Gradual Recognition: Curbing Non-State Violence in Asymmetric Conflict

Shifting recognition orders

“…In our view, this feature of the for-what dimension of the Islamic State's recognition regime makes it hard to believe that, in this particular case, recognition can 'incentivize moderation in means' (Biene and Daase 2015: 222). However, we realise that the idea cannot be ruled out that gradual recognition can be applied to potentially decrease the overall violence exerted by the group and its successor organisation(s), simply because the 'recognition events' (Biene and Daase 2015) that have taken place towards the Islamic State, such as recognising it as a party to a conflict, remain below the threshold of inducing desired behaviour. Still, we see very clear limits to this, since, for instance, recognition of the Islamic State as 'representative of a collective' (Biene and Daase 2015: 224) is hampered by the fact that there is significant overlap in the claims to representation by the group itself and groups that could perform acts of recognition in the first place, that is, groups that represent Sunni Muslims whom the Islamic State claims to represent in their entirety through the entity of the Caliphate.…”

“…Looking at the development over time, the kinds of recognition the Islamic State or its predecessor groups seek can be roughly characterised as gradual (cf. Biene and Daase 2015), depending on the self-ascribed status as a local, regional or transnational power, and the respective functions and prestige attached to these statuses. At the same time, the change over time in the Islamic State's position and status makes it hard to apply a recognitiontheoretical model that is based on a set of ranked positions oriented towards the 'gold standard' of international political recognition.…”

“…In this, we follow authors who have introduced further differentiations within the general category of recognition. Most notably, we are indebted to Biene and Daase's (2015) introduction of the notion of 'recognition as', by which they differentiate between different grades of recognition of an actor as a party to a conflict, as a participant in informal talks, as a participant in formal talks, or as the (sole) representative of a people or group. In the context of our topic, we feel it necessary to further broaden the range of possible acts of and claims to recognition-assomething by treating it as a generally open category to be filled by the various empirical claims of the actors involved.…”

Recognition dynamics and Lebanese Hezbollah’s role in regional conflicts

“…Depending on the respective recognition-granter, Hezbollah's recognition may be more (Lebanese domestic context, population in the Arab world) or less (global context) 'thick' (Allan and Keller 2006; see introductory chapter to this volume). Moreover, recognition practices change over time (Biene and Daase 2015); addressees of recognition claims may gradually grant, but also withdraw recognition. Following the editors' conceptualisation, mis-recognition is understood as humiliation, disrespect or false representations of a collective identity, where the labelling as a terrorist organisation is one possible form (see also Dudouet in this volume).…”

Recognising armed non-state actors

“…When dealing with armed non-state actors, the complex role of recognition merits far greater attention than it has received so far from researchers in the field of Peace and Conflict Studies. Only few researchers have dealt with the issue of the (non-)recognition of ANSAs and sought to analyse the kinds of consequences recognition has on conflict dynamics (Aggestam 2015;Bell 2014;Biene and Daase 2015;Herr 2015). This is surprising, given that 'recognition' is a crucial concept in Social Science and Philosophy which has recently gained more attention in the discipline of International Relations (IR) (Hayden and Schick 2016: 1-2).…”