Conflict and Security Highlighting research on the the drivers and dynamics of conflict such as ethnicity and competition for natural resources; current approaches to conflict prevention and best practice in the design of security and peacebuilding programmes. HOME LATEST NEWS TOPICS COUNTRY PROFILES JOBS CONTACT

Eldis Conflict and Security Reporter 3 November 2013 www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/conflict-and-security This is our regular bulletin that highlights recent publications on conflict and security issues. The documents highlighted here are available to download online without charge. If you are unable to access any of these materials online and would like to receive a copy of a document as an email attachment, please contact our editor at the email address given below.   IN THIS ISSUE: The financing of international peace operations in Africa: a review of recent research and analyses Five key questions answered on the link between peace and religion Myanmar: the politics of Rakhine State Re-examining identities and power: gender in peacebuilding in Colombia Security and risk management for peacebuilding organisations The financing of international peace operations in Africa: a review of recent research and analyses  Authors: Jentzsch,C. Produced by: Social Science Research Council, USA (2014) Mobilising the necessary financial, material, and logistical resources has been a major challenge to conducting peace operations in Africa that has often exposed the dependence of African states on the international community to act in their crises. Pan-Africanism has long called for Africans taking more responsibility for security and development. Beyond the urge to take responsibility is the realisation that international organisations do not have the capacity, nor their member states the political will, to intervene in all the crises in Africa, and that African regional organisations might be better equipped to respond efficiently and effectively to threats to peace and security. This working paper represents a first attempt to address these issues by reviewing the evolution of financing peace operations in Africa. The goal is to provide a background for the evolution of financing mechanisms and to stir debate on the future of financing peace operations by evaluating current practices and ideas. While recent reforms have brought about some improvement, they have not fundamentally solved the problems that inhibit the adequate and rapid deployment of African resources, materials, and personnel to address crises on the continent. In addition to addressing the duplication of structures and waste of resources, significant efforts must be made to evaluate previous and potential financing mechanisms to come up with alternatives that reduce African dependence on international donors. [Summary adapted from source] Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69563 Back to list   Five key questions answered on the link between peace and religion What is the relationship between religion and peace? This report presents empirical research conducted by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) in conjunction with the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation that aims to get beyond ideology to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how religion interacts with peace. Quantitative analysis has revealed that many of the commonly made statements surrounding the relationship between peace and religion are not supported by the analysis contained in this study. It is easy to draw simple conclusions about the link between religion and violence today. While there has been high profile terrorist conflict involving religious fundamentalism this is distinct from the broader relationship between religion and peace. Some of the greatest peace builders of the 20th century have also been religious leaders; Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King are names synonymous with the practice of nonviolence. Many non-violent movements have been based on religious principles and the major religions of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam all have forms of nonviolence and peace as part of their religious traditions. This highlights a contradiction which has been played out through history; on the one hand religion has been a motivator of conflict, yet it has also been pivotal in developing key concepts of peace and non-violence as well as creating peace. This report answers five common questions relating to religion and violence: Is religion the main cause of conflict today? Does the proportion of religious belief or atheism in a country determine the peace of the country? In Muslim countries, does the demographic spread of Sunni and Shia determine peace? Is religion key to understanding what drives peace? Can religion play a positive role in peacebuilding? [Summary adapted from author] Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69559 Back to list   Myanmar: the politics of Rakhine State Produced by: International Crisis Group (2014) The situation in Rakhine State contains a toxic mixture of historical centre-periphery tensions, serious intercommunal and inter-religious conflict with minority Muslim communities, and extreme poverty and under-development. This led to major violence in 2012 and further sporadic outbreaks since then. The political temperature is high, and likely to increase as Myanmar moves closer to national elections at the end of 2015. The problems faced by Rakhine State are rooted in decades of armed violence, authoritarian rule and state-society conflict. This crisis has affected the whole of the state and all communities within it. It requires a sustained and multi-pronged response, as well as critical humanitarian and protection interventions in the interim. Failure to deal with the situation can have impacts for the whole country. As Myanmar is redefining itself as a more open society at peace with its minorities and embracing its diversity, introducing the seeds of a narrow and discriminatory nationalism could create huge problems for the future. Unless Myanmar is successful in creating a new sense of national identity that embraces the country’s huge cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, peace and stability will remain elusive nationwide. In the meantime, it is essential for the international community to support the humanitarian and protection needs of vulnerable populations, which are likely to remain for years. It is also vital to address the chronic poverty and underdevelopment of all communities in the state, particularly through equitable and well-targeted village-level community development schemes. [Summary adapted from author] Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69560 Back to list   Re-examining identities and power: gender in peacebuilding in Colombia Authors: López Castañeda,D.; Myrttinen,H. Produced by: International Alert (2014) As part of a four-country research project on gender in peacebuilding, this report examines the case of Colombia, where society has been deeply affected by both decades of armed conflict as well as high levels of criminal violence. The research approaches the challenges of peacebuilding in Colombia from a ‘gender-relational’ angle, which looks at men, women and trans- and intersex persons as gendered beings, takes into account the interaction between gender identities and other markers such as age, class, disability, marital status and the like, and examines how these identities are constructed relationally to one another. Gender is not seen as a ‘technical’ peacebuilding issue, but as a lens through which to analyse societal norms, identities and power dynamics. After giving a background to the history of violent conflict in Colombia and its gendered dynamics, the report examines three local civil society organisations that, in their own way, approach peacebuilding in a gender-relational way. The three organisations are: Association of Women of Eastern Antioquia (Asociacion de Mujeres del Oriente Antioqueño, AMOR), a women’s organisation that is increasingly working on issues of both femininities and masculinities; Wayuumunsurat/Mujeres Tejiendo Paz (Women Weaving Peace), an organisation led by indigenous women working for transitional justice and gender equality; and Santamaria Foundation (Santamaría Fundación, SF), a trans-women’s rights organisation. Based on field research, an examination of the work of the three above-mentioned organisations and an extensive analysis of secondary sources, the report provides a gendered analysis of four focal areas of peacebuilding: the economic and livelihoods dimensions of peacebuilding; intergenerational conflict and age–gender dynamics; permutations and continuums of violence; and access to justice. The report concludes with a summary and an outlook as Colombia hopefully enters a new phase of peacebuilding – if and when the Colombian state and the FARC conclude a peace agreement. [Summary adapted from author] Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69573 Back to list Security and risk management for peacebuilding organisations Authors: Fast,L. Produced by: Berghof Conflict Research (2014) In the area of security management, all too often a devastating event spurs change or innovation. A series of kidnappings and the deaths of six delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Chechnya in 1996 prompted humanitarian and development agencies to work together to design a security-training curriculum. This comprehensive curriculum has undergone several revisions and expansions, includingin 2010 (HPN 2010). The revisions incorporate new practices and lessons, but its core elements remain much the same. Individual peacebuilders have died over the years, especially local peacebuilders, but to date, fortunately, no large-scale tragedies have afflicted the peacebuilding sector. Perhaps as a result, the peacebuilding community has neglected this as an area of inquiry and practice. Several areas stand out in particular as areas for further research and intervention: as a field, we must do a better job of educating peacebuilders themselves, especially those new to the field, about the risks inherent in the work and also in recognising that exposing oneself to risk is, to some degree, a personal choice the dearth of data documenting the specific risks that peacebuilders face highlights the need for better monitoring and tracking of incidents, both in terms of type and prevalence. Without data, we have no way of knowing beyond anecdotal evidence how and why security for peacebuilders is (or is not) different from other intervener populations, or the variations between peacebuilders of various types (international, national, multi-partial, or insider). Any such effort must also include equal and perhaps more concerted attention to the specific risks for national and local peacebuilders. Local peacebuilders often operate out of the spotlight or might not be linked into international networks but nonetheless put their lives on the line most international peacebuilding organisations have only begun to consider security and risk management. Their access to resources, however, is likely better than for insider or local peacebuilders. Security management materials are often not translated into local languages and international peacebuilders are usually better networked with other international actors or have access to a broader base of financial support. Nevertheless, a lack of access to resources does not necessarily imply a deficiency in security management approaches. In developing a peacebuilding approach to security and risk management, we all must work at implementing an ethic of care toward staff as well as partner organisations. We must also work at developing an ethic of mutual learning in the context of insider-outsider peacebuilding encounters Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69061 Back to list   See our Conflict and Security Resource Guide for a complete list of new additions. You are welcome to re-use material from this bulletin on your own website but please acknowledge Eldis as the source and include a link to the Eldis website (either to our home page or to the home page of one of our Resource Guides). Eldis data is available under a creative commons license and is accessible via an Open API for others to re-use. In addition we have developed a number of plug-ins and modules for website content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal to make it easier for website managers and bloggers to integrate Eldis content into their sites. See www.eldis.org/go/get-the-data for more information If you would like to change your subscription or receive this bulletin (or any other of our subject focused email bulletins) regularly, you can register from our website, or just send an email to the address below. You can also receive this update as an RSS Newsfeed. Visit our page at:http://www.eldis.org/go/subscribe Eldis is funded by UKAid and Irish Aid. Eldis is one of a family of Knowledge Services at IDS. The views expressed in this newsletter and on the Eldis website are the opinion of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Eldis, IDS or its funders. Contact details: Julia HamausEldis Programme Institute of Development Studies Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE UK Email:eldis-conflict@ids.ac.uk Tel: +44 1273 915761+44 1273 915761 Fax: +44 1273 621202 WWW: www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/conflict-and-security If you would like to receive information about other Knowledge Services and publications from IDS, please email your name, contact details and subject interests to us atknowledgeservices@ids.ac.uk