December 4, 2024

International Politics and Conflict Resolution

Teresa Almeida Cravo

This thesis offers an analysis of the strategies of Palestinian and Saharawi civil society actors through the discussion of the practice of self-determination and the use of international law. It identifies the challenges faced by actors in a precarious situation in a system of nation-states, and the tactics they have adopted. It thus contributes to the study of violent conflicts and their causes, reflecting on the effects of the non-implementation of self-determination in suspending chances for an emancipatory peace. In particular, this thesis analyzes the role of civil society actors in Palestine and Western Sahara's struggles for national liberation from Israel and Morocco, in protracted conflicts structured by prolonged military occupation and settler-colonization. The research adopts a historical-materialist approach to the study of oppression and resistance to inquire into the limitations and opportunities found in liberal frameworks of international relations and international law. The thesis shows that Palestinians and Saharawis resist in multifaceted forms, as national liberation movements, states in the making, and civil society, as subjects in international history, through struggle.

As a result of empirical analysis, the thesis conceptualizes emancipatory diplomacy and prefigured self-determination as these actors' strategies and praxis in both resisting colonization and occupation, and mitigate the effects of the protraction of their plights, particularly as sustained in the convergence between the colonizers and world powers through different kinds of interventions. Part of these strategies, also their uses of recognition and legitimacy are paramount in the analysis, as discursive strategies aiming at building up solidarity and concrete support. The study stems from critical research committed with the abolition of structures and relations of oppression through a Marxist project for emancipation. Empirical research is done through semi-structured interviews and the participant observation of the engagement of civil society actors in the UN Human Rights Council and the refugee camps in Algeria and Lebanon, in 2017 and 2018. Results are triangulated with the analysis of documents elaborated by these actors and of UN reports and resolutions on their specific cases, using discourse analysis to identify the main challenges and arguments in the emancipatory strategy. The thesis seeks to understand the reasons and challenges of Palestinian and Saharawi actors in their mobilization and use of international law for national liberation; identify the normative and institutional limitations found by these actors in the course of their struggles, and alternatives to these limitations; contribute to the critique of structures and dynamics that sustain these conflicts and prevent self-determination and peace; conduct a qualitative comparison that is underexplored between two similar cases under an internationalist perspective of solidarity; contribute to debates on strategy and tactics in national liberation movements and other contemporary emancipatory movements; promote critical Marxist approaches to International Relations and International Law as alternatives to hegemonic paradigms and discuss paths for a just peace and emancipation.

Keywords: Palestine; Western Sahara; Historical Materialism; Marxism; Self-determination