Diminishing Conflicts in Asia and the Pacific: Why Some Subside and Others Don’t (Routledge Advances in Asia-Pacific Studies)

Since the publication of the 2005 Human Security Report, scholars and policy-makers have debated the causes, interpretation and implications of what the report described as a global decline in armed conflict since the end of the Cold War. Focusing on the Asia-Pacific region, this book analyses the causes and patterns of this decline. In few regions has the apparent decline in conflict been as dramatic as in the Asia-Pacific, with annual recorded battle deaths falling in the range of 50 to 75 percent between 1994 and 2004. Drawing on a wide range of case studies, this book looks at internal conflicts based on the mobilization of ethnic and nationalist grievances, which have been the most costly in human lives over the last decade. The book identifies structures, norms, practices and techniques that have either fuelled or moderated conflicts. As such, it is an essential read for students and scholars of international relations, peace and conflict studies and Asian studies. Introduction: diminishing conflicts: learning from the Asia-Pacific Timor Leste: international intervention, gender and the dangers of negative peace / Susan Harris Rimmer Maluku: anomie to reconciliation / John Braithwaite Aceh: democratization and the politics of co-option / Edward Aspinall Solomon Islands: from uprising to intervention / Matthew Allen and Sinclair Dinnen Punjab: federalism, elections, suppression / Robin Jeffrey Sri Lanka: the end of war and the continuation of struggle / Bina D'Costa Bougainville: conflict deferred? / Anthony Regan The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT): diminishing violence or violent peace? / Kabita Chakma and Bina D'Costa Eastern Burma: long wars without exhaustion / Desmond Ball and Nicholas Farrelly 11. Fiji: the politics of conflict reduction / John Fraenkel Southern Thailand: marginalization, injustice and the failure to govern / Tyrell Haberkorn Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas: cause or symptom of national insecurity? / Paul D'Arcy Southern Philippines: the ongoing saga of Moro separatism / Ron J. May Kashmir: placating frustrated people / Christopher Snedden The southern highlands of Papua New Guinea: conflict ignored / Nicole Haley Conclusion.