Lecture Series | Eiki Berg (Tartu) | Digging in the Dirt: ‘No War, No Peace and Not Too Much Killing’

This talk forms part of the lecture series War. Peace. Security. organised by Dr Cindy Wittke (IOS Regensburg) with Dr Paul Vickers (ScienceCampus) and Prof Ulf Brunnbauer (IOS Regensburg). The lecture will be held in English.

Download the calendar file here.

Abstract:

Frozen conflicts refer to situations where active fighting has ceased, but the core issues between the warring parties remain unresolved. This means that major actors prefer keeping things as they are – i. e., ‘no war, no peace and not too much killing’. Frozenness, strictly speaking, means that both peaceful and violent resolutions would be ruled out. However, internal and external (f)actors might still push frozen conflicts into one or another direction. Hence, an analytical framework that builds on incomplete secessions where de facto states are involved and interacting with other actors, seems inevitable. The first tier in this framework focuses merely on the de facto state regime stability affected by internal legitimacy. The second tier interrogates the de facto state agency and uncovers concurrent relations that the de facto state has with three other actors that “pull the strings” in the conflict. These are (i) the parent state, (ii) the patron state, and (iii) the third parties. The third tier of analysis focuses on the “moving strings” outside the control of the primary actor under analysis – that is the relations between other actors – regardless of the de facto state involved. In the end this proposed three-tier analysis should explain why some frozen conflicts continue to endure (status quo), others get resolved (peace agreement), and others burst into large-scale violence (war).

Bio:

Eiki Berg is a Professor of International Relations Theory at the University of Tartu in Estonia. His academic expertise focuses on political geography, border studies, EU expansion, and the complexities of sovereignty in post-Soviet space. Prof. Berg is particulary recognised for his work on de facto states and frozen conflicts, contributing to discussions about international relations in areas with contested borders.