Mohammed Abu-Nimer

Peacebuilding and Development: Integrated Approaches to Evaluation

Awareness is growing in both the peacebuilding and development communities about the need to better understand the influence and impact of their programmes and policies in a more systematic way, particularly in situations of violent conflict or post-conflict environments. The increasing recognition among international agencies, scholars and practitioners of the need to treat peacebuilding and development in an integrated way is, however, not sufficiently matched when it comes to evaluation. There is a lack of research and publications, and the few developed frameworks and research results are often not well known. At the same time there is a demand for integrated frameworks and approaches by practitioner organisations and, more generally, by many others interested in understanding and evaluating the effects their development work has on peacebuilding, and vice versa. This issue of JPD aims to motivate researchers and practitioners to invest in advancing evaluation of themes that link peacebuilding and development applications, and to share new frameworks, reflections and analysis of different experiences.

The Launching of a New Journal: Mapping Strategic Linkages Between Peacebuilding and Development

The answer is simple and it lies in the classic statement, ‘there can be no development without peace, and no peace without development’. Issues of peace, conflict and development have been theorised throughout the century in different manners and with different ideological underpinnings. The current global context is characterised by high levels of violent protracted conflict and inexcusable and rising levels of poverty and inequality. Together and separately, these phenomena arguably account for humanity’s greatest contemporary challenges. A compelling need to rigorously and routinely examine these issues in an integrated manner with an eye towards developing joint conceptual and practical strategies becomes apparent.

Gender Violence and Gender Justice in Peacebuilding and Development

The passing of the landmark Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000 made women’s participation across the spectrum of peace and conflict prevention efforts an essential part of international security. This has changed the landscape of international policy and practice, bringing gender concerns more centrally in focus across a range of peace and security, development, humanitarian and human rights issues. Creating a heightened policy conscience around these issues has been an ongoing effort of scholars and practitioners in peacebuilding and development. This special issue of JPD is being launched during this tenth anniversary year, a time of international celebrations of this important resolution. As many participants in events at the United Nations and elsewhere marking the anniversary have shown, however, there is much work to be done at the local and national levels to realise the real potential of Resolution 1325. This issue aims to contribute to thinking about needed efforts.

Enhancing the Positive Contributions of African Culture in Peacebuilding and Development

Peace and development scholars globally have paid insufficient attention to the roles of African cultures – conceptualised as indigenous knowledge systems, traditions and institutions – in conflict resolution, and wider efforts to advance peace and human development. The dominance of Western culture, institutions and frameworks has relegated the utility of African traditions to the back stage in peace and conflict resolution studies. More damaging is the fact that since time immemorial, many African leaders have politicised culture by manipulating and fomenting ethnic tensions and conflicts, often to serve selfish economic interests, with harmful consequences for peace and development. And yet, inherent in most African cultures is the belief that conflicts should be resolved through dialogue and non-violence, dialogue that encourages participation and compromise, the component parts of a culture of peace and democracy. The ways in which cultural diversity can, on the other hand, contribute in constructive ways to peacebuilding and facilitate contextually appropriate economic and social development are under-explored and, arguably, not significantly institutionalised, analysed and shared.

Environment and natural resource-related conflicts: moving towards transformational approaches

This issue investigates strategic approaches to address conflicts across the globe that centrally involve natural resources and the environment. Our authors are concerned with transformative rather than management approaches as they challenge the boundaries of policy and theoretical debates with rich description and analysis of unique case studies where different approaches are attempted. The cases examined in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America involve conflicts related chiefly to the land, water, forests and protected parks. Several authors identify ideological, economic, geographic and identity-based exclusion mechanisms as playing a central role in entrenching conflict involving natural resources. In responding to these conflicts, most of the authors argue in favour of structural changes to eradicate the causes. However, the nature of the conflicts, and the high numbers of the parties involved, often require complex inter-institutional approaches rather than short-term technological fixes. Several authors point out that long-term transformation should be based on the establishment, or re-establishment, of local stewardship mechanisms. All the articles appear to share the ultimate aim of identifying means for building peace and development which are sustainable in regions that have experienced ongoing war involving natural resources.

Islam, Peacebuilding and Development

As this special issue of JPD was being finalised, the world was anxiously watching the popular uprisings unfolding across the Middle East and North Africa. The editorial staff considered delaying this special issue to include new articles analysing the events, but the changes were occurring too quickly for a refereed journal to keep pace. We knew our role would be a longer-term one, aimed at providing a space for readers to analyse and reflect on the issues and challenges, placing them in an historical context and mapping potential long-term solutions that serve genuine peace and development for these societies as a whole.

Peace Operations and Development Interventions: Expanding Focus on Context, Politics, Participation and Transparency

In JPD tradition, this issue offers in-depth case analysis, sharing new thinking on recurrent themes at the intersections of peacebuilding and development. Specific efforts in historically tough cases for the international community are examined in this issue – Rwanda, Western Sahara and Israel/Palestine – and while some progress can be identified in each, persistent challenges are more apparent, suggesting the need to pause and ask: are lessons being learned and incorporated in peacebuilding and development interventions? Several of the articles indicate ways in which certain international efforts are having unintended consequences of stagnating peace efforts and may even be contributing to entrenching structural sources of conflict that led to war in the first place and have not been soundly addressed. As our cases in this issue illustrate, there is a need for renewed vigour by international and national actors alike towards:

National Ownership in Security, Peacebuilding and Development: Grassroots Activism, Institution Building and Policy Making

This issue, Volume 2, Number 3, examines international and local efforts to achieve security, peacebuilding and development at different levels and in different forms, revealing aspects of their interconnectedness around issues of participation, accountability and national ownership. Underlying the main theme lie several subthemes that critically revisit past issues of JPD, providing new insights that carry the debates forward in new ways. These include the need for Africa to steer peace and development in ways that are socially and politically accountable (JPD 2:1) – here revisited through cases involving the development of institutions, policy-making processes and content, and citizens’ involvement in the design and implementation of security arrangements. Where JPD 1:3 examined peace, development and economic policy interventions and corresponding local impacts, perceptions and emerging practices, this issue delves even more deeply into national-international relationships, highlighting some good – and not so good – practices. Related to national ownership is the importance of culture in effective peacebuilding and development programmes – particularly when they are carried out by external agencies.

JPD in Transition: Critical Reflections on the State of our Field

JPD is in transition. We are thrilled to announce both a new institutional home – the University of San Diego’s Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies – and a new publishing arrangement, with Taylor and Francis Group. Transitions bring forth new opportunities, and in this case we take pride in knowing we will engage with new actors and institutions, reach new audiences and, as a result, deepen and enrich our work. Yet arriving somewhere new means leaving somewhere behind. JPD bids farewell to our friends and colleagues at American University, and in particular the Center for Global Peace, our institutional home for the last decade. At USD we welcome a new Executive Editor to our team, Professor Necla Tschirgi, and in leaving AU we extend our heartfelt thanks to Professor Abdul Aziz Said and Betty Sitka, who worked so diligently over the years with us to create a journal.

Back to Basics: Reassessing our Analytical Models and Strategies to Strengthen Peacebuilding in Africa

ISSN 1542-3166 As our collective knowledge of conflict and development on the African continent deepens, one thing becomes clear: identifying conflict causes and charting paths to peace remain highly complex endeavours. This issue offers five insightful articles that illustrate this complexity in numerous ways while underscoring salient but repeatedly forgotten truths – that culture and context matter – especially in transitional societies where new ideas and strategies are often bombarding fragile environments. The first two articles in this issue offer macro analysis that challenge dominant perceptions about causes of conflict in Africa and what kinds of multi-level responses are needed to address them. Both make the case that our prevailing analytical approaches to conflict assessment are flawed and, understandably, so are the collective institutionalised responses. The other three articles, from different regions of Africa, offer in-depth case analyses of critical peacebuilding and development themes that have global relevance. The authors interrogate the strategic approaches being undertaken by national and international actors, examine the political dynamics at play, and reflect upon actual and potential impacts vis-a-vis transformative and sustained peace in African societies. Their findings underscore the need for ongoing efforts to understand and value the complexities of local contexts, through rigorous research and analysis, alongside genuine efforts to ensure that the findings and lessons are learned and applied all involved.