Peace Building Approaches of Governments - Essay Example

 Peace Building Approaches of Governments Critically examine the evidence and implications of a greater convergence of peace building approaches between Governmental and non-Governmental actors involved. Introduction The global reality which faces us today is a result of the developments of world affairs which took place towards the end of the cold war. Since world war two, there have been nearly sixty limited war conflicts which have required intervention from one or more of the global powers and several situations have been averted altogether with the use of diplomacy and economic measures as exemplified by the workings of the European Union. At the same time, there are several places around the world where conflict remains active and humanitarian intervention is often required to keep the peace. The intervention works with or without the use of force, with or without support from the local population and even with or without legal ambiguities (Wheeler, 2003). However, it is clear to see that without a unified approach to the understanding of the conflict as well as the culture of the people involved in the conflict, no intervention or humanitarian action can be completely successful regardless of who the actor is. The age of traditional war as history has known it to be has more or less ended with the devastating terrorist attacks of 9/11, the war against terrorism has also created situations where humanitarian aid may be required after both the terrorists and the alliance forces have left the region (Akhavi, 2003). The case of Afghanistan is a prime example where humanitarian aid is desperately required after the country has seen both the ravages of the Taliban and the carpet bombers from America (Cunningham, 2003). However, the area still remains a conflict zone and must be treated as such; therefore, the ethical aim of a conflict should be to create peace in the region and to bring stability to the world at large rather than to achieve political or economic gains. Peace building is never a simple process and involves many different actors from various segments (Wheeler, 2003). It can be economic in its approach to bring development to a country as the World Bank and the IMF would like to do. It can be administrative in its approach as Oxfam or the UNHCR would function within a country as advisors to the local government. It can even be based on an approach of conflict and military order as other governments can undermine the sovereignty of a nation by sending their peace keeping forces to a region (Carroll, 2004). However, an examination of these approaches shows that there is greater convergence of the approaches being taken by governmental and non-governmental bodies. The evidence for this must be examined before the implications of the converging approach can be discussed. The Converging Approach If the mission statements of the humanitarian organizations are taken in comparison to the words of military leaders as well as those who guide peacekeeping forces it can be shown that both the organizations want to work together in many ways. For example, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights makes it quite clear that their mission “Is to protect and promote all human rights for all (UNHCHR, 2007, Pg. 1)”. Similarly, Oxfam declares in no uncertain terms that, “We believe that all human lives are of equal value. Everyone has fundamental rights – these must be recognised and upheld at all times (Oxfam, 2007, Pg. 1)”. The respect for human rights was clearly shown by the Italians who were part of the European contingent of the peacekeeping forces which were sent to Lebanon. More than 2000 Italians in the group were hard at work trying to understand the local viewpoint of the conflict as well as trying to form bonds with the Lebanese since they respected the idea of human rights for all concerned parties. They actively worked to prevent fights and did not use their guns as often as they used words. Soon after their arrival they were able to effectively allow uninterrupted humanitarian aid to flow to more than 600,000 people in the sector they were supposed to control (Duffey, 2000). By understanding the need of allying their approach regarding the respect for others with aid workers they went on to make alliances with local people and to better discharge their duties. The implication of not having a converging approach was clearly displayed by the American and the French contingents since they failed to achieve the same balance which the Italians did. Their view of the conflict was significantly different from the Arab view of conflict since they had issues of respecting the human rights of the individuals involved (Duffey, 2000). The Americans and the French kept using a purely militarist view of the conflict which led to a lack of understanding and therefore a lack of effective peacekeeping. It is very interesting to note that in 1988 less than thirty countries had ever sent their forces to be a part of an alliance for peacekeeping. However, by the year 2000, there were more than 80 countries which had sent their troops on peacekeeping missions under the U.N. flag. As the soldiers, doctors, engineers or aid workers wear similar uniforms and have been given similar mandates from the U.N., it is also recommended that they follow a unified culture and have a unified approach to peacekeeping (Duffey, 2000). As a part of the unified approach to peace building, both humanitarian actors and armed peacekeepers are recommended by Ehrenreich (1998) to stay on the path of neutrality and to continually move towards a position where free elections can be held for the formation of a stable local government. However, the nature of the conflict may make such a move impossible since the local mechanisms for managing conflicts may be quite different from the norms acceptable to the peacekeepers. For instance, the idea of neutrality is difficult to establish or even promote when one party is clearly guilty of genocidal activities (Li, 2002). If the local population views a certain group as the responsible party for the conflict and wishes to see that group or certain members of the group punished for their crimes they might prefer retributive justice rather than wait for the peacekeepers to analyze the situation and then present their judgments (Duffey, 2000). In such cases, the idea of human rights might even take a back seat as maintaining the peace becomes the highest priority. There was a time when a military man might not have agreed with the idea of peace or humanitarian aid being a solution to the problem but it is clear that the times have changed. In a joint letter to all the U.S. Air Force Service Personnel as well as those in the NATO forces, the Secretary of the Air Force, Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. T. Michael Moseley wrote: “Our task is to provide the president, the combatant commanders, and our nation with an array of options. Options that are not limited by the tyranny of distance, the urgency of time, or the strength of our enemy’s defenses… With one hand the Air Force can deliver humanitarian assistance to the farthest reaches of the globe, while with the other hand we can destroy a target anywhere in the world (Gettle, 2002, Pg. 1)”. Of course a humanitarian worker may balk at the idea that bombs can be used for peace but that divergence of approaches had been present since the very first peacekeeping missions ever conducted. It is the view of the mandate and the position taken on the conflict which causes the conflicts of ideology between military actors who frequently clash with civilian humanitarian workers. A disjointed view of the conflict leads to differences in other areas of handling situations including how operations are managed, how the command and control structures are organized, how decisions are made and how force is used. The long and short term objectives can also be different as can the ways the two groups relate to the media or local populations (Duffey, 2000). The view of military men as tactless yokels who fire first and ask questions later is not entirely justified as the most successful military contingents are those who seek to understand the conflict using the viewpoint of other participants including humanitarian organisations and other participants (Duffey, 2000). This includes the locals in particular because most of the background and information which the military personnel obtain is from briefings and some of the information comes from media sources which may not be entirely impartial to the situation at hand (Skelton & Cooper, 2005). It seems that the humanitarian actors can take a broader view of the situation since they may have to deal with a lot more than the simple ravages of conflict particularly in the case of nations like Sri Lanka where humanitarian relief was provided both for the victims of the wars between the government and the Tamil Tigers as well as those who were facing starvation because of the tsunami. Preference can not be given to any one group since the region hit by the tsunami is ethnically different from the one effected by the war and the Sri Lankan culture is very sensitive to any hint of favouritism (Wilhelm, 2005). In such situations, peacekeepers would do well to take a cultural view of the conflict between regional powers. The present situation in Iraq is just another example of a converging approach with particular regard to training. For instance, the American military and armed forced have been given the responsibility of training Iraqis how to police themselves and maintain peace in certain regions. On the other side, humanitarian aid workers for the country are teaching administrators and government officials how to make sure that the business of the state keeps running in a smooth manner. The gunfire has not stopped and the truck convoys for food are still going to their destination but the convergent approach shows that warriors and helpers are coming to terms in how they need to help each other as well as the local population (Ross, 2003). The current policies of the IMF regarding low-income countries have been outlined by the Managing Director of the Fund (Rodrigo de Rato) who has set the adjustment of policies and economic bodies of poor countries as a priority. These countries are often some of the most war torn regions in the world where humanitarian aid is already in progress. The IMF feels that their policies would enable these countries to come out of debt and the poverty cycle on their own rather than assistance from the outside. In fact, the focus of the IMF appears to be on creating partnerships with countries rather than a master/slave relationship. At the same time, the IMF wants to take control of the areas which come under its expertise of macroeconomic growth, debt management, policy advisement and financial stability (IMF, 2006). Creating partnerships and offering help in areas of expertise is also the approach of many peace keepers who keep weapons at their sides (Skelton and Cooper, 2005). For peacekeeping with financial means without guns, the IMF has already given 100% debt relief which was owed to it by the 19 poorest countries of the world. 13 of these countries were in sub-Saharan Africa and plans are being made to reduce or forgive the debts owned by several other poor nations. At the same time, policy recommendations from the IMF would prevent or restrict additional loans until certain conditions were met so that the economy has the chance to grow without substantial debt servicing (IMF, 2006). Similarly, the problem of aid management can be an issue for a country which does not have the expertise to handle large sums of money for productive causes (Akbar, 2005). Aid is often given to specific causes or programs like hunger elimination, poverty reduction, improving education and disease control (AIDS/HIV, Malaria etc.) which means that there are conditions attached with its use since they are also a part of the UN millennium goals (UN, 2005). The IMF wants to advice countries on how this money can be used within the country without causing a false rise in the currency value or increased inflation within the aid receiving country (IMF, 2006). While peace keepers can act as security advisors for a newly formed government, bodies like the World Bank and the IMF fulfill the role of economic advisors. This means that by furthering the chances of a poor country’s citizen’s access to micro-lending programs and soft loans for small businesses, the IMF involves itself deeply in the financial sector of a poor country (IMF, 2006). This can have negative influences since financial control and independence might have to be given up to some extent (Stiglitz, 2002). On the other hand, it has a lot of benefits since the IMF can call upon a global strength of experts who are familiar with similar processes established in other regions of the globe (Held, 2005). Perhaps the most controversial policy of the IMF is their involvement in governance policies where even a limited contribution or suggestions can be seen as a negation of sovereignty (Robinson, 2005). For instance, the IMF advises countries on how to improve their Public Expenditures since they are important for managing increased aid flows (Craig, 2000). This also helps in the reduction of corruption to a certain extent and can even create accountability for the governments which peace keepers in general would like to see. However, this is a thorny issue and the Managing Director of the fund has appealed for international support in these matters by saying: “On governance and on many other issues, the international community must work together if policies are going to be effective. We are already talking with our colleagues at the World Bank about the division of responsibility between the two institutions. I look forward to discussing this approach further with the rest of the international community. (IMF, 2006, Pg. 1)” Additionally, the IMF has a policy to provide training and education to the officials of poor countries so they can learn improved skills for performance enhancement. The input from the country is given due value since the people who have been living in the area are often the best resource available to them. This is contrary to the idea of forced imposition of policies which the IMF has been accused of in the past. Of course these services may not be provided free of cost but the IMF plans to keep the country’s ability to pay in mind when she is billed for these services (IMF, 2006). Humanitarian aid on the other hand, depends on donations and supplies reaching people from around the world. The same ideals of partnership and providing a helping hand to developing nations are maintained by organization known as Save the Children (STC) who are quite clear that their objective and mission is to providing communities with a hand up and not a handout as some would believe (STC, 2007). In fact, even the WFP focuses on using its provisions of food related aid as a means of creating stability and ensuring continued peace. The first point on their mission statement is to, “Use food aid to support economic and social development (WFP, 2007, pg.1)”. The connection between aid, support, peace and development is made painfully clear if the approaches of the IMF, Save the Children and the WFP are taken in context. The Counter Point Even if a military culture of authoritative dominance prevails in peace keeping operations, the individual cultures of the international groups which make up the actors can not be denied (Wheeler, 2003). Language of course is a primary barrier and even when that is overcome by using a lingua franca the cultural differences may still dominate on how the various groups view the nature of the conflict. Nowhere was this situation more evident than in the humanitarian intervention which took place to prevent further bloodshed in East Timor. Differences in the approach to the conflict caused severe problems for the peacekeeping forces deployed in East Timor. The Australians, who are long time allies of the Americans and have a background of training from the Americans, were seen to take the conflict as more or less all out war. They appeared to view the conflict as a menace and often used maximum force even when something lower might have worked. On the other hand the approach of the British soldiers was more humane as they continually tried to build local connections and cultivate friends amongst the East Timorese (Duffey, 2000). Clearly, the approach used by the British soldiers is closer to the approach which might have been used by aid workers and thus more successful than the Australians. With a primary focus on aid workers and humanitarian actors, the first conflict to approaching the situation is often between the NGO officers (e.g. workers for the Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children as well as other similar charitable organizations) and military commanders. Their view of each other was outlined by Duffey when he said that: “Aid workers are often suspicious of the military and the military is similarly incredulous of aid workers. Such unfamiliarity inevitably encourages the promulgation of ill-informed stereotypes; for example, the military is often characterized as an insensitive, ill-informed, controlling and inflexible war machine, while NGO personnel are seen as sandal-wearing, two-faced, undisciplined and uncoordinated liberals (Duffey, 2000, Pg. 149).” Certainly this situation could be improved tremendously if everyone in the peacekeeping force saw the conflict as an opportunity to resolve problems without firing shots but considering the number of times peacekeepers have to resort to violence and even abuse human rights; it seems as if any conflict within the approach is a significant problem. It can also create dichotomies for the local population who would see one group of peacekeepers behaving in a different way from others and may even be confused about how to react with the peacekeepers and such uncertain reactions can be very deadly in a combat zone. The problem is made significantly more complex if the civilian arm is also included with peacekeepers since in a given conflict zone humanitarian actors could include diplomatic agencies, land, sea and air arms of the forces, armed and unarmed combatants, civilians, local government officials, NGOs, human rights watch dog organizations and other bodies with their own cultural influences. Without a unified approach, on both the micro and the macro levels, problems can occur with culture issues and the interpretation of the conflict depending on individual or organizational viewpoints. Conclusions Despite the complexities, the overwhelming consensus of thinkers, officers, peace keepers as well as the local populations involved in a peace building exercise is that a unified approach is probably the best. Clearly, there can be many interpretations of a conflict since one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s rebel. It has been so since the American Revolution that the founding fathers of one country were seen as rebellious usurpers of power by the king of another (Ehrenreich, 1998). Similarly, today a warrior for one nation is the tyrant of another and at no point would humanitarian actors like to have themselves seen as tyrants coming from the outside to impose their culture, values and viewpoints. As suggested by Duffey (2000) if humanitarian actors or peace keepers have to take sides based on what is acceptable to the local culture, they should. Simply because the primary aim of both the armed forces as well as NGO personnel is to get to peaceful resolution of the local problems and ensure regional stability as soon as they can. More importantly, a common viewpoint can save lives and bring about a speedy resolution to the country’s issues. Skelton and Cooper are respected members of the House Armed Services Committee and considering their words it is easy to see how armed forces should behave like humanitarian workers when they say that: “As operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have demonstrated, the process of restructuring the political order, economy, and social wellbeing of an entire country is as critical as defeating organized resistance (Skelton & Cooper, 2005, Pg. 12).” I would not be surprised if the same words had been said by a high ranking officer of the World Bank, the IMF, Oxfam, the UNHCHR or even a worker for the WFP. As the world continues to evolve it is likely that more and more peace keeping missions will be required before the aftershocks of world war two and the present situations on the globe have been fully resolved. However, until that time comes, a unified approach for both peace keepers and humanitarian workers will continue to develop. There may be differences between them on occasion, but those occasions will very likely lead to the failure of a mission. On the other hand, a convergent approach is more likely to be successful in all of its objectives. Word Count: 3,885 Works Cited Akbar, N. 2005, ‘Scoring the Millennium Goals: Economic Growth Versus the Washington Consensus’, Journal of International Affairs, vol. 58, no. 2, p233-244. Akhavi, S. 2003, ‘Islam and the West in world history’, Third World Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 545-562. Carroll, J. 2004, ‘The Bush Crusade’, Nation, vol. 279, no. 8, pp. 14-22. 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