No war, no peace (alternatively, 'no peace, no war') is a phrase referring to a politico-military situation that is stable albeit marked by insecurity and low levels of violence that causes the persistence of a larger conflict.[1] This situation is a deadlock, and is guided by stationary strategies, perpetual hostility and can involve a huge amount of manpower and resources.[2] Proponents of no war no peace may prefer ceasefire as a conflict outcome, thus extending the duration and extent of the grey-zone.[3]

Prevalence

edit

The 2000s have seen a number of countries (Cyprus, Ivory Coast, Moldova) and sovereign subdivisions (Assam, Abkhazia) in such an elongated state.[4] Russia and the United States lingered in a situation of no war no peace for decades.[5]

Breaking/extending the deadlock

edit

In a 'no war, no peace' situation, efforts towards peace following the war, usually following a peace accord, is of a compromised nature having characteristics resembling the war that preceded it.[6] While there may be national level chest beating, at a localised level the "win" or "peace accord" may mean that at localised levels, communities have to unwillingly accept to things such as living with those who were once their enemy.[7] To get out of a state of no war, no peace, the peace required must be "truly transformative" as in the case of Northern Ireland or Lebanon.[7] Here, peace could refer to personal well-being, shared practices, order, stability, justice and absence of war.[8] Peace that ends up fixing superficial wounds, tick marking a quantifiable checklist and that features human rights and democracy in the peace process in turn prolongs the no war no peace situation.[4] For the situation to persist the groups involved must also be continuously "energized and re-energized by new sets of grievances".[9]

See also

edit

References

edit
Bibliography
  • Andersson, Tommy; Mukherjee, Conan (2021-04-03). "Seeking No War, Achieving No Peace: The Conflict over the Siachen Glacier". Defence and Peace Economics. 32 (3): 253–270. doi:10.1080/10242694.2019.1660839. hdl:10419/260243. ISSN 1024-2694. S2CID 159017612.
  • Andersson, Tommy; Mukherjee, Conan (February 2019). "Seeking no War, Achieving no Peace" (PDF). Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Working Paper Series. Retrieved 16 September 2021 – via Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) (free access).
  • Ginty, Roger Mac (2016). No War, No Peace: The Rejuvenation of Stalled Peace Processes and Peace Accords. Palgrave Macmillan. Springer. ISBN 9780230625686 – via Google Books. (Limited preview){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • Ginty, Roger Mac; Muldoon, Orla T.; Ferguson, Neil (2007). "No War, No Peace: Northern Ireland after the Agreement". Political Psychology. 28 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2007.00548.x. ISSN 0162-895X. JSTOR 20447017 – via JSTOR.
  • Beloff, Max (1949). "No Peace, No War". Foreign Affairs. 27 (2): 215–231. doi:10.2307/20030176. ISSN 0015-7120. JSTOR 20030176 – via JSTOR.
  • Aliyev, Huseyn (2019), "No peace, no war" proponents? How pro-regime militias affect civil war termination and outcomes (PDF), core.ac.uk: University of Glasgow

Further reading

edit