...

Three case studies were carried out for this study: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone. This report synthesizes the findings of these case studies, puts them in broader context and draws wider conclusions and lessons.

Onderzoeksverslag met de vraag wat de rol van NGO's (non gouvermental organisations) in DDR processen (disarment, demobilisation and reintegration of ex-combatants)

This paper first sketches the parameters of contemporary conflict and describes the movement in the direction of the broader concept of human security. It then outlines the tendency of securitising issues, as elaborated by the Copenhagen School, where governments and other securitising actors exaggerate societal problems and overreact by military m...

Human security is about everyday realities of violent conflict and poverty, humanitarian crises, epidemic diseases, injustice and inequality. It is about freedom from fear and freedom from want. It is much different from state-related security with its emphasis on military force, territory and sovereignty. Human security places the security of indi...

Daniëlle van Grieken, Georg Frerks and Riek van der Woud throw light on the chances rather than the risks of the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue & Consultation process as a last resort to promote the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement. The current context in Darfur requires a distinctive approach by international donors, aimed at finding a politic...

Building on the legacy of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto and the success of the Pugwash Movement, this paper reflects on the nature of contemporary threats to human security and its implications to the agenda of Pugwash. On the basis of recent conceptual developments in the field of conflict studies and significant changes in current policy practic...

This study looks into civil-military relations in conflict and post-conflict countries. In recent years, the issue has invoked a heated debate, which has occasionally lacked nuance and clarity. Some guidelines have emerged, but they are hardly sufficient for adequate positioning. This study focuses on Afghanistan and Liberia and is intended to assi...

Dealing with Diversity: Sri Lankan Discourses on Peace and Conflict Georg Frerks and Bart Klem [eds] What is the conflict in Sri Lanka? An ethnic problem? A historical threat to Buddhism? A liberation struggle? Or the unfortunate outcome of political mismanagement? Dealing with Diversity bundles contributions from a great variety of Sri Lankan auth...

Georg Frerks & Bart Klem illustrate the bankruptcy and ineffectiveness of the recent internationally widely adopted integrated security doctrine with the case of the response to the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka. According to the UN's High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, threats to human development are interrelated, and a response t...

Dealing with Diversity: Sri Lankan Discourses on Peace and Conflict Georg Frerks and Bart Klem [eds] What is the conflict in Sri Lanka? An ethnic problem? A historical threat to Buddhism? A liberation struggle? Or the unfortunate outcome of political mismanagement? Dealing with Diversity bundles contributions from a great variety of Sri Lankan auth...

Refugees and the Transformation of Societies is about cultures and societies in change, in the process of producing, refusing or receiving refugees. It explores experiences, interpretations and practices of 'refugees', 'internally displaced' and 'returnees' in or emerging from societies in violent conflict. It also addresses ethics and politics of...

The refusal or reception of refugees has had serious implications for the social policies and social realities of numerous countries in east and west. Exploring experiences, interpretations and practices of 'refugees,' 'the internally displaced' and 'returnees' in or emerging from societies in violent conflict, this volume challenges prevailing ort...

Raging floods, massive storms and cataclysmic earthquakes: every year up to 340 million people are affected by these and other disasters, which cause loss of life and damage to personal property, agriculture, and infrastructure. So what can be done? The key to understanding the causes of disasters and mitigating their impacts is the concept of 'vul...