CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2012
| Author | Mitaev, Maria |
|---|---|
| Title | Multilateral Third-Party Intervention: Measuring the Impact of Civilian Approach in Transnistria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia |
| Summary | This thesis seeks to answer the following question: Does civilian intervention produce a more tangible outcome in terms of challenging the status quo around secessionist conflicts than traditional mediation? I hypothesize that civilian intervention is more effective in terms of producing a tangible impact on conflict resolution process given specific background conditions involved. To answer that question, I identify the patterns of dynamics produced by intervention by various Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) and ultimately conclude that they vary. The mediation (and observation) – the method traditionally employed by the OSCE (and the UN) - appears to be more intrusive, involves direct physical presence on the ground in the conflict zone, is more high-profile and involves sensitive political and politico-military issues, and produces increased competition and power-based mediation on the part of an involved major regional player interested in sustaining the status quo. The civilian approach to conflict management employed by the EU, by contrast, entails a less intrusive, more low-key, piecemeal instruments facilitating conflict prevention or conflict management. As such, it is able to alter the context around the conflict, thereby challenging the status quo. I subject to scrutiny the conditions mentioned in the theoretical literature that are necessary for successful mediation and demonstrate that these conditions’ theoretical accounts are not sufficient to explain the (in)effectiveness of mediation in the case of secessionist conflicts in the post-Soviet space. Above that, in this research I attempt to demonstrate that under the conditions on the ground involved in the secessionist conflicts in the post-Soviet space one form of intervention yields greater effect in terms of challenging the status quo than the other. |
| Supervisor | Matteo Fumagalli |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2012/mitaev_maria.pdf |
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