Class Syllabus

Unit 1              Introduction

Unit 2              Development in Conflict: actors, tools, approaches

Unit 3              Development in Conflict: root causes, inequalities, institutions

Unit 4              Development as Conflict Prevention

Unit 5              Development and Peacekeeping

Unit 6              Development and Peacebuilding

Units 7-8         Case Study: Central Africa

Units 9-10       Case Study: Balkans

Unit 11-12       Case Study: Central America

Unit 13            Group Work on Policy Recommendations

Unit 14            Conclusions

1.     Introduction to the course, instructors, requirements and relationship between this course and others. Explanation of group work to be conducted in later sessions.

2.     Introduction to some basic concepts and approaches: what is development? what does it have to do with conflict? with prevention? with peacebuilding and recovery?

3.     Introduction to the geopolitical and normative contexts: What types of conflicts are we discussing here? What are the issues surrounding external involvement in ìinternalî conflicts? How have the dynamics changed as a result of globalisation and increasing interdependence?

Readings: Required (whole class to read):

OECD (1997) DAC Guidelines, Chapter I, p.  9-18

United Nations (1998) Report of the SG on Africa, paragraphs 1-15 (4 pages); 63-70 (2 pages); 71-103 (8 pages)

Recommended (for further reading in this area):

Edwards, Michael. ëFuture Positive: International cooperation in the 21st centuryí Preface. 

Keen, ëIncentives and Disincentives for Violenceí in Berdal and Malone (2000), Economic Agendas, p. 19-41

Sen, (1999), Development as Freedom, Introduction, p. 3-11

Central Africa Required (Central Africa group to read):

Uvin, (1998), Introduction, p. 1-10 and Part III. The Condition of Structural Violence, p. 103-8

Latin America Required (Latin America group to read):

No readings this week.

Balkans Required (Balkans group to read):

Cousens and Cater, pp. 17 - 32
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1.     Introduction to basic decision-making, policy-setting and operational management structures at the United Nations. Discussion of procedures for policy-making in inter-governmental legislative bodies (Security Council; General Assembly; Economic and Social Council) and in internal UN coordination bodies (Executive Committees; Inter-Agency Standing Committee; Framework Team). Description of UN coordination arrangements in the field (Special Representatives of the Secretary-General; Resident Coordinatory System; UN Country Teams; Peace Operations). Description of main development programming tools and how they work.

2.     Introduction to the range of actors typically involved in crisis situations: humanitarian, military, political, non-governmental, development. Who are the main development actors? What are the differences between them (multilateral, bilateral, non-governmental)? How do UN development actors collaborate with the UN humanitarian and political entities involved in a prevention or peacebuilding/recovery process? To what extent, and when, do UN development actors collaborate with outside actors, such as bilateral donors, NGOs, Bretton Woods institutions and national governments to affect prevention and peacebuilding in a crisis/post-crisis environment?

3.     How have development actors modified their approach to crisis environments in the last decade? What impact does aid have in a conflict situation? What is the objective of development assistance? What assumptions do development actors make? Are those assumptions useful? What tools do these various actors have at their disposal? How are those tools used in crisis settings?

Required:

OECD (1997) DAC Guidelines, Chapter II, p.  19 - 29

UNDP Board paper (2000), Role of UNDP in Crisis and Post-Conflict Situations

Recommended:

Anderson, M. (1999) Do No Harm, Part I, p.7-76

Forman, S. and Stewart, P. (2000), Good Intentions, Chapter 2, p. 35-65

Knack. (2000) Does Foreign Aid Promote Democracy?

Isaacs, (1998) International Assistance for Democracy (class handout)

World Bank (2001)

Central Africa Required (Central Africa group to read):

Uvin, (1998), Part 11, Chapter 5. Under the Volcano: The Development Community in the 1990s, pp. 82-102

Latin America Required (Latin America group to read):

Boyce, James K. and Pastor, Manuel (1998) Aid for Peace: Can International Financial Institutions Help Prevent Conflict

Isaacs, (1998) International Assistance for Democracy: A Cautionary Tale (class handout)

Balkans Required (Balkans group to read):

Cousens and Cater, pp. 33 - 51
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Note: Deadline for indication of which regional case group students wish to be part (Choices: Balkans, Central Africa, Latin America)

1.     What are the causes of conflict? Look at the longer-term structural issues, medium-term factors and conflict triggers. What types of interventions address each of these? Where has development failed to address these root causes in the past? Can we identify some reasons why?

2.     What are the linkages, if any, between poverty and conflict? What are the implications of these linkages? Is the concept of human security helpful and how can it be operationalised, if at all?

3.     What institutions help address conflict? What is the role of democracy-promotion?

4.     What is the political economy of war and what can the international community do about it?

Required:

Stewart, F. (2000) War and Underdevelopment, Chapter 9: The Costs of War in Poor Countries: Conclusions and Policy Recommendations

Recommended:

Berdal, M. and Malone, D. (eds.) (2000). Greed and Grievance, p. 91-128

Sen, (1999), Development as Freedom, Chapter 6: The Importance of Democracy, p. 146-59 and Chapter 7: Famine and Other Crises, p. 160-88

UNDP (1994) Human Development Report, Chapter 2: New Dimensions of Human Security, p. 22-44 and Chapter 3: Capturing the Peace Dividend, p. 47-58

Central Africa Required (Central Africa group to read):

Uvin, (1998), Chapter 6 From Structural to Acute Violence, p. 109-40

Latin America Required (Latin America group to read):

World Bank (2001) Land Issues in Central America

Costello P. (1997) Negotiating Rights: The Guatemala Peace Process (Historical Background)

Balkans Required (Balkans group to read):

International Crisis Group (October 1997).  ìMacedonia Report:  Politics of Ethnicity and Conflictî

International Crisis Group (April 2001).  ìMacedonian Question:  Reform or Rebellionî
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1.     What is prevention? Has it ever worked? What are the differences between preventive diplomacy and structural prevention? What actors are most suited to which? What structures and processes does the UN currently have for conflict prevention? How might they be improved?

2.     How can we move from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention? Can prevention be measured? How can political will for prevention be mobilised? What is the added value of development assistance in prevention?

3.     Is development inherently preventive? If not, how can it become so? What are peace and conflict impact assessments and how do they work? What areas of development assistance are most important here?

General Required:

Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict Prevention, 2001.

General Recommended:

Boyce, (1998). Aid for Peace: Can International Financial Institutions Help Prevent Conflict?

Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict (1997), Chapters 4-6, p. 69-150.

Klugman, J. (1999) Social and Economic Policies, p 1-26

Stewart, F. (2000) Crisis Prevention, p. 1-31.

USAID (2001), The Role of Foreign Assistance in Conflict Prevention.

Central Africa Required (Central Africa group to read):

Report of the Independent Inquiry (1999), full text.

Latin America Required (Latin America group to read):

Strasma, J., Challenges And Choices: Guatemala's Land Fund. Fruit of Peace, Seed of Development

Balkans Required (Balkans group to read):

US Institute of Peace (2001).  ìMacedonia:  Prevention Can Workî (full text)

Western, Jon W. and Serwer, Daniel.  US Institute of Peace (2000).  ìBosniaís Next Five Years:  Dayton and Beyondî

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Note: Guest Speaker from UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations will participate (to be confirmed)

1.     What are the links between development and peacekeeping? How do development actors contribute to peace operations? How are development programmes affected by peacekeeping deployments? What are the consequences for the local populations?

2.     How do the experiences of transitional administration mission in Kosovo and East Timor (and previously in Namibia, Cambodia and Eastern Slavonia) change the expectations of development actors? How do development actors respond to the challenge? Are they responding?

3.     Since so many developing countries experience protracted violence or tension, can development actors continue to maintain rigid distinctions between development and politics? How are traditional development approaches affected by the need to respond to crisis countries? What are the feelings of developing countries and other UN Member States about these shifts?

4.     What are the implications of recent reforms and debates within the UN on these issues? How is UNDP responding?

General Required:

Report of the Panel on UN Peace Operations (2000), Chapter II, p. 2-14

General Recommended:

Ginifer, J. (ed.) (1997), Beyond the Emergency, p. 3-13, p. 17-35, p. 107-22

Whitman, J. (ed.) (1999), Peacekeeping and the UN Agencies, p. 1-14; p. 92-119

ODI (1998), The State of the International Humanitarian System, full text. 

Central Africa Required (Central Africa group to read):

Eriksson, J. et al (1996) Synthesis Report, p. 9-69 (???)

Latin America Required (Latin America group to read):

Spencer, D. (1997) Demobilization and Reintegration in Central America, Bonn International Center for Conversion paper 8

Balkans Required (Balkans group to read):

International Crisis Group (May 22, 2001).  ìNo early exit:  NATOís continuing challenge in Bosniaî.

Cousens and Cater, pp. 53 - 70

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Week 6 Development and Peacebuilding (11 October)

NB: 10-page individual POLICY BRIEF due this week.

1.     What is peacebuilding and who does it? Can it be defined? What are its objectives? What are the main challenges involved? How can its success be measured? How does it facilitate the transition between relief and recovery? Where has it been done well? Why? Who, within the UN, is most effective in implementing peacebuilding and recovery programming?

2.     What distinguishes peacebuilding from mainstream development assistance? How must development actors incorporate these distinctions into their programming? How must development actors interact with humanitarian and political entities to ensure a comprehensive peacebuilding approach?

3.     What is the role of donor countries, international financial institutions, regional organisations, non-governmental actors and others in peace-building? How can all these actors ensure that they do not work at cross-purposes? How would you rate the performance of the international community and the United Nations in particular as providers of co-operation for peacebuilding? By what criteria should the work of outsiders be evaluated?

General Required:

Wood, B. Development Dimensions Of Conflict Prevention And Peacebuilding (to be handed out)

OECD (1997) DAC Guidelines, Chapter IV, p.  37 - 52 and Chapter V, p.  53 - 72

General Recommended:

Ball, N. and Halevy, T. (1996) Making Peace Work, full text.

Forman, S. and Stewart, P. (2000), Good Intentions, Chapter 9, p. 367-82.

Kumar, K. (ed.) (1997) Rebuilding Societies after Civil War, Chapter I: Introduction, p. 1-41

Central Africa Required (Central Africa group to read):

Uvin, (1998), Chapter 11, Development Aid: Conclusions and Paths for Reflection

Bakhet (1998) Linking Relief and Development 

Latin America Required (Latin America group to read):

Spence, Jack, Mike Lanchin and Geoff Thale. From Elections to Earthquakes: Reform and Participation in Post-War El Salvador, Washington Office on Latin America (handout)

WOLA, Rescuing Police Reform: A Challenge for the New Guatemalan Government (Executive Summary)

(http://www.wola.org/guatepolicerptex.html)

Palma Murga, G. (1997) Negotiating Rights: The Guatemala Peace Process (Promised the Earth: Agrarian Reform in the Socio-Economic Agreement)

Balkans Required (Balkans group to read):

Guest, Iain.  ìMoving Beyond Ethnic Conflict:  Community Peace Building in Bosnia and Eastern Slavonia (Croatia).î  USAID Conference Promoting Democracy, Human Rights, and Reintegration in Post-Conflict Societies, October 30-31, 1997.

Cousens and Cater, pp. 71 - 128

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THE CASE STUDIES

During the case study segment of the course, students will be asked to form 3 working groups, one for each area to be studied. The members of the working groups would share the task of preparing one-page summaries of class discussions, conclusions and recommendations, in memo form. These would be shared electronically in a timely fashion with practitioners from the UN and other organizations, in New York and in the regions being studied, who would provide their reactions and/or attend the final group work presentation.

Week 7 & 8

The group work on Central Africa will focus on the political and developmental origins of the 1994 crisis in Rwanda, and the repercussions of the genocide. In the first week, the focus will be on whether the genocide in Rwanda could have been prevented, in the second on how recovery and rehabilitation should be handled.

This work will be done in a simulation setting, where the procedures and composition of key decision-making fora in the UN, namely the Security Council and the UN Executive Committee on Peace and Security, will be simulated. Students will assume the role of specific Under-Secretaries General or Member States in these entities. Students should have begun reading and preparing for the simulations some time in advance and even those students who do not intend to take Central Africa as their case for the group preparation of a programme strategy are expected to have familiarised themselves with the context in order to adequately participate in the simulation.

Simulation Exercise:

1.     Security Council Debate, January 1994: Unlike many situations where crises are brewing, the issue of Rwanda was already on the docket of the Security Council before the genocide broke out (indeed, Rwanda was discussed the very day the massacres began). UNAMIR, the peacekeeping operation that was deployed in Rwanda at the time, was a lightly armed force with an unambitious mandate (http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/unamir.htm). This simulation exercise is set in January 1994, around the time that the notorious ìgenocide faxî predicting trouble was received at UN headquarters in New York (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/evil/warning/cable.html). In a slight departure from reality, students will be asked to assume that this fax was indeed brought to the attention of Council members. Students will recreate the debate that might have taken place. One student will play the role of the Secretary-General, presenting to the Council possible options to prevent a deterioration in the situation (drawing on the tools discussed during week 4), while others will play Council members who each had differing ideas on how to proceed, some favouring a beefed up military solution, some economic sanctions, some positive incentives for peace and others arguing for no action. Students will be invited to then debrief on the debate and on the options that faced the UN at the time, considering whether greater possibilities for prevention existed and how the UN should have capitalised on them, if at all.

2.     Executive Committee on Peace and Security, November 2001: Students will simulate a meeting of the Executive Committee on Peace and Security (ECPS), at which various UN agencies and departments present their proposals for a UN prevention and peace-building strategy for Rwanda. The aim will be to further consolidate the fragile peace in Rwanda and prevent any future outbreaks of violence. Students will discuss the issues from the perspectives of ECPS members, i.e. from development, political, humanitarian, legal and other perspectives respectively. The meeting will then endeavour to develop a common strategy that takes all of these imperatives into account.

Readings

Atlantic Monthly (September 2001) Bystanders to Genocide

Brief on the Executive Committee on Peace and Security (class handout)

Jentleson, B.W. (2000), Chapter 10, p. 238-64

Prunier, G (1995) The Rwanda Crisis, Chapter 9, p. 312-355

United Nations, Report of the Independent Inquiry (1999), full text.

Uvin, P. (1998) Aiding Violence, Chapter 7, p. 141-60, Chapter 10, p. 205-23, Chapter 11, p. 224-38. 

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Conflict has been rife throughout the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, resulting in considerable loss to human life, economic and social infrastructure, and contributing to regional destabilization.  The level of Western political-military interest in the Former Yugoslavia has been significant in the aftermath of the 1991-1995 conflict, the 1999 Kosovo crisis and its aftermath, and, most recently, in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).  The strategic interest in the region has led to a considerable amount of funding for humanitarian, security, and development that far surpasses the funding provided by donors to conflict-affected regions in the world.  What then, have been the challenges to effectively consolidating peace in Bosnia, Kosovo, and now Macedonia through development initiatives?  Where has the international community failed in this regard, and where has it succeeded?  Have the development gains served to consolidate peace by facilitating sustainable reintegration of displaced populations, redressing discriminatory laws, and building local economic and political capacities at the local and national level? Were development programmes well timed in the relief-to development process to strengthen development gains?

What are the remaining challenges to regional peace, and how can the development communityóworking with local and national actorsóaddress these to reduce the level of instability and to foster greater long-term development?  

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Simulation Exercises:

Group 1: It is 1996, one year after the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed. The humanitarian crisis in Bosnia is waning, and the international community and Bosnia population is beginning to look towards recovery towards eventual stability and development. You have been asked by the Executive Committees of Peace and Security and Humanitarian Affairs to devise a strategy recommending no more then ten areas of focus the UN should adopt to facilitate peacebuilding and recovery in Bosnia, including specific program initiatives and an implementation program. The recommendations should take into account the political and economic realities on the ground, regional dynamics, presence of peacekeeping troops, and the prevalence of international organizations on the ground and the opportunities for partnership that exist.

Group 2: It is August 2001.  You and the United Nations Country Team in FYROM have been requested by the Balkans Working Group to develop a strategy for the UN agencies, in close collaboration with local and national actors, to approach the development priorities of FYROM that will take into account economic and social inequalities between the ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians.  The strategy should range from immediate interventions, such as refugee reintegration, to long-term economic and political reforms.  

Readings

Forman, S. and Stewart, P. (2000), Good Intentions, Chapter 8, p. 315-66

IASC Reference Group on Post-Conflict Reintegration,  Report on Inter-Agency Mission to Bosnia, May 2000 (to be distributed, approx 10 pages)

International Crisis Group, ìAid and Accountability:  Dayton Implementationî

OECD/DAC (1999) Study on Incentives and Disincentives Bosnia Case Study, p. 1-64

UNOPS (2000) Operational Guide, Sections I and II.

Cousens and Cater, pp. 129 - 153

cAdditional readings may be used

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Weeks 11 & 12 Central America (15 and 29 November)

Class discussion followed by video conference with UN and counterparts in Guatemala and El Salvador. Discussion will focus on:

1. What can be learned by the comparison of the Guatemalan and Salvadoran peace processes?

2. How well has the international community intervened in both cases?

Scenarios thinking (definition of alternate futures) as a governance tool in post-conflict societies - Group role play. The role play will simulate a consensus-building activity being held under the auspices of an international organisation. Students will play the roles of representatives from different sectors of the State and Civil Society in Central America, coming together to design a common vision for post-conflict development.

Readings

Arnson, Cynthia J (ed.) (1999) Comparative Peace Processes

Chapter 1: Introduction, p. 1-23

Teresa Whitfield, Chapter 9: The Role of the United Nations in El Salvador and Guatemala (pp. 257-290)

Jean Arnault, Reflections, pp. 291-296

George Vickers, Chapter 14: Renegotiating Internal Security: The Lessons of Central America (pp. 389-414)

Rachel M. McCleary, Chapter 15: Political Economy of Central America (pp. 417-436)

James K. Boyce, Reflections, pp. 437-442

Gerhard Henze, Reflections, pp. 443-446

Cynthia J. Arnson, Chapter 16: Conclusion: Lessons Learned in Comparative Perspective, pp. 447-463

Civic Scenario/Civic Dialogue Workshop Report (www.undp.org/rblac/scenarios) chapters by Adam Kahane and Katrin Kauffer and the Learning History on Vision Guatemala by Elena Diez Pinto

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Week 13 Group Work on Policy Recommendations (date flexible)

By week 13, the groups will have begun preparing and presenting policy recommendations for more effective international co-operation for conflict prevention, peacebuilding and development in the region to be studied. This class will be an opportunity for extensive group work with the instructors on the programme strategies for the respective regions. The strategy to be presented would address issues such as the justification for international intervention, constraints and opportunities, and preferred outcomes.

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NB: The 8-page group-written PROGRAMME STRATEGY is due today.

The three groups will make 15 minute presentations of their joint recommendations to an audience of professors and practitioners, some of who will be asked to critique the students' work from the perspective of their own experience and research. Guests could include government officials and other leaders from the case-study regions as well as representatives of international organizations.

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