La Carpio: exposing the hidden violence of poverty and marginalization in Costa Rica
La Carpio is a poor community in Costa Rica, nestled against a wealthy enclave of North American and European ex-patriots. Lynn Schneider takes a sobering look at the discrimination and inequalities faced by residents of La Carpio, demonstrating that cultural and structural violence are deeply ingrained, even in a country praised for its long standing commitment to peace.
Sport as an International Tool for Development and Peacebuilding
Satomi Tsuchiya argues for the greater use of sport in peace and development work, with reference to the great potential of sport to engage youth especially — of both genders — in positive social activities that build trust and community.
Peace in Aceh
Three years after the historic Memorandum of Understanding was signed, Endro Kristanto discusses the long standing struggle between Aceh independence advocates and the Indonesian government, the current challenges to peace, and the necessities of building trust, protecting human rights, and moving towards political reconciliation.
Storytelling and the Moral Imagination: Mothering Peace
Key words: moral imagination, storytelling, peace building, transforming conflict, creativity, peace leadership, peace practioners
From Conventional Peacebuilding Paradigms in Post-Conflict Settings and Reconstruction to Systemic Multi-Foci Approaches: The Case of Somaliland
Building on the work of Dr Victoria Fontan and others, Muhyadin Saed challenges conventional methods of peacebuilding, with specific reference to the experiences of Somaliland. Saed proposes a human-centred, rather than institutional, approach which considers the local people to be vital assets in the design and implementation of such projects. In order to achieve sustainable peace, Saed argues, the local people must be actively involved and considered to be more than recipients of outside assistance.
Reflections on Track II Peace building: case of Bakassi Peninsula in Cameroon
George Ngwane reviews the context and outcomes of the AFRICAphonie Citizen Peace Building capacity project in the disputed Bakassi Peninsula in Cameroon. This project followed a Track II approach, building networks of individuals to complement official diplomatic efforts. This report discusses the background of the project, outlines several ongoing challenges to peace in the region, and points the way forward by touching on some of the most important lessons learned in the process.
Humanitarian Assistance and Peacebuilding: Congruence as a By-product of Incompatibility
Mahmoud Abdou discusses the differences and similarities between humanitarianism and peacebuilding in both operational and ideological terms, and shows how they have increasingly supported each other in the post-Cold War era as instruments of the liberal peace approach to global governance.
Transforming Systemic Inadequacy in International Peacebuilding
Since the end of the Cold War, the outbreak of new wars has generated an extensive need for international peacebuilding missions. Most of these peacebuilding missions, however, have proved to constitute operational and systemic failures (e.g. Rwanda, Tajikistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka). On top of that, owing to the current New World Order and its implied structural changes, the traditional conceptions of peacebuilding will provide even more inept responses for failed and fragile States. Through a bipartite structure, this paper exploits the underlying reasons for the failure of peacebuilding by categorizing it into three main models. As a response to this failure, Alexandra Dobra develops a new model, the Meta->Micro Evolutionary System, which aims to systemically improve the conduct of peacebuilding, through substantiating the existence of a self-sustained and mutually-alternating dyad. The Meta-Micro Evolutionary System codifies ex-ante the conduct of peacebuilding and therefore constitutes a prescriptive tool.
Colombia: the good news
The internal pacification process in much-troubled Colombia has taken an important step forward. The recently concluded agreement between the Government of Colombia and the so-called United Self Defense Forces (AUC – often described as Colombia’s paramilitaries) for the gradual demobilization of the latter has come as a relief to many. It is not relevant to argue here whether or not “the paramilitaries pose the greatest threat to Colombian democracy …” (Foreign Affairs, Volume 8, No. 5) more so than the guerrillas (especially the FARC, who have conditioned advances in peace negotiations, amongst others on the government’s dealings with the AUC). The fact is that the government has successfully concluded an agreement – on paper. Peace-building is as difficult as peace-making, if not more so. Colombia is aware of it. It needs assistance.
The end of war and the promise of peacebuilding
Bob Baskin, president of the peace alliance, comments on Obama’s recent speech calling for an end to the US’ current state of “perpetual war” against terrorism in favour of limited and specific military campaigns. Baskin welcomes the change in tone from the US administration, and argues that it should go further by stregthening institutional mechanisms for peacebuilding within the US and addressing the root causes of terrorism through positive engagement in the international community.