2014/05/04 by John Gledhill · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Peacebuilding and International Security #Island Studies and Pacific Affairs #International Development and Aid #Independence (probability theory) #Competition (biology) #Turning point #Agency (philosophy) #Narrative #Political science #State (computer science) #Political economy #Transitional justice #Politics #Criminology #Sociology #Law #Social science #Period (music)
paper · doi:10.1080/14799855.2014.914498
openalex publication_date 2014/05/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
In April 2006, riots broke out on the streets of Dili. As violence escalated over the weeks that followed, a beacon of liberal peace-building dissolved into near-anarchy. While there have been several accounts of Timor-Leste’s “crisis” of 2006, it remains unclear why violence spiraled at that time, rather than at an earlier point in the country’s post-conflict transition. This article addresses that temporal puzzle by combining an analysis of the structural origins of the crisis with discussion of proximate, agency-driven triggers to violence. The resulting narrative first details the development of competition between governing elites, and also between state security actors, over the years following independence. The fusion of those two dynamics of competition in 2006, I then argue, created conditions sufficient for violent conflict.