States of Conflict: Lessons in Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding Drawing from case studies of conflict prevention and peacebuilding in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia, States of Conflict (pdf), from the IPPR, suggests lessons on conflict prevention and peacebuilding, including the need for outside interventions to have greater understanding of the local situation, and to build existing capacity from the beginning.
What the Women Say: Participation and UNSCR 1325: a Case Study Assessment UN Security Coucil Resolution 1325 was intended to support, and increase, the participation of women in peacebuilding and conflict resolution. What the Women Say (pdf) is the the result of a year-long study by the MIT Center for International Studies into the impact of the resolution since it was adopted in 2000. The report details numerous failings in the implemation of the resolution, and discusses how implementation could be improved. Recommendations include making civil society peacebuilding organisations key partners in peace processes, and building the capacities of existing women’s groups.
Civil Society and the US Government in Conflict-Affected Regions: Building Better Relationships for Peacebuilding The Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars have summarised a roundtable discussion (pdf) between the US government and NGOs on how to build better relations between the US government and local civil society organisations in conflict areas. The discussion produced a number of recommendations.
Voices from the Inside: Local Views on Mining Reform in Eastern Congo Voices from the Inside, from makeITfair, highlights the views of local people and local NGOs in eastern DRC on mining reform. The fieldwork was carried out prior to the recent government ban on trading minerals in Eastern DRC, and many of the concerns expressed by local people about the effect any such action would have on the economy were shown to be prescient.
Yemen and Somalia: Terrorism, Shadow Networks and the Limitations of State-building Chatham House has produced Yemen and Somalia: Terrorism, Shadow Networks an the Limitations of State-building. The paper argues that international interventions have failed by placing too much focus on state-building in countries where the state has minimal influence – and in some cases is viewed as a hostile entity. More attention needs to be paid to the local dynamics of the conflict and to finding better ways of working with local power structures, building resilience to extremism from the ground up.
The Trust Deficit: The Impact of Local Perceptions on Policy in Afghanistan In The Trust Deficit, Open Society Foundations have surveyed the views of local Afghans to determine their perceptions of the ongoing conflict, the international intervention and the Taliban insurgency. The report finds that trust has been eroded because of civilian casualties, wrongful detentions and lack of accountability, and that this distrust threatens the success of the international mission in Afghanistan.
