Does Peacebuilding Build Peace?

1 Data from the International Institute of Strategic Studies (London), The Military Balance 1997-1998 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 274-284.

2 NATO's stabilization missions (SFOR) and the missions which ended in January 1998 to rebuild the police force and the civil affairs bureau conducted by the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMBH).

3 John Gerard Ruggie, Winning the Peace: America and World Order in the New Era (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), p. 68.

4 Boutros Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace (New York: United Nations, 2nd edition, 1995), p. 46 (reference is to 1992 text).

5 Ibid., pp. 19-20 (references are to the 1995 edition).

6 Mervyn T. Love, Peacebuilding Through Reconciliation in Northern Ireland (Aldershot: Avebury, 1995).

7 Michael Pugh, `The Urge to Engineer: The Social-Civil Dimension', paper presented at the joint conference of the Pan-European International Relations and International Studies Association, Vienna, September 1998.

8 Michael Lund, `Early Warning and Preventive Diplomacy', in Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson & Pamela Aall, eds, Managing Global Chaos. Sources and Responses to International Conflict (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1996), p. 400.

9 See report on the Berlin Conference edited by Winrich Kühne, Winning the Peace. Concept and Lessons Learned of Post-Conflict Peacebuilding (Ebenhausen: Research Institute for International Affairs, July 1996). An `exclusivist' outlook linking peacebuilding to a political, not developmental, activity is clearly delineated by John Cockell when he writes: `peacebuilding requires a distinct operational objective that should not simply be imported from the development community'. See John Cockell, `Peacebuilding and Human Security: Frameworks for International Responses to Internal Conflict', paper presented at the joint conference of the Pan-European International Relations and International Studies Association, Vienna, September 1998, p. 22.

10 This is what could be inferred from Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Agenda for Peace, p. 22 (reference to 1995 text), as well as from An Agenda for Development (New York: United Nations, 1994), pp. 5-6; the developmental perspective on peacebuilding has been studied by Jean-François Rioux & Robin Hay, `La convergence entre développement, paix et sécurité', Note de recherche, Montréal, Teleglobe Raoul-Dandurand Chair of Strategic and Diplomatic Studies, November 1997; by Kenneth Bush, `Towards a Balanced Approach to Rebuilding War-Torn Societies', Canadian Foreign Policy, vol. 3, Winter 1995, pp. 49-53; and by Necla Tschirgi, `Defining Peacebuilding', DFAIT-NGO Peacebuilding Consultations, Ottawa, DFAIT, 7 February 1997.

11 Ronald Fisher, `The Potential for Peacebuilding: Forging a Bridge from Peacekeeping to Peacemaking', Peace and Change, no. 18, 1993. Interestingly, the 1995 version of An Agenda for Peace is more `synergist' whereas that of 1992 is clearly more `gradualist'.

12 John Paul Lederach presents his holistic view of peacebuilding in Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1997), pp. 73-85, a view somewhat shared by John Cockell (see note 9 above), pp. 8-10.

13 Boutros Boutros-Ghali reasserts: `the primary condition for the engagement of the United Nations in post-conflict peacebuilding must be consent of the parties concerned', in Kühne (see note 9 above), p. x. Eva Bertram has added that at a minimum the government exercising power must give its consent; see Eva Bertram, `Reinventing Governments: The Promise and Perils of Peace Building', Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 39, no. 3, September 1995, pp. 387-418.

14 Thomas Weiss & Leon Gordenker, eds, NGOs, the UN and Global Governance (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1996).

15 These studies deal with the following cases: Namibia, Cambodia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Angola, Rwanda, and Bosnia. In Paris' view, the only positive outcome was in Namibia. See Roland Paris, `Peacebuilding and the Limits of Liberal Internationalism', International Security, vol. 22, Fall 1997, pp. 54-89.

16 On peacemaking, see Fen Osler Hampson, Nurturing Peace: Why Peace Settlements Succeed or Fail (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1996), pp. 3-25; and Chester A. Crocker & Fen Osler Hampson, `Making Peace Settlements Work', Foreign Policy, no. 104, Fall 1996, pp. 54-71.

17 Charles King, `Ending Civil Wars', Adelphi Papers, no. 308, March 1997.

18 Ibid., p. 58.

19 Stephen John Stedman, `UN Interventions in Civil Wars: Imperatives of Choice and Strategy', in Donald Daniel & Bradd Hayes, eds, Beyond Traditional Peacekeeping (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1995), on p. 56.

20 Stephen John Stedman, `Spoiler Problems in Peace Processes', International Security, vol. 22, no. 2, Fall 1997, pp. 5-53.

21 King (see note 17 above), p. 25.

22 Walter Clarke & Jeffrey Herbst, `Somalia and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention', Foreign Affairs, vol. 75, March-April 1996, pp. 70-85.

23 Richard Betts, `The Delusion of Impartial Intervention', Foreign Affairs, vol. 73, November-December 1994, pp. 20-33.

24 Stephen John Stedman, `Alchemy for a New World Order: Overselling “Preventive Diplomacy” ', Foreign Affairs, vol. 74, no. 3, May-June 1995, pp. 14-20, on p. 20.

25 This analysis is inspired by Charles King (see note 17), pp. 29-53. See also Bertram (see note 13 above), pp. 396-400 and 405-406.

26 Roy Licklider, `The Consequences of Negotiated Settlements in Civil Wars, 1945-1993', American Political Science Review, vol. 89, no.3, September 1995, pp. 681-690.

27 John Mearsheimer, `The Only Exit From Bosnia', New York Times, 7 October 1997, p. A-13; see also similar arguments by Maynard Glitman, `US Policy in Bosnia: A Flawed Approach', Survival, vol. 38, Winter 1996-97, pp. 66-83; James Schear, `Bosnia's Post-Dayton Traumas', Foreign Policy, no. 104, Fall 1996, pp. 87-101; and Jane M.O. Sharp, `Dayton Report Card', International Security, vol. 22, Winter 1997-98, pp. 101-137.

28 Here we are dealing here only with the electoral aspect of the democratic transition, but the judicial and penal dimensions are equally essential to accomplish this transition. See Kühne (note 9 above), pp. 81-95, and Krishna Kumar, Rebuilding Societies After Civil War. Critical Roles for International Assistance (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1997), pp. 9-11.

29 The equation should rather be made between the republican form of government and perpetual peace, as elaborated in Kantian philosophy, i.e. the pre-eminence of the rule of law and of the principle of individual liberty. Kant remained skeptical, however, about the rule of majority consent, and according to Steve Chan would not have considered himself a `democrat' if that rule be taken to mean respect for popular will; see Steve Chan, `In Search of Democratic Peace: Problems and Promise', Mershon International Studies Review, vol. 41, May 1997, pp. 59-92, on p. 64.

30 See the empirical studies by Jarat Chopra, `The Space of Peace-Maintenance', Political Geography, vol. 15, no. 3/4, 1996, pp. 335-357; Paris (note 15 above), pp. 64-73; Stephen John Stedman, `Spoiler Problems in Peace Processes', pp. 19-44, and `UN Intervention in Civil Wars', pp. 40-52; Kühne (note 9 above), pp. 11-47; and Sonia Han, `Building a Peace that Lasts: The United Nations and Post-Civil War Peace-building', Journal of International Law and Politics, vol. 26, Summer 1994, pp. 843-867.

31 Even in Haiti, which is a successful example of peacebuilding, a culture of brutality persists and the recent elections have exacerbated political divisions. `Haiti shows why outsiders should not count on rapidly changing a political culture deformed by centuries of dictatorship', comments the New York Times, 11 December 1997, p. A-12.

32 Paris (see note 15 above), p. 75.

33 Kumar (see note 28 above), p. 8.

34 Ethnic rivalries are a fertile ground for scapegoating; the case is convincingly argued by Renée De Nevers in `Democratization and Ethnic Conflict', Survival, vol. 35, Summer 1993, pp. 31-48; and V.P. Gagnon, `Ethnic Nationalism and International Conflict', International Security, vol. 19, Winter 1994-95, pp. 331-367.

35 Edward D. Mansfield & Jack Snyder, `Democratization and the Danger of War', International Security, vol. 20, no. 1, Summer 1995, pp. 5-38, on p. 8. Mohammed Ayoub notes that in European history `democracy emerged as the final stage of the state-building process' (and not the first), an observation which, in his view, is still more pertinent for the Third World; see `State Making, State Breaking, and State Failure', in Crocker et al. (see note 8 above), p. 47.

36 Kühne (see note 9 above), p. xxv.

37 Ibid., p. 92.

38 On this subject, the study of Nicole Ball and Tammy Halevy is prescient: Making Peace Work: The Role of the International Development Community (Washington, DC: Overseas Development Council, 1996).

39 Fareed Zakaria, `The Rise of Illiberal Democracy', Foreign Affairs, vol. 76, November-December 1997, pp. 28, 35. The thesis is also supported by `The Staff Report on Building Peace Through Good Governance', Peace Initiatives, vol. 3, March-April 1997, pp. 60-70.

40 Kumar (see note 28 above), p. 15.

41 Our analysis of these economic situations is indebted to Paris's study (see note 15 above), pp. 66-70.

42 Ibid., p. 78.

43 `The Rulers, the Ruled and the African Reality', The Economist, 20 September 1997, p. 49.

44 Kühne (see note 9 above), p. 75.

45 Timothy Shaw, `Beyond Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: What Links to Sustainable Development and Human Security?' International Peacekeeping, vol. 3, Summer 1996, p. 41; see also Jeremy Ginifer, `Development and the UN Peace Mission: A New Interface Required?' International Peacekeeping, vol. 3, Summer 1996, pp. 3-13.

46 Susan Willett, `Ostriches, Wise Old Elephants and Economic Reconstruction in Mozambique', International Peacekeeping, vol. 2, Spring 1995, p. 44.

47 These suggestions are taken in large part from Roland Paris (pp. 79-89), who proposes that peacebuilding follow a more prudent `strategic liberalization' approach.

48 Boutros Boutros-Ghali, The 50th Anniversary Annual Report on the Work of the Organization (New York: United Nations, 1996), p. 317.