ABSTRACT

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.

chapter 1|13 pages

Introduction

Diminishing conflicts: Learning from the Asia–Pacific

part I|99 pages

Conflicts diminished?

chapter 2|18 pages

Timor-Leste

International intervention, gender and the dangers of negative peace

chapter 3|13 pages

Maluku

Anomie to reconciliation

chapter 4|17 pages

Aceh

Democratization and the politics of co-option

chapter 5|15 pages

Solomon Islands

From uprising to intervention

chapter 6|14 pages

Punjab

Federalism, elections, suppression

chapter 7|14 pages

Sri Lanka

The end of war and the continuation of struggle 1

part II|69 pages

Conflicts deferred?

chapter 8|17 pages

Bougainville

Conflict deferred?

chapter 9|14 pages

The Chittagong Hill Tracts

Diminishing violence or violent peace?

chapter 10|14 pages

Eastern Burma

Long wars without exhaustion

chapter 11|16 pages

Fiji

The politics of conflict reduction

part III|95 pages

Conflicts undiminished?

chapter 12|14 pages

Southern Thailand

Marginalization, injustice and the failure to govern

chapter 13|16 pages

Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas

Cause or symptom of national insecurity?

chapter 14|15 pages

The Philippines

The ongoing saga of Moro separatism

chapter 15|15 pages

Kashmir

Placating frustrated people

chapter 16|13 pages

The Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea

Conflicts ignored

chapter 17|15 pages

Conclusion

Lessons