Eleanor O'Gorman, Zed Books, London, 2011
Review: Judith Large
ISBN 9781848135758
This is an unusual book. Small and unassuming in its outward appearance, its contents are a powerhouse of succinct analysis and insight. For the readers of this journal; for students of international relations, development or political economy, conflict or peace studies; for humanitarian professionals or policy makers, this book is a compendium of choice. For anyone concerned with conflict, peacebuilding and development, here is compelling guide to How We Got Here and what is all means.
O'Gorman tackles two enormous subjects. She manages to weave them together effectively, offering background in their theoretical and practical evolution from academic origins in international relations, war studies, sociology and conflict analysis. Her aim is to ‘map out the thinking and practices that are redefining contemporary responses to violent conflict in the global South and generating new possibilities and dilemmas for the moral, legitimate and practical role of development assistance in the twenty-first century’. Her focus is roughly the past two decades, or that tumultuous period since the end of the Cold War. Ambitious in her scope, she is confident with her material, offering conceptual and applied milestones for this period.
The six thematic parts cover: an overview, ‘Greed, Grievance and Poverty: the politics of analyzing conflict’; aid architecture; conflict analysis frameworks; gender considerations; and ‘Fragile States and the Limits of Peacebuilding and Statebuilding’. Section 5, ‘Women, Peace and Security: The Gendering of International Conflict and Development’, is refreshing in scope and could be a stand-alone piece for seminars or advancing policy debates. Each section is concise and comprehensive.
There was a time in the early 1990s when ‘from relief to development’ was understood as a continuum, possibly drawing on post-World War II experience: that is, war destroys and disrupts, rendering societies in need of relief to get back on their feet. In this narrative, societies,sufficiently bolstered by aid, then move to development and hence to a peaceful future. Recovery in war-torn settings has not proved so straightforward in the past 20-plus years. O'Gorman firmly places her analysis within nested global power relations (and globalisation itself), local actors, needs and agendas, and multi-level vested interests. She offers a quick tour of development sector perspectives, which covers international organisations, aid agencies and government desks. Millennium Development Goals, ‘do no harm’ and ‘root causes’ figure here, as do examples of development as hostage to violence and politics. One wonders if the ‘greed and grievance’ thesis should not also be transferred to multinational, statist and corporate levels, as in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) war experience or the current impasse in Abyei, Kordofan and Blue Nile in Sudan. She surveys and expands on possible drivers of violent conflict: regional disparities, horizontal inequality, frustration-aggression theories and more.
Historically, as we moved from the continuum to more sophisticated understandings and questioning, tools such as Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment, or PCIA were forged. The Journal of Peacebuilding and Development (Vol. 1, No. 2) published an article on this approach in 2003 that pointed to the need for conflict sensitivity and the importance of putting conflict dynamics in context when designing interventions. O'Gorman offers a timely and insightful piece on ‘The presence and absence of politics in PCIA’. Many readers will have first-hand experience of problems in implementation after sound analysis and project design. Agencies can be short-staffed, overstretched, concerned with their own security, subject to high turnover and so forth. Additionally, inter-agency competition and rivalry or misunderstanding at field level are not unheard of. In O'Gorman's words, there is ‘The reduction of conflict sensitivity to a “tool” rather than a shift in culture, perspective and practices by aid organisations working in conflict-prone environments’. Moreover, she is consistent in noting the centrality of local/national populations themselves, their perspectives, resources and need for self-directed futures; hence the useful examination of ‘whose security and violence?’ in the chapter on ‘The Aid Policies and Architecture of International Conflict and Development’.
On the evolving shape of international intervention, here also is helpful tracking of the impact of ‘terrorism and counter-terrorism’. If Sierra Leone and Kosovo launched new terminology linking ‘humanitarian’ and ‘intervention’, the post 9/11 campaigns have meant that frontline development and reconstruction are ‘part of the war and the peace’. O'Gorman tracks the connections between thinking on human security, the ‘New Humanitarianism’ and R2P (Responsibility to Protect). Her unpacking of the stated aspirations and limitations to R2P is robust and helpful. Many would say that R2P is a double-edged sword, brandished in defence of the powerless yet alienating many on the world stage who are sensitive to their own sovereign powers. (Moreover, at ground level we can ask: who has the mandate for protection? The reply may be: clearly not the peacekeepers, as evidenced in Srebrenica, Rwanda, Kordofan, the DRC and for the Nuba in Sudan.)
Conflict and Development was published in a year of related challenges: famine in Somalia and other parts of east Africa; ‘humanitarian intervention’ in Libya, which moved seamlessly from no-fly zone to taking sides; Sudan's successful creation of a new state in the south, but renewed violence and unfinished business in border areas (Abyei, Kordofan and Blue Nile); difficulties in Haiti, Cote d'Ivoire, Yemen and Syria; and growing crisis in the Sahel. While the author mentions ‘mobilisation’ theory, the subject of non-violent conflict could receive attention, recent examples being political mobilisations in Tunisia and Egypt. Such popular protest movements also raise issues of social media, and whether these may be potential mechanisms for accountability in the future.
This book is tightly written. It can be somewhat frustrating to have not quite two pages on a topic like conflict prevention and only four devoted to peacebuilding. But this is offset by thorough outlines, references and energetic writing, which can leave the reader inspired and prepared to explore further. We are left with a few questions, for example the notion of ‘frozen’ conflicts and development (or lack of it) in North Korea. What about the conundrum of Libya and Iraq with their high development indicators, i.e. ‘top-down’ development and/or its demise; the role of diaspora remittances in development; the theory that war ‘is good for business’; the high-profile linkage of trade deals with development aid?
But a major achievement of this publication is its detailed overview of ‘shifting normative and policy parameters of international responses to protracted conflict’, which is basically background to how and why ‘securitisation’ has become such a major feature of contemporary operations.
Increasingly, development aid is driven through donors’ political, economic or military objectives rather than prioritising the needs of intended recipients. The securitisation of development means the deliberate mixing of risk and security considerations with broader policy packages aimed at underdevelopment. Poverty itself becomes a perceived risk – and conditionality is linked back to the donor country's needs. In the European Union context, for example, aid or trade agreements have thus been exchanged against an African state's readiness to accept the repatriation of citizens who had entered Europe illegally (see http://euce.org/eusa/2011/papers/8l_anderson.pdf). In post-war settings, the impression or visible fact that Western or coalition militaries are delivering aid direct, or in close working partnership with agencies, is another concern.
O'Gorman argues that the use of development aid as an instrument of foreign policy is not new. ‘What is new is the alignment of aid with shifting notions of security in complex contemporary wars, and within complex responses’ that render more technocratic outcomes. She calls for a re-examination of assumptions on governance and neoliberal peace. Her expansion of a necessary debate is empowering, and her call for humility is a fitting reminder of difficult and unknown terrain.
Conflict and Development provides essential signposts and markers for anyone trying to navigate this intricate and ever-changing field. It will be a valuable teaching resource, or an everyday guide to the practitioner.