The Evolution of Post-conflict Recovery

Abstract

Recent history has been marked by the rise of post-conflict intervention as a component of military and foreign policy, as a form of humanitarianism and as a challenge to Westphalian notions of state sovereignty. The terms of debate, the history of the discipline and the evolution of scholarship and practice remain relatively under-examined, particularly in the post-9/11 period in which post-conflict recovery came to be construed as an extension of conflict and as a domain concerned principally with the national security of predominantly Western countries. The subsequent politicisation of post-conflict recovery and entry of post-conflict assistance into the political economy of conflict have fundamentally changed policy making and practice. The authors argue that research into post-conflict recovery, which must become increasingly rigorous and theoretically grounded, should detach itself from the myriad political agendas which have sought to impose themselves upon war-torn countries. The de-politicisation of post-conflict recovery, the authors conclude, may benefit from an increasingly structured ‘architecture of integrated, directed recovery’.

Notes

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2 S Barakat, ‘Post-war reconstruction and development: coming of age’, in Barakat (ed), After the Conflict: Reconstruction and Development in the Aftermath of War, London: IB Tauris, 2005, pp 13–16.

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4 P Duignan & LH Gann, ‘The Marshall Plan: history and culture’, Hoover Digest, 4, 1997.

5 Figures were extrapolated from data available in J Dobbins, SG Jones, K Crane, A Rathmell, B Steele, R Teltschik & A Timilsina, The UN's Role in Nation Building: From the Congo to Iraq, Arlington, VA: rand Corporation, 2005. Given that the authors' calculations were based on population statistics, which are notoriously unreliable in post-conflict environments, these and the following figures should be viewed as approximations.

6 Ibid, p 239. Numbers in the figure are found from the same source.

7 Barakat, ‘Post-war reconstruction and development’, p 10.

8 P White & L Cliffe, ‘Matching response to context in complex political emergencies: “relief”, “development”, “peace-building” or something in-between?’, Disasters, 24 (4), 2000, pp 314–342.

9 A similar approach is taken, albeit with the specific use of the term ‘regeneration’, by Michael Pugh, ‘The ownership of regeneration and peacebuilding’, in Pugh (ed), Regeneration of War-Torn Societies, London: Macmillan, 2000, pp 1–14.

10 S Barakat & M Chard, ‘Theories, rhetoric and practice: recovering the capacities of war-torn societies', Third World Quarterly, 23 (5), 2002, pp 817–836.

11 K Kumar, ‘The nature and focus of international assistance for rebuilding war-torn societies’, in Kumar (ed), Rebuilding Societies after Civil War: Critical Roles for International Assistance, London: Lynne Reinner, 1997, p 2.

12 Stabilisation Unit, UK Concepts of Stabilisation, London: Stabilisation Unit, 2007, at http://www.stabilisationunit.gov.uk/resources/factsheets/Stabilisation%20Unit%20UK%20Concept%20of%20Stabilisation%20Factsheet.doc, accessed 10 December 2008.

13 J Barbara, ‘Rethinking neo-liberal state building: building post-conflict development states’, Development in Practice, 18 (3), 2008, pp 307–318.

14 Barakat, ‘Post-war reconstruction and development’.

15 C Gore, ‘The rise and fall of the Washington Consensus as a paradigm for developing countries’, World Development, 28 (5), 2000, pp 789–790.

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19 For information regarding implementation of saps, which appears to have strengthened post-conflict recovery and development, see P Collier, ‘Aid, policy and peace: reducing the risks of civil conflict’, Defence and Peace Economics, 13 (6), 2002, p 435. See also S Michailof, M Kostner & X Devictor, Post-Conflict Recovery in Africa: An Agenda for the Africa Region, Washington, DC: World Bank, 2002, p 9.

20 Gore, ‘The rise and fall of the Washington Consensus as a paradigm for developing countries’, p 795.

21 Ibid.

22 M ul Haq, Reflections on Human Development, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

23 N Leader & P Colenso, Aid Instruments in Fragile States, Working Paper 5, London: Department for International Development, 2005, pp 30–31; and J Shaw, ‘A World Bank intervention in the Sri Lankan welfare sector: the National Development Trust Fund’, World Development, 27 (5), 1999, p 830.

24 R MacGinty, ‘The role of symbols in peacemaking’, in J Darby & R MacGinty (eds), Contemporary Peacemaking: Conflict, Violence and Peace Processes, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, p 602.

25 R Caplan, International Governance of War-torn Territories: Rule and Reconstruction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

26 N Colletta, M Kostner & I Wiederhofer, Case Studies in War-to-Peace Transition: The Demobilization and Reintegration of Ex-combatants in Ethiopia, Namibia and Uganda, Washington, DC: World Bank, 1996; and K Kingma, Demobilisation and Reintegration of Ex-combatants in Post-war and Transition Countries: Trends and Challenges of External Support, Eschborn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, 2001. In addition to ddr, other ssr activities included police reform, intelligence reform, defence reform, small and light weapons control, heavy weapon cantonment and several other sectors of activity less associated with peacekeepers, such as judicial and penal reforms.

27 Data up to 1996 can be found in P Willetts (ed), The Conscience of the World: The Influence of Non-Governmental Organisations in the UN System, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1996, p 38. Data since 1996 were compiled by Willetts and published online. See P Willetts, Growth in the Number of ecosoc ngos, London: City University of London, 2002, at http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/p.willetts/NGOS/NGO-GRPH.HTM#data, accessed 13 November 2004.

28 A Leftwich, ‘Governance, democracy and development in the Third World’, Third World Quarterly, 14 (3), 1993, p 616.

29 J Brohman, ‘Universalism, Eurocentralism and ideological bias in development studies: from modernisation to neoliberalism’, Third World Quarterly, 16 (1), 1995, pp 121–140; and I Ahmed & R Green, ‘Rehabilitation, sustainable peace and development: towards reconceptualisation’, Third World Quarterly, 20 (1), 1999, pp 193–196.

30 L Cliffe & R Luckham, ‘Complex political emergencies and the state: failure and the fate of the state’, Third World Quarterly, 20 (1), 1999, pp 27–50; and S Barakat, ‘Setting the scene for Afghanistan's reconstruction: the challenges and critical dilemmas’, Third World Quarterly, 23 (5), 2002, pp 801–816.

31 A Suhrke, ‘Reconstruction as modernisation: the “post-conflict” project in Afghanistan’, Third World Quarterly, 28 (7), 2007, pp 1291–1308.

32 Barakat, ‘Setting the scene for Afghanistan's reconstruction’.

33 S Barakat, ‘The failed promise of multi-donor trust funds: aid financing as an impediment to effective state building in post-conflict contexts’, Policy Studies, 30 (2), 2009, pp 107–126. Interestingly the heavy-handed, donor-driven implementation of trust funds has led Uganda and Sri Lanka to reject them, despite the likelihood that the use of alternative aid modalities could result in their governments receiving less external assistance.

34 Barakat, ‘Setting the scene for Afghanistan's reconstruction’, p 10.

35 Barakat & Chard, ‘Theories, rhetoric and practice’, p 818.

36 J Goodhand, ‘Aiding violence or building peace? The role of international aid in Afghanistan’, Third World Quarterly, 23 (5), 2002, pp 837–895.

37 S Barakat & G Wardell, ‘Exploited by whom? An alternative perspective on humanitarian assistance to Afghan women’, Third World Quarterly, 23 (5), 2002, pp 909–930.

38 Barakat et al, Understanding Afghanistan, p 3.

39 SA Zyck, ‘Former combatant reintegration and fragmentation in contemporary Afghanistan’, Conflict, Security & Development, 9 (1), 2009, pp 111–131.

40 Barakat, ‘Post-war reconstruction and development’, pp 28–30.

41 The Australian government and military have been the most willing to consciously consider the challenges of intervening with traditionally post-conflict operations while violence and insurgency remain widespread. See ‘Reconstruction during conflict’, a special issue of the Australian Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Engineering, 6 (2), 2008.

42 P Middlebrook, J Goodhand, C Cramer, A Patterson & S Foot, Understanding Afghanistan: Political Economy Analysis, London: Department for International Development, 2008.

43 The three most insecure provinces in Afghanistan receive three times more assistance on a per capita basis than relatively more secure provinces such as Takhar and Sar-I Pul. See M Waldman, Falling Short: Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan, Kabul: Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (acbar), 2008. See also S Barakat, A Giustozzi, C Langton, M Murphy, M Sedra & A Strand, Understanding Afghanistan: Strategic Conflict Assessment, London: Department for International Development, 2008.

44 M Jackson & S Gordon, ‘Rewiring interventions? UK provincial reconstruction teams and “stabilization”’, International Peacekeeping, 14 (5), 2007, pp 647–661.

45 Save the Children, Provincial Reconstruction Teams and Humanitarian–Military Relations in Afghanistan, London: Save the Children, 2004.

46 B Stapleton, The Provincial Reconstruction Team Plan in Afghanistan: A New Direction?, Bonn: Bonn International Centre for Conversion, 2003.

47 See, for instance, the speech of the nato Secretary-General at the Microsoft–bbc–nato Defence Leaders Forum, Noordwijk aan Zee, 23 April 2007, at http://www.nato.int/docu/speech/2007/s070423a.html, accessed 4 April 2008.

48 K Bjork & R Jones, ‘Overcoming dilemmas created by the 21st century mercenaries: conceptualising the use of private security companies in Iraq’, Third World Quarterly, 26 (4), 2005, pp 777–796.

49 Waldman, Falling Short.

50 N Bensahel, O Oliker, K Crane, RR Brennan, Jr, HS Gregg, T Sullivan & A Rathmell, After Saddam: Prewar Planning and the Occupation of Iraq, Arlington, VA: rand Corporation, 2008. See also R MacGinty, ‘The pre-war reconstruction of post-war Iraq’, Third World Quarterly, 24 (4), 2003, pp 601–617.

51 Bensahel et al, After Saddam.

52 From 2005 to 2007, oecd dac spending declined by 3.35%, although the influence of non-DAC donor spending meant that global oda disbursements in fact rose by 0.38%. Data compiled from the dac Query Wizard for International Development Statistics (qwids), at http://stats.oecd.org/qwids/, accessed 14 January 2009.

53 Information regarding Saudi post-conflict spending in southern Lebanon is based upon personal communications with representatives of the Saudi Popular Committee, 5 December 2008, Beirut; information concerning Saudi contributions to the reconstruction of Gaza is from ‘Saudis offer $1 billion to repair Gaza’, Washington Times, 19 January 2008.

54 A Harmer & L Cotterrell, Diversity in Donorship: The Changing Face of Official Humanitarian Aid, London: Overseas Development Institute, 2005, p 17.

55 See note 52, qwids.

56 Islamic donors are more able to understand the importance of rebuilding mosques, which allow a semblance of normalcy and a site for community organisation, in the aftermath of conflict. So-called ‘traditional’ donors such as the USA and European Union had forbidden their funds being used to support religious institutions, although such regulations were reportedly sidestepped by listing the buildings as ‘community centres’ in official documentation.

57 Information regarding the reconstruction of southern Lebanon and the role of, primarily, Gulf state donors can be found in S Barakat & SA Zyck, Housing, Compensation and Emergency Preparedness in the Aftermath of the 2006 ‘July War’ in Southern Lebanon, Beirut: Norwegian Refugee Council, 2008.

58 Harmer & Cotterrell, Diversity in Donorship, pp 33–35.

59 J Welsh & A Gheciu, ‘The imperative to rebuild: assessing the normative logics for post-conflict reconstruction’, a publication of the Centre for International Studies, 2008.

60 T Hasic, Reconstruction Planning in Post-Conflict Zones: Bosnia and Herzegovina and the International Community, Stockholm: Royal Institute of Technology, 2004, p ix.

61 P Collier, VL Elliott, H Hegre, A Hoeffler, M Reynal-Querol & N Sambanis, Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy, Washington, DC: World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2003; P Collier, A Hoeffler & M Soderbom, ‘Post-conflict risks’, Journal of Peace Research, 45 (4), 2008, pp 461, 469; P Collier, A Hoeffler & D Rohner, Beyond Greed and Grievance: Feasibility and Civil War, Oxford: Centre for the Study of African Economies, 2007; and T Addison & SM Murshed, From Conflict to Reconstruction: Reviving the Social Contract, Helsinki: United Nations University/wider, 2001.

62 R Paris, ‘Human security: paradigm shift or hot air?’, International Security, 26 (2), 2001, pp 87–102.

63 P Collier, ‘Private sector development and peacebuilding’, transcript of keynote address at the Donor Committee on Enterprise Development conference, Berlin, 14 September 2006, p 1.

64 Collier's widely adopted conclusion that conflict reversion affects between 40% and 50% of post-conflict countries has been convincingly challenged by Suhrke and Samset. See Collier et al, Breaking the Conflict Trap; and A Suhrke & I Samset, ‘What's in a figure? Estimating recurrence of civil war’, International Peacekeeping, 14 (2), 2007, pp 195–203.

65 P Collier & D Rohner, ‘Democracy, development and conflict’, Journal of the European Economic Association, pp 531–540.

66 Dobbins et al, The UN's Role in Nation Building, p xxvii.

67 United Nations, Strengthening Conflict-Sensitive Business Practices in Vulnerable and Conflict-Affected States, New York: United Nations Development Programme, 2004.