Intractable Conflict

Sumantra Bose, Brian Calvert, Gareth Jenkins | World Politics Review | 2009-06-09

The conflicts in Kashmir, Sri Lanka and Cyprus have now spanned generations. Whether violent or "frozen," locked in impasse or cycling between hope and disappointment, each offers insights into a phenomenon that resists diplomatic and military solutions alike. This set of three World Politics Review feature articles examines Intractable Conflict.

National Ideologies and the Kashmir Conflict
By Sumantra Bose
From its genesis, the Kashmir conflict has been defined by competition between India and Pakistan over the national identity of Kashmir's population. But the elites of both countries have also made the territory central to their respective principles of nation-statehood. Although resembling a long-running territorial dispute between two sovereign states, the contemporary Kashmir conflict is much more complicated and multi-dimensional than that.

Sri Lanka's Stubborn War
By Brian Calvert
Velupillai Prabhakaran, the deceased leader of the Tamil Tigers, once likened himself to a spider in the center of a web. But over the past two years, the Sri Lankan military methodically, unflinchingly pulled his web apart, ultimately dismantling one of the most sophisticated insurgencies in the world. Still, though Prabhakaran is no more, the root causes of the original insurrection survive him.

An Unending Impasse in Cyprus?
By Gareth Jenkins
History has taught veteran Cyprus-watchers to regard any expressions of optimism with at least a degree of skepticism. Indeed, so many false dawns have come and gone over the years that one of the greatest challenges facing anyone who attempts to break the deadlock is to overcome the sense of fatigue that quickly sets in whenever the momentum begins to falter.

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