Diminishing Conflict in Timor Leste

Susan Harris Rimmer, The Australia National University

Abstract

Diminishing Conflict In Timor-Leste

Susan Harris Rimmer

5.00pm Tuesday 14 October

LectureTheater 2, Hedly Bull Centre, ANU

Why do conflicts within states sometimes wane (e.g., Khalistan, Free Quebec)? Are they simply smashed by superior state force? Do generations run out energy? Do skilful governments ameliorate injustice? Do foreign interventions and peace mediations work? Do foreign backers stop backing? What combination of all these?

Such questions tax many of us in the College, and we bring to bear on them the lenses of every discipline from history and anthropology to economics and strategic studies. “Diminishing Conflicts,” therefore, seemed a fruitful theme for a series of winter conversations, inspired by the successful “Keywords” conversations of last winter.

Each week in “Diminishing Conflicts” (the ambiguity of the title is intentional) a speaker will discuss an example where internal conflicts have waned, diminished or apparently disappeared. Speakers will attempt to explain why. Audiences will be invited to intervene.