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Abstract
Humanitarian interventions routinely come with media components, because of the media’s assumed ability to counter hate and support reconciliation. Radio programmes for peace should enable audiences to withstand manipulation and react non-violently in conflict situations. Based in the ideological tradition of modernisation theory, these programmes assume that violent conflict can be overcome by educating individuals. Based on original data from South Sudan, this paper argues that social structure and duty to leaders play a bigger role and that present media interventions are ill suited to the problem. Interventions need to be tailored to the situation instead of relying on generalised responses.
Acknowledgements
This article has benefitted greatly from the helpful comments of Dr Kyle Grayson of Newcastle University and of Professor Gordon Cumming of Cardiff University. The author also wishes to thank two anonymous peer reviewers.
Notes
1. Spitka, International Intervention, Identity and Conflict Transformation, 40.
2. See, for example, Bonde, DIIS Brief: UN-Led Strategies for Media, 1; Brahimi, Report of the Panel on United Nations, 1, 45; Himelfarb and Chabalowski, Media, Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding, 1; Orme, Broadcasting in UN-Blue, 22.
3. Hoeglund, “Violence in War-to-Democracy Transitions,” 87–9; Howard, International Media Assistance, 7; Price, Mapping Media Assistance, 1.
4. Bonde, DIIS Brief: UN-Led Strategies for Media, 2; Himelfarb, “Media and Peacebuilding,” 12.
5. Schoemaker and Stremlau, “Media and Conflict,” 181–95; Stremlau, “From the Field,” 4.
6. Bratić, “Media Effects during Violent Conflict,” 1.
7. Autesserre, “International Peacebuilding and Local Success,” 6–13.
8. Human Rights Council, A/HRC/34/36 Report of the Commission, Iaccino, “South Sudan Conflict”; United Nations, “Security Council Press Statement.”
9. United States Institute of Peace, “Sawa Shabab, A Peacebuilding.”
10. Stremlau, “From the Field,” 4.
11. Rhodes, Ten Years of Media Support, 10.
12. European Center for Conflict Prevention, Power of the Media.
13. Lynch and McGoldrick, “Peace Journalism,” 256.
14. La Benevolencija, “Methodology.”
15. Lerner, Passing of Traditional Society; Sreberny, “The Global and the Local.”
16. Sreberny, “The Global and the Local,” 95.
17. Okigbo, “Media and Sustainable Development,” 4.
18. Sparks, Globalisation, Development and the Mass Media, 40.
19. Packenham, Liberal America and the Third World; Thussu, International Communication: Continuity and Change, 95; Beltran, “Alien Premises, Objects, and Methods,” 108.
20. Sparks, Globalisation, Development and the Mass Media, 47–55.
21. American Psychological Association, “Radio Messages for Peace”; La Benevolencija, “Methodology”; United States Institute of Peace, “Sawa Shabab.”
22. La Benevolencija, “Mission and Vision.”
23. Free Press Unlimited, “Sawa Shabab.”
24. Stewart, “Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict,” 7.
25. Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict, 3.
26. Ibid., 17.
27. Stewart, “Horizontal Inequalities as a Cause of Conflict,” 2.
28. Stewart, “Horizontal Inequalities as a Cause of Conflict,” 2; Huntington, “Clash of Civilisations?,” 22–49.
29. Varshney, “Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflict,” 7–10.
30. Fearon and Laitin, “Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity,” 849.
31. Thum, “Ethnic Cleansing in Eastern Europe,” 75–81.
32. Kurspahic, As Long as Sarajevo Exists, 222.
33. Spitka, International Intervention, Identity and Conflict Transformation, 40.
34. See Free Press Unlimited, “Sawa Shabab: A Ray of Hope”; La Benevolencija, “Mission and Vision.”
35. Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict, 17.
36. Tajfel and Turner, “Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict,” 38, 39.
37. Fearon and Laitin, “Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity,” 874.
38. Gibson, “Strong Group Identities,” 665–705.
39. Ansari, “Bringing Peace to South Sudan.”
40. Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict.
41. De la Guardia, Genocide in Rwanda; Dallaire, Shake Hands with the Devil, 271–272; Schabas, “Hate Speech in Rwanda,” 141–72.
42. Larson, As We Forgive; De La Guardia, Genocide in Rwanda.
43. Bratić, “Media Effects during Violent Conflict,” 1.
44. Staub, “Building a Peaceful Society,” 577, 578.
45. Ibid.
46. Weber, Economy and Society, vol. 1, 235–7.
47. Bilali, Vollhardt, and Rarick, “Assessing the Impact of a Media-Based Intervention,” 221–35.
48. Flyvbjerg, “Five Misunderstandings about Case-Study Research,” 227, 228.
49. National Bureau of Statistics, “Southern Sudan Counts,” 4.
50. Visser, Krosnick and Lavrakas, “Survey Research,” 223.
51. Denzin, The Research Act, 26, 27; Flick, “Triangulation Revisited,” 176; Webb et al., Unobtrusive Measures, 1.
52. Interviews with an employee in the Ministry Foreign Affairs, conducted 16 April 2015, and with a civil society activist, member of the church, and trained journalist, conducted 09 July 2015.
53. Dr Riek Machar was a leader in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) until he sided with Dr Lam Akol in 1991 and broke with Dr John Garang, President Salva Kiir’s political mentor in the movement. Following independence in 2011 he served as Vice President under Kiir. He was dismissed from his post in July 2013 and since then was reinstalled, only to be dismissed again.
54. United Nations, “Security Council Press Statement.”
55. De Vries and Justin, “Failure of Governance,” 3; De Waal and Mohammed, “Breakdown in South Sudan”; Johnson, “Briefing: The Crisis in South Suda,” 300–309, LeRiche and Arnold, South Sudan: From Revolution to Independence, 157–65.
56. Free Press Unlimited, “Sawa Shabab.”
57. Eyeradio, “In Search for Peace.”
58. Bakhita, “Mission, Vision and Objectives.”
59. Eyeradio, “In Search for Peace.”
60. Free Press Unlimited, “Sawa Shabab.”
61. Interview with a senior radio journalist, conducted 01 December 2014 in Juba.
62. Weber, Economy and Society, vol. 2, 1010.
63. Erdmann and Engel, “Neopatrimonialism Reconsidered,” 98; Pitcher, Moran and Johnston, “Rethinking Patrimonialism and Neopatrimonialism in Africa.”
64. Free Press Unlimited, “Sawa Shabab.”
65. Interview with a high-ranking government employee, conducted in Juba, 15 August 2015.
66. Interview with a teacher at Juba University, conducted 28 November 2014 in Juba.
67. Interview with a security manager, working for a private security company, conducted 03 December 2014 in Juba.
68. Interview with a restaurant manager, conducted 08 December 2014 in Juba.
69. Interview with a former junior journalist (who left the profession out of fear and is now doing freelance work in retail), conducted 15 December 2014 in Juba.
70. Interview with a junior journalist, conducted 04 April 2015 in Juba.
71. Informal chat, quoted from field notes.
72. Interview with a journalist, conducted 25 March 2015
73. Interview with a senior radio journalist, conducted 01 December 2014 in Juba.
74. Interview with a high-ranking government employee, conducted 15 August 2015 in Juba.
75. United Nations, “Security Council Press Statement.”
76. Bilali, Vollhardt and Rarick, “Assessing the Impact of a Media-Based Intervention,” 221–35.