Introduction

Towards a Multilevel Analysis of the Western Sahara Conflict and the Effects of its Protractedness

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20064754
AutoresIrene Fernández-Molina (0000-0002-2868-418X, University of Exeter, autor de correspondencia)
Año2017
Páginas1-33
Fecha de publicación2017-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoCHAPTER
RevistaGlobal, Regional and Local Dimensions of Western Sahara's Protracted Decolonization (SOURCE_BOOK)
EditorialPalgrave Macmillan US (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/978-1-349-95035-5_1
OpenAlexW2557303550
ISBN9781349950355
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas86

This chapter puts forward a multilevel analytical framework for the study of the Western Sahara conflict and the effects of its protractedness and intractability. The book brings together four levels of analysis—global, regional, state/national and local—with the aim of disentangling the dynamic interplay between them and searching for cross-level interactions over the last two decades, when an “inward turn” has brought the centre of gravity of the conflict back to the interior of the disputed territory where it originated in the 1970s. A call is made to localize research into these changes, in keeping with the “local turn” and “critical localism” recently advocated in conflict and peace studies. A review of the sparse academic literature on Western Sahara reveals trends such as the inclination towards exceptionalism in accounts of the conflict and the predominance of normative and legalistic approaches over empirical socio-political analyses. The difficulty and political implications of defining the nature and classifying this conflict are also discussed highlighting inconsistencies in international conflict databases

Ethnic conflict · Exceptionalism · Geography · Localism · Normative · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · African Studies and Geopolitics · Computer Science · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology