Contested Lands: Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka

by Sumantra Bose

The search for durable peace in lands torn by ethno-national conflict is among the most urgent issues of international politics. Looking closely at five flashpoints of regional crisis, Sumantra Bose asks the question upon which our global future may depend: how can peace be made, and kept, between warring groups with seemingly incompatible claims? Global in scope and implications but local in focus and method, Contested Lands critically examines the recent or current peace processes in Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka for an answer. Israelis and Palestinians, Turkish and Greek Cypriots, Bosnia's Muslims, Serbs, and Croats, Sinhalese and Tamil Sri Lankans, and pro-independence, pro-Pakistan, and pro-India Kashmiris share homelands scarred by clashing aspirations and war. Bose explains why these lands became zones of zero-sum conflict and boldly tackles the question of how durable peace can be achieved. The cases yield important general insights about the benefits of territorial self-rule, cross-border linkages, regional cooperation, and third-party involvement, and the risks of a deliberately gradual ("incremental") strategy of peace-building. Rich in narrative and incisive in analysis, this book takes us deep into the heartlands of conflict--Jerusalem, Kashmir's Line of Control, the divided cities of Mostar in Bosnia and Nicosia in Cyprus, Sri Lanka's Jaffna peninsula. Contested Lands illuminates how chronic confrontation can yield to compromise and coexistence in the world's most troubled regions--and what the United States can do to help.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 2007

About the author

Sumantra Bose is an Indian politician scientist and professor of international and comparative politics at the London School of Economics. He specialises in the study of ethnic and national conflicts and their management, with a particular focus on the Indian subcontinent and the former Yugoslavia.

Reviews

[قصي بن خليفة]

الكتاب يحكي نبذة عن 5 مناطق نزاع كما يسمونها... كتبه سومانترا بوز الأستاذ الجامعي في السياسة بلغة "حيادية" لا يتطرق فيها إلى من المعتدي ومن المعتدى عليه، وإنما يصف المشكلة وبعض الأحداث، ومحاولات الوصول إلى حل
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وفي ظل التشويش الإعلامي كنت أرى أني بحاجة لمعرفة شيء مما يحدث، وقد وجدته مفيداً بشكل عام.... ويبدو أن للكاتب مصداقية فقدها عند الحديث عن فلسطين التي اختصرها كثيراً
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في الكتاب، لمن يتأمّل، رؤية للتاريخ وكيف يصنع... وكيف أن التجبر والظلم يطغى ويعلو بدون المقاومة، والتي إن وجدت هي الأمان الوحيد للمظلوم .... دائماً هي القوة!... لا سلام ولا تفاوض بدون قوة
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بالنسبة لفلسطين انتبهت إلى اصطلاح النكبة وغيرها كالنكسة والكارثة وغيرها والتي يتداولها الناس والتي تدل أن الاحتلال الغاشم من اليهود والغرب إنما هو مصيبة جاءت هكذا !! عجيب