Lecture 1 policymaking for conflicted-affected societies Flashcards
Peace and Secutiry policymaking
**Various entities **are involved in peace and security policymaking, including **international organizations ** like the United Nations (UN) through initiatives such as UN Blue Helmets, **regional organizations **such as NATO and the African Union (AU), as well as national governments, both as donors and as states experiencing conflict.
Humanitarian Policymaking
Policymaking in the humanitarian sector involves a multitude of actors, inlcuding UN agencies like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), intergovernmental humanitarian aid agencies like the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), **international non-governmental organizaton **such as Cordaid and the Red Cross, national governments, and local non-governmental organizations like the White Helmets.
Development policymaking
Policymaking in the development sector includes efforts by UN agencies like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), intergovernmental development aid agencies like the EUroepan Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships (EC-INTPA), international non-governmental organizations ** such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations and GAVI, ** national governments, and** local non-governmental organizations.**
Activities in Conflict-affected societies 3 steps of creating peace
- peacekeeping
- peacemaking
- peacebuilding
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping activities involve deploying peacekeeprs to prevent violent conflicts by acting as a barrier between parties in conflict.
Peacemaking
Peacemaking efforts focus on** facilitating negotiations and ** forging settlements between disputing parties to resolve conflicts.
Peacebuilding
Peacebuilding is a** long-term** process aimed at normalizing relations and reconcling differences among all citizens of waaring factions, fostering sustainable peace and stability
Importance of getting it right
Effective peacebuilding requires
Effective peacebuilding –> requires a comprehensive + integrated approach accros various sectors.
Including: military, diplomatic, political, economic, social, and humanitarian domains, to address the root causes of conflict and establish sustainable peace.
Importance of getting it right
Effective peacebuilidng involves
effective peacebuilding involves a range of activities, from demilitarization and insitution-building, to promoting human rights, fostering political participation, providing livelihood opporunties, and promoting economic and social devleopment
Understanding Foreign aid
Foreign aid encompasses various forms of support.
includig: financial resources, technical expertisem and material assistance.
Aimed at : promoting economic development and welfare in recipient countries.
Foreign aid includes
different tpe of aid flows,
such as Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided to low and middle-income countries
Offical Assistance (OA) provided to countries with higher capita incomes
and Private Voluntary Assistance from non-governmental organizations, religious groups, charities, foundations, and private companies.
The relief-development Continuum
The relief development continuum represents the spectrum of assistance provided in response to crises and conflicts, ranging from short-term relief efforts to long-term development interventions.
Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid focuses on addressing immediate needs and underlying socio-economic factors contributing to crises
Development aid
Development aid aims to support sustainable development and poverty reduction in the long-term.
3 big criticism of Autessere (Peaceland) on the actions of international intervention community
- Definitions of success
- disconnect between grassroots peacebuilders and headquarters
- Behaviour of peacebuilders
Critique Autessere International intervention community: Definition of succes
Auteserre argues:
* different peacebuilders often have conflicting views on what is success.
* Questions arise wheter the focus should be on positive or negative peace
* should interventions target nationwide or rural areas?
* When is a conflict restarted?
proposes” effectiveness should be judged based on majority perception of those involved in intervention, including both implementers and beneficiaries.
Critique Autessere International intervention community: Disconnect between grassroots peacebuilders and headquarters
Gap between field-based peacebuildders and instructions of headquarters
local peacebuilders often find themselves needing to adapt + bend rules to suit local circumstances.
Headquarters: may lack sufficient knowledge of local context, leading to inadequate polic decisions, especially when policies are made in capital cities withiout considering cultural differences.
Autesse advocates: for a shift whithin large organization to more autonomy + decisionmaking power to on-the-ground peacebuilders
Critique Autessere International intervention community: behaviour of peacebuilders
Autessere also critiques behaviour of peacebuilding.
outlines: dominant practices, habites and narratives of internaitonal intervenes.
These practices may include:
- prioritizing thematic expertise over local knowledge
- rotating interveners frequently
- relying on univesal templates
suggestion: these beahviours often shape daily life and can have significant impact on how locals perceive international peacebuilding efforts
Overall argument Autessere on international intervention community
There is a need to re-evaluate approaches + practices within the internatnional intervention community to better align with local contexts + improve effectiveness of peacebuilding efforts.
Examples practices of peacebuildings with potential negative impact on intervention success
- prioritizing thematic expertise over local knowledge
- placing expatriates in management positions, and locals in subordinate roles
- Deploying interveners unfamiliar with local contexts and languages
- Rotating interveners frequenlty
- Reliance on universal templates + ‘‘lessons learned’’
- overlooking local input in project design
- Compartmentalizing international system into distinct components
- Collecting information mainly from other interveners + local elites
- using simplified narratives on causes, consequences and solutions to violence
- Resolving conflicts form top down
- Holding security and cooridnation meetings
- being more accountable to donors than intended beneficiaries
- Striving to remain netural or impartial
- Focusing on pertetual report writing
- Quantifiying result with short-term outlook
3 habits of peacebuiling that have negative impact on intervention success
- socialising primariliy with other expatriates
- adhering strictl to securit procedures
- publicizing actions
3 narratives of peacebuilders with negative impact on interventnion success
- Technical expertise is prioritized over local knowledge
- Violence in host countreis has a singular cause, consequence + solution
- interveners are deployed to aid host populations and governments, implying local populations need help + local elites lack knowledge and capacity
Autessere highlights difficulty in effecting change due to 3 mechanism
- Confirmation bias in interpreting new information
- The need for consistency and continuity for individuals + organizations to function
- The perpetuation of the status-quo by habits, even when indviduals express a desire for change.
These mechanisms contribute to regidity of operational modes within the international intervention community.
