Peacebuilding in Developing Countries

Panel 2

Local Alternatives to the ‚Liberal Peace‘ Approach

Chair: Tobias Debiel, Institute for Development and Peace, University of Duisburg Essen, Germany

Discussant: Herbert Wulf, Institute for Development and Peace, University of Duisburg Essen, Germany

M. Anne Brown/Alex Freitas Gusmao: Local democratization in post-conflict societies - East Timor

Decentralisation policies have been introduced in East Timor, to support democratisation and development and in step with international trends in governance, state-building, and post-conflict political rebuilding. A key aspect of decentralisation has been the introduction (in 2005) of party political competition and voting at the local (suco) level with variations partially introduced in late 2009 affecting (among other things) party representation.

Extending government to the local level has been introduced as a response to the growing social, cultural and economic gulf between the centre and the regions, and between government and the bulk of the population, and in order to improve communication, representation and services. In certain areas at least, however, the process of electioneering has been seen as divisive, with the polarisation of national level politics penetrating to the grassroots through party organisation. The introduction of party politics has also been experienced by some as a threat to the positive values of local culture and governance mechanisms. How have forms of electoral democracy interacted with local governance mechanisms already in place in much of rural Timor? There seem so far to be a striking variety of local responses to the challenges of the interaction of the different systems, with active local efforts to incorporate, contain or benefit from the new political initiatives and potentials of electoral democracy.

This paper will explore some of the transactions, conflicts, and efforts at resolution around party political processes and electioneering at the local level in East Timor and their interaction with local forms of social order.

Martina Fischer: Civil Society and State Formation in Post War Bosnia-Herzegovina

The paper addresses successes and failures in the interplay of civil society and state formation in war-torn societies, with reference to the experience in the Balkans. It looks in particular at the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Nearly fifteen years after Dayton, Bosnia is still an unfinished state, suffering from ethnopolitical polarisation between local political leaders and from failed international statebuilding guided by the "liberal peace" approach.

In the early stages of the intervention, international efforts have ignored the potential of civil society (the Dayton Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia in 1995 made no reference to CSOs). In a later stage, strong emphasis was put on supporting local CSOs, but this strategy was not based on an appropriate analysis, thus creating a dilemma: on the one hand, local CSOs have made important contributions, providing a basis for reconciliation within and between the different groups and creating a space for transcending  ethnopolitical discourses. On the other hand, international funding has also contributed to creating artificial "NGO" sectors that do not follow emancipatory agendas. Great parts of the civil society (religious organisations, labour unions and professional associations) are still organised along ethnopolitical lines. Increasing the number of "NGOs" obviously has not lead to the formation of a civil society following the pattern of western style democracies. However, international strategies also have raised exaggerated expectations concerning the potential of civil society as drivers of democratisation. A central argument of the paper is that CSOs cannot compensate for mistakes made in the field of statebuilding.

In addition to the Bosnian case, the paper will also present general research questions regarding the interplay of civil society and the state in post-conflict societies. It calls for more realistic approaches in peace politics, which necessitate a sound assessment of the outreach of civil society, and an appreciation and more efficient use of its potential.

Oliver Richmond: Towards a Post-liberal Peace

This article discusses what an IR and peacebuilding praxis derived from the ‘everyday' might entail. It examines the insights of a number of literatures which contribute to a discussion of the dynamics of the everyday. The enervation of agency and the repoliticisation of peacebuilding is its objective. It charts how local agency has led to resistance and hybrid forms of peace despite the overwhelming weight of the liberal peace project. In some aspects this may be complementary to the latter and commensurate with the liberal state, but in other aspects the everyday points beyond the liberal peace.