The field of reconciliation literature has grown substantially since the 1990s, and the concept of reconciliation is now associated with many different definitions and actions in the peace building process. In the diverse field of literature on reconciliation authors highlight different aspects as most important which complicates the knowledge of what a successful reconciliation process really is. To have a better understanding of the field of reconciliation and what affects an author, to argue for their specific theory this study will, through the approach of abductive reasoning, research whether the background of an author affects what they research. To represent the field of reconciliation literature an expert sampling of five authors who are all highly referenced and influence the field will be used. To answer the research objective an analytical frame work together with a hermeneutic text analysis will be applied to each authors text to highlight their arguments. Finally the authors arguments and background will be analyzed to find patterns in the texts which could be compared with possible connections or patterns in the authors background. Based on this study the result shows that authors with a background, which is not only academic might have another approach to understanding the reconciliation process but their arguments show no clear patterns which can be connected to the authors background, however understanding why an author argues is important to understand what kind of people are affecting the actions of reconciliation. This study looked at five authors who all represent a very similar background and arguments which can show a tendency in reconciliation literature that the most distinguished authors all share the same background and therefore might not provide any new insight to the field.

Since the end of the cold war, military interventions have shifted from concerning only to win peace in their operation areas towards start helping the society to rebuild the capacity for development and democracy after the end of the armed conflict. This is made through a large diversity of organisations and actors of various kind with a large range of activities and goals. For the best possible efficiency it could be assumed that these actors should gain from cooperating and working together since their overall intentions are the same. This is not the case though and for this there are several different reasons. It do occur civil-military relations in a couple of areas of operation and the purpose of this study was to explore in which of these the relations are more or less suitable; politics and diplomacy, security, humanitarian aid, reconstruction and peacebuilding. This was done through analyses of litterature on the subject and through a few interviews with experienced personell. The material is derived from scientific research, individual and independent reports but also from statements and comments from those who have actually been on the field. The study also investigated how the links and relations in those networks the actors on the field theater belong to can explain the problems and possibilities. There is no clear answer of which area of operation is most suitable for civil-military relations, but the areas for security and reconstruction have the best possibilities to succeed in achieving their goals if coordination and education about long term consequences are dealt with. The humanitarian aid is the area that is most riskful to perform cooperation within since it could be harmful for the relations of participating actors as well as for the long-term peacebuilding. It is necessary in certain situations though. The need for further coordination and education is emphasized to be held in the arenas that preceeds the field work. This is also what the result from the network analysis gives. All links between actors are important in the field area of an international operation, wether they are strong or weak. They give the possibility to bring the organisations together and increase the knowledge about eachother and also create an understanding for the different types of organisations goals and methods. This will in the long run create conditions for improved coordination and cooperation and thus stronger peacebuilding efforts.

This study was performed during the period March – May of 2007 in Kampala and Gulu district, Uganda, and it was made possible due to a scholarship from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The main focus of the study is to examine and analyse the peace process taking place in Juba (the Juba talks), southern Sudan, with the goal to solve the 20 year old conflict in northern Uganda between the government of Uganda and the rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army. I am doing this by, first; identify the actors involved by using John Paul Lederach’s pyramid which includes three levels of actors, second; study different methods for peacebuilding and thereafter identify which methods have been used in the Ugandan case and third; discover to what extent the civil society and more specifically women’s organisations have contributed to this process. The data collected consist of qualitative literature studies, analyses of articles dealing with the peace talks and interviews with representatives from different levels of the Ugandan society. The analyse of the material shows that all levels of the society have been involved to some extent, but that the peace process is mainly characterized by the top-down approach to peacebuilding, with the top level leaders as the main actors. I also found that women’s organisations in Uganda want to engender the peace talks, for example by bringing women to the negotiation table and let them participate in high level decision-making. Finally, the civil society has in general contributed to a large extent to the negotiations in order to bring peace, yet with different results.

The aim of this thesis is to provide theoretical evidence that a disaster risk reduction perspective within peacebuilding programmes, particularly in countries where disasters and conflict overlap, can contribute positively to the transformation of conflict into sustainable peace. An increasing number of disasters in fragile states and countries affected by armed conflict has brought the attention to know in which way disasters and conflicts collide when they come to occur in the same area, and how disasters can influence on-going peace processes. In order to demonstrate that argument the thesis draws the evolution of the disaster risk management models and peacebuilding frameworks along the last decades and make use of a comprehensive theoretical background to support the subsequent analysis. This thesis contributes to the academic literature and humanitarian reports of studies describing the relation between disasters and conflict but, more concretely, it aims to fill the gap in research studying the links between a disaster risk reduction strategy and peacebuilding programmes. The conclusions of the thesis are that disaster risk reduction initiatives contribute positively in several ways to the different key areas of peacebuilding programmes either as concrete initiatives or as a crosscutting issue. / El objeto de esta tesis es proporcionar sustento teórico a la idea de que una perspectiva de reducción de riesgos de desastre en el marco de programas de construcción de paz puede contribuir positivamente a transformar el conflicto en una paz sostenible, particularmente en países donde desastres naturales y conflicto confluyen. Un número creciente de desastres naturales que acontecen en estados frágiles o países afectados por conflicto armado atrae la atención de profesionales y académicos del ámbito humanitario con el fin de conocer mejor el modo en que conflicto y desastre natural se influyen mutuamente. Esta tesis describe la evolución en las últimas décadas de los modelos de gestión de riesgos de desastre y los marcos operacionales de construcción de paz, además, se sustenta en una amplia base teórica para llevar a cabo el análisis pertinente. La intención es contribuir modestamente a la literatura académica que se ocupa de estudiar la ayuda humanitaria, así como tratar de colaborar en encontrar posibles vínculos entre una estrategia de reducción de riesgos de desastre y los programas de construcción de paz. Las conclusiones de esta tesis indican que las iniciativas de reducción de riegos de desastre contribuyen positivamente en distintos aspectos de las áreas de trabajo de los programas de construcción de paz, ya sea como actividades concretas o como un eje transversal a todo el programa.

La mission canadienne en Afghanistan constitue la plus longue intervention étrangère de l'histoire du pays et a été marquée par un effort important dans la province de Kandahar depuis 2006. Aujourd'hui, il s'avère que la mission à Kandahar présente des échecs importants. Afin d'appréhender la nature de ces échecs, ce travail propose des pistes de réflexions pour améliorer notre compréhension face à cet enjeu. Pour ce faire, le mémoire se questionne à savoir dans quelle mesure le Canada a-t-il respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine au sein de sa mission à Kandahar? La mission britannique dans la province de Helmand en Afghanistan est également utilisée comme outil de comparaison. En guise d'hypothèse, il est proposé que le Canada n'a pas respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine et que cela pourrait contribuer à la compréhension des échecs de la mission à Kandahar. D'abord, les bilans détaillés de ces missions sont présentés et il est démontré que la mission britannique a connu un meilleur bilan que la mission canadienne. Ensuite, à l'aide de la méthode de l'analyse de contenu et d'un codage, les missions canadiennes et britanniques sont analysées afin de déterminer leur correspondance respective face à l'approche de sécurité humaine. Les résultats démontrent que la mission britannique respecte l'approche de sécurité humaine de façon plus importante que la mission canadienne. Finalement, une analyse documentaire propose des pistes de réflexions afin de comprendre en quoi ce déficit de sécurité humaine pourrait permettre d'expliquer les échecs de cette mission lors de futures recherches. Ce mémoire apporte donc deux conclusions. D'abord, la mission canadienne n'a pas respecté l'approche de sécurité humaine malgré le fait que le Canada ait affirmé l'avoir fait. De plus, il est clair que le non-respect de l'approche de sécurité humaine constitue une avenue intéressante afin de comprendre les insuccès canadiens. / The Canadian mission in Afghanistan is the longest foreign intervention in the history of the country and an important part of it was the mission in the province of Kandahar which started in 2006. Today, it appears that this mission presents important failures. In order to have a better understanding of these failures, this work proposes reflection tracks to improve our knowledge on this issue. To do this, this work asks the following question: how did Canada respected the human security approach in its mission to Kandahar? The United Kingdom mission in the province of Helmand in Afghanistan is also used as comparison tool. The hypothesis suggests that Canada did not respect the human security approach and this may contribute to our understanding of the failures of the mission to Kandahar. First of all, detailed results of the missions are presented and it appears that the UK mission obtained better results than the Canadian mission in Kandahar. Afterwards, the human security approach previously conceptualized is used to compare the two missions. With a coding process, Canadian and British reports are used to compare the correlation of the missions with the human security approach. The results show that the UK mission respected much better the human security approach than the Canadian mission. Finally, a content analysis is proposing reflection tracks that may help to explain the failures of the Canadian mission for future research. This work brings two main conclusions. On a first hand, the Canadian mission did not respect the human security approach even if the Canadian officials declared having respected it. Furthermore, it is clear that a lack of human security approach is a strong reflection track for a better understanding of the failures of the Canadian mission in Kandahar.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy: Management Sciences (Peace Studies), Duban University of Technology, 2017. / Local peacebuilding practices require a systematic and reflective analysis in order for them to bring an impact. Successful peacebuilding pivots on the development of a set of skills to attend to the challenges presented by the conflict. The study was inspired by an observation that the emergence of CSOs working on peacebuilding in Zimbabwe was happening in a context where there was no proper training and organisational capacity development. Using an action-research design, and a case study of two CSOs operating in Bindura and Mazowe Districts in Mashonaland Central Province in Zimbabwe, the study involved a sample group of fifty-seven participants, and included a core Action Research Team (ART) of twelve participants to initiate the process of capacity development related to peacebuilding in Zimbabwe. Interviews, Focus Group Discussions, Document studies were used in a triangulation approach to enhance validity and reliability of the process. The preliminary assessment revealed that the peacebuilding environment in the two districts is highly polarised. There is a combination of both direct and indirect violence in the area. The state as well as traditional institutions are active perpetrators of both direct and indirect violence in the two district. The use of Local Peace Committees and the workshop method has not reaped the desired outcomes owing to the polarization. After a preliminary assessment of the peacebuilding environment in the area as well as a critique of the peacebuilding models being used by the two organisations, we then set out on a process of identifying strengths and weaknesses in both the programming as well as the delivery of the projects in the communities. A series of focus group discussions and organisational document analysis of the two organisations, we eventually agreed on the development of a training module for the Action Research Team. Five thematic issues were identified as forming the basis of the intervention programme. The five thematic issues were on the conceptual issues of conflict, violence and peace in a local context, conflict analysis skills, conflict sensitive programming, culture, conflict and change and lastly basic counselling skills for peacebuilders. A three-day training workshop was then held in order to develop capacity relating to the thematic issues. The short term evaluation of the intervention showed that the training was successful as the participants had already started implementing some of the new knowledge and skills. / D

No description available.

This paper analyses proceeding of international community headed by United Nations by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo conflict resolution. It examines roles of the most important international actors within particular conflict resolution phases that are represented by policy lines defined by Boutros Boutros-Ghali and used by UN. It verifies statement that international community has participated by conflict resolution in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo in every phase and has used instruments of all policy lines. The first chapter defines single policy lines that international community has at its disposal when conflict resolving. Reasons and course of conflicts are outlined within the second chapter. The third and fourth chapter analyse in particular subchapters international community activities in relation to preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo.

Post-civil war democratization is a critical element of building sustainable peace in the post-civil war states. At the same time, studies of democratic transition and survival suggest that the post-civil war environment is not hospitable to either the transition to or survival of democracy. The post-civil war environment is contentious. Former protagonists are fearful about their security and at the same time they want to protect their political and economic interests. The central argument of this study is that former rivals can agree to a transition toward democracy to the extent that a stable balance of power exists between the government and rebel groups, a balance that eliminates the sort of security dilemma that would encourage one or both to resume armed conflict. And the balance should ensure access to political power and economic resources. This study identifies factors that contribute to the establishment of such a balance of power between former protagonists and factors that affects its stability. These factors should affect the decision of former protagonists on whether or not they can achieve their political and economic interests if they agree to a transition toward democracy once civil war ends. Factors that are conducive to a transition toward democracy are different from factors that sustain that transition in post-civil war states. Post-civil war democracies are fragile. The side that won the democratic election can dismantle institutions of democracy and repress oppositions. The fear of being repressed could create stronger incentives for the opposition groups to return to conflict. To address this puzzle, I develop a conceptual framework that explains how costs of the previous civil war, the establishment of inclusive institutions and the higher level of economic development create incentives for the former rivals to sustain democracy. Hypotheses derived from the theoretical implications are tested by using survival analysis.

Researchers have found an overlap of psychological symptoms in victims of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Continuous Traumatic Stress. Although the circumstances inducing the psychological reactions are different, the symptoms mimic one another without a clear cut demarcation, calling for practitioners to be cautious of contexts inducing psychopathology that is triggered through re-experiencing of past trauma when they are assessing and intervening with ongoing trauma-exposed communities. This study explored the subjective experiences of 15 local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) administrators in Nigeria across 5 states, including the federal capital Abuja, about the intersectionality of their clients' persistent trauma experiences and their program planning and intervention strategies. The study leveraged complexity and organizational change models, using qualitative inquiry with open ended interview questions and purposive sampling. Questions probed administrators' modalities, orientations, and perceptions that inform organizational planning and interventions. Open-ended interviews of top local NGO administrators provided contrasting insights on current interventions. Data were collected and analyzed using constant comparative content analysis. Findings suggest that local NGO administrators currently lack the awareness and capacity to address their clients' psychosocial, behavioral, and mental health issues that are related to continuous, direct, and indirect violence. The study impacts social change by identifying gaps in current NGO administrators' efforts to reduce effects of violence and support peace in affected communities.