Using Carrots To Bring Peace?: Negotiation And Third Party Involvement

Negotiation and Third Party Involvement

Martina Klimesova

• Publisher: WSPC
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9789814699129
• Topic: Sciences biologiques
• Subtopic: Science générale

How can peace be brokered between warring sides in conflicts over self-determination and what roles do external third parties play? This book is the first of its kind to thoroughly explore the effectiveness of aid conditionality and other external tools that third parties — from states and regional organizations to NGOs — bring to the table in peace negotiations. Surveying the existing academic debate on incentives and peace conditionality, the author first identifies the gaps between theory and the needs of third party mediators and facilitators. Analysing in depth the negotiation processes in Sri Lanka (Eelam), Indonesia (Aceh), and the Philippines (Mindanao) as case studies, policy tools likely to be most effective are then identified and policy recommendations developed. This book is an invaluable resource for students, scholars, and practitioners alike.

How can peace be brokered between warring sides in conflicts over self-determination and what roles do external third parties play? This book is the first of its kind to thoroughly explore the effectiveness of aid conditionality and other external tools that third parties — from states and regional organizations to NGOs — bring to the table in peace negotiations. Surveying the existing academic debate on incentives and peace conditionality, the author first identifies the gaps between theory and the needs of third party mediators and facilitators. Analysing in depth the negotiation processes in Sri Lanka (Eelam), Indonesia (Aceh), and the Philippines (Mindanao) as case studies, policy tools likely to be most effective are then identified and policy recommendations developed. This book is an invaluable resource for students, scholars, and practitioners alike.

Readership: Academics, undergraduate and graduates students, professionals interested in peace negotiation and conflict resolution.
Key Features:

• First of its kind to thoroughly describes peace and aid conditionality in the context of negotation processes
• Combines in a very unique way the existing negotiation theories which explain what makes a negotiation process successful
• Provides practical advice to conflict resolution practitioners on tools and negotiation concepts that are likely to be most effective
• Offers a detailed account of three negotiation processes of three conflicts in Southeast Asia

Chapter 1

Introduction: How to Make Peace Effectively?

Peace is 10% peace agreement and 90% implementation.
Irene “Inday” Santiago

How to make peace effectively? This book contributes to the discussion on peace incentives by focusing on negotiation processes between contending parties in intrastate armed conflicts, and specifically, on the impacts of third party involvement in such processes. Searching for the correct analytical tools in examining such conflicts, or even identifying a formula for the peaceful termination of intrastate armed conflicts, has been one of the main focuses of the conflict resolution field as well as international relations (IR) at large. The art of ending civil wars effectively has proven to be one of the major challenges of our time as a number of fragile post-conflict states have relapsed or are on the verge of relapsing back into open conflicts. In countries like Iraq and Somalia, intractable poverty, weak state institutions, and failed transitional justice efforts have served as breeding grounds for the emergence of terrorist and criminal networks. While the international community has assumed responsibility for helping countries affected by man-made disasters, the employment of political and economic incentives in post-conflict scenarios has not always brought desired results. This book looks into the preceding step — that is, the employment of incentives in the conflict management phase — and how third parties can exert a degree of influence on how adversaries perceive the conflict, their position in it, and their will to enter into peace negotiations.

Following the end of the Cold War, it was generally believed that global conflict tensions would decrease; however, the thaw triggered the escalation of a number of intrastate, mostly ethnic and religious, armed conflicts.¹ The early 1990s were particularly conflict-ridden years which saw the escalation of conflicts in former Yugoslavia, the post-Soviet countries (Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan), Rwanda, Somalia, and Guatemala. Contrary to the Cold War era, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and other organizations were no longer shackled by the restraints of the bipolar order, and the opportunity for conflict prevention, conflict management, and conflict resolution efforts increased significantly. A topic for discussion could focus on how successful these conflict resolution attempts were; but the main point is that the peace and conflict research field experienced a renaissance period, which has brought new questions to the fore as well as associated challenges for researchers. None of the main conflicts examined here first escalated after the end of the Cold War; however, the new tools employed after the 1990s, in addition to the changed international environment, had some impact on conflict resolution initiatives in the three selected cases closely examined in this book.

Both researchers and practitioners have sought new means to approach conflict resolution by securing a greater participation for external third parties with varied levels of involvement — from facilitators, mediators, actors providing good offices, and third party monitors, to peace enforcement. The newly shaped international structure that emerged with the end of the Cold War allowed regional organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Organization for African Unity (OAU) to take a more active role in peace initiatives, both from the peacemaking and peace enforcement perspectives.

Additionally, interest has increased in non-military issues such as disaster relief assistance cooperation and the growing socio-economic disparities between developed and underdeveloped countries, as well as growing differences between regions within countries. Furthermore, rising competition for energy and natural resources, as well as the increased need for cooperation in combating organized crime and narcotics trade networks and dealing with pandemic biological threats and environmental security, has opened up new avenues for possible cooperation and tools for initiating new ties between countries and regions. All these issues have been, in many cases, directly or indirectly connected to causes of armed conflicts and, therefore, often addressed in conflict management and conflict resolution efforts.

1.1New tools for conflict resolution initiatives

A great number of ongoing intrastate armed conflicts emerged already in the 1970s at the start of the post-colonial period, their causes not directly related to the bipolar division of world affairs. However, the 1990s saw the development of several new conflict resolution tools concomitant with the general change in international affairs. For instance, confidence building measures (CBMs), traditionally employed in the context of non-proliferation regimes and arms control initiatives during the Cold War in Europe, have come to be newly employed within different frameworks of non-military issues such as economic, cultural, and energy cooperation. The change in perceiving conflicts and the recognizing of new issues heralded the implementation of innovative tools in conflict management and conflict resolution initiatives. For instance, energy and economic incentives played a key role in the negotiations between North Korea and the United States (U.S.), resulting in the Agreed Framework in 1994. Similarly, hydro diplomacy has served as an important CBM in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

The enhanced focus on the development of non-military measures of conflict resolution in the post-Cold War period resulted in the placing of greater importance on capacity building and confidence building exercises; this applies to both state and non-state actors, but programs for members of different insurgent movements, with a focus on the transition from guerrilla movements to legitimate political parties, were especially targeted at nonstate actors. This is also partly connected to a greater involvement of external non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in conflict resolution. For instance, the positive developments in Northern Ireland after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement led to numerous workshops for former members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and members of other insurgent groups. Elsewhere, other separatist and insurgent groups engaged in peace processes, such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF, Philippines), the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, Sri Lanka), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, Colombia), the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist, Nepal), and Hamas (Palestine), underwent training, on various levels, to assist in their transition from military organizations to political parties.² Capacity building seminars and confidence building exercises employed in the context of non-military issues on this level (non-state actors) represent new tools in the conflict resolution field; however, it is important to note that these measures are only complementary mechanisms that need to be supplemented with other approaches as well.

1.2Emerging trends in negotiation and conflict resolution practices

The last decade of the twentieth century saw the emergence of new actors on the international stage, including within the field of conflict prevention, conflict management, and conflict resolution. While states have remained prime players, mostly on account of their economic and political resources — but also due to the limited action capacity of global international organizations, namely the United Nations (UN) — regional organizations and NGOs have played an increasingly important part in peace processes, primarily within track two and track three initiatives but also in peace building (Aall, 1996; Destexhe, 1996; Bartoli, 2008; Gilboa, 2008).

In peacebuilding and implementation processes, they are often important subsidiaries to the UN agencies working in the field. In some conflicts, NGOs have even accepted responsibility for implementing and monitoring peace agreements. For instance, the Henri Dunant Center (HDC for Humanitarian Dialogue) facilitated the first talks between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), and in December 2002 created a monitoring mission (Joint Security Committee) composed of Thai and Filipino peacekeepers and experts from a number of European countries.³ In conflicts in South Sudan, Southern Philippines, and Israel/Palestine NGOs contributed with civilian monitoring missions highlighting the sufferings of civilians. Secondly, in some conflicts, the private sector has played a more significant role, being more directly involved in peace initiatives. In the cases of El Salvador (direct participation), Northern Ireland, Colombia, and South Africa, private companies and business communities contributed considerably to facilitating the respective peace agreements (Tripathi and Gündüz, 2008).

At the same time, aside from the private initiatives, donors (mainly bilateral, states) have expanded their role to more targeted projects, using economic leverage in peace building initiatives (e.g. Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) Official Development Assistance Charter — “New ODA Charter” from August 2003).⁴ During the Cold War, development assistance was used as an incentive in the global competition between the two opposing blocs; but, since the 1990s, some great powers have been reluctant to intervene, especially if the conflict zone is outside their sphere of interest (Muscat, 2002). As Muscat further argues, it is necessary that donor countries reconsider their development policies and place greater emphasis on poverty reduction as a conflict prevention mechanism as opposed to mere economic (macroeconomic) cooperation. There are many prior examples of utilizing development aid in conflict prevention mechanisms.⁵ In addition, development aid has also been seen as a stabilization tool in post-conflict societies.

Furthermore, the European Union (EU) has emerged as a new international actor, defining its joint foreign policy aims through the frameworks of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP). The EU’s common position on involvement in peace processes is yet to be defined; however, its role in some conflict resolution initiatives should not be neglected.⁶ In 2005, the first EU-led monitoring mission was deployed to verify the implementation of the peace agreement between the Government of Indonesia and GAM in Aceh, Indonesia.⁷ Prior to this, EU missions monitored peace agreement implementation in former Yugoslavia (EUMM, previously ECMM, deployed in July 1991) and on the border between Ukraine and Moldova (EU assistance border monitoring mission, BAM, December 2005). Moreover, it has been operating a mission in Georgia following the clashes of August 2008 (European Monitoring Mission to Georgia, EUMM, civil monitoring mission, deployed in September 2008). Consequently, the EU’s importance stems from its assisting other actors with peace initiatives and by providing a pool of economic resources and expertise for peace building, capacity building, and reconstruction efforts. In 2010, Foreign Ministers of Sweden and Finland launched an initiative for a European Institute of Peace (EIP, inaugurated in May 2014), an institution to support conflict resolution efforts of the EU and its member states, mainly through facilitation of informal dialogues.

As shown above, the new actors in the international arena have notably enriched the complexity of conflict resolution resources. With these changes, the prospects for engaging in conflict prevention, conflict management, and peacemaking by other than military means drew greater attention from the academic community.

1.3Emerging trends in negotiation and conflict resolution theory

Kriesberg (2008) states that the conflict resolution field continues to evolve and belongs to one of the most dynamic areas within the extensive IR family. New approaches to studying conflicts do not usually reflect any of the traditional IR debates; the focal point of new conflict resolution theories is not the IR system as such, but rather different aspects and indicators of causes of conflicts and instruments for their resolution.

Next to more traditional issues such as armed conflicts and political violence, trade, non-proliferation, and the impact of culture on negotiation, negotiation theory has also developed within the context of new emerging issues as briefly outlined in the previous section. Research has been conducted into the environment and climate change (e.g. Sjöstedt 2002, 2003; Betsill and Corell, 2008, Susskind and Ali, 2014), the gender aspects of negotiation (e.g. Kolb and Coolidge, 1995), the involvement of NGOs in conflict resolution, particularly in relation to their potential in informal processes (e.g. Bartoli, 2008; Aall, 1996), terrorism (e.g. Hayers, 2002; Hayers et al., 2003; Faure and Zartman, 2011), the role of media (Gilboa, 2008), and new possibilities resulting from IT and communications technologies (e.g. Bichler et al., 2003). This is by no means an exhaustive list of new trends within negotiation theory, but it does demonstrate the growing diversity of the field.

With regard to the focus on incentives in negotiation theory, existing practices from peace processes show that greater attention needs to be paid to the economic aspects of the conflict, such as easing socioeconomic disparities between the conflicting parties, dealing with immediate humanitarian relief work, capacity building, and preparing the ground for reconstruction projects. This has become an integral part of political economy studies,⁸ but which were only rarely presented in the context of negotiation theory. These issues have nonetheless become part of the peace talks’ agenda, and the third parties facilitating talks have often extended their involvement to donor activities or their coordination. The current academic debate, however, offers only a limited number of studies combining research both on negotiation and donor involvement in peace processes.

One of the first thorough studies discussing the use of positive conditionally, foreign aid, was Ole Elgström’s book Foreign aid negotiations: The Swedish-Tanzanian aid dialogue, published in 1992. The main debate on employing peace conditionalities intensified a decade later, when both practitioners and the academic community devoted attention to peace building and conflict resolution. Notwithstanding, the peace conditionality factor in international negotiations remains one of the most theoretically “neglected” areas in the field. Moreover, relatively little is alluded to in the academic debate about initiatives preceding the actual peace process and official negotiations. This might be because it is very difficult to determine the exact influence of informal processes and unofficial or second track facilitation on the overall outcome. Therefore, obtaining a complete picture of all patterns in conflict management processes is no simple matter, and any research study on third party involvement should take this fact into consideration.

1.4General aims of this book

This publication attempts to provide a better understanding of what impacts tools, especially economic and political incentives, employed by third parties in peace negotiation in internal armed conflicts over grievances of self-determination, have on forming the negotiating strategies of conflicting parties. Negotiating strategy is understood as an approach and policy planning for interaction in a dialogue which aims for a non-violent settlement of a dispute. It should be highlighted that this research is primarily focused on negotiation and negotiation theories. Zartman (2008: 322) asserts that negotiation appears in both conflict management and conflict resolution; the inquiry thus encompasses both concepts.

The main focus is on the employment of non-military incentives, economic, political, and development inducements, commonly referred to as carrots. In the policy context, carrots, especially in the form of development aid, are often a priori regarded as positive for the recipients; however, empirical evide...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Foreword
• List of Abbreviations
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• 1. Introduction: How to Make Peace Effectively?
• 2. Negotiation and Peace Incentives: Overview
• 3. Negotiation Ripeness and Third Party Incentives
• 4. SRI LANKA: Eelam Peace Process (The GoSL–LTTE Peace Negotiations, 2002–2003; 2006)
• 5. INDONESIA: Aceh Peace Process (The GoI–GAM Peace Negotiations, 2002–2003; 2006)
• 6. THE PHILIPPINES: Mindanao Peace Process (The GRP–MILF Peace Negotiations 2001–2008)
• 7. Perils and Pitfalls of Using Carrots in Conflict Resolution: Do Carrots Bring Peace?
• 8. Conclusions: Effective Tools for Forging Peace
• References
• Index