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Key Text Peacebuilding and Statebuilding: An Invitation for Reflection - Interpeace's Experiences

Author: Koenraad Van Brabant
Date: 2008
Size: 40 pages (762 KB)

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Summary

How can international actors accelerate the socio-political processes of state formation in fragile states? This paper from Interpeace examines the experience of the organisation in state-building, focusing on state-society relations as the core concept of state formation. Building democratic culture to support long-term socio-political negotiations is the most effective means of securing peace and building strong states.

State-building is an endogenous process to enhance capacity, institutions and legitimacy of the state, driven by state-society relations. It is intimately connected to the political processes through which social/political relations and power relationships between holders of state power and organised groups in society are negotiated and managed. State-society relations are dynamic and evolve over time, and actors involved in state-building must recognise the potential for violence inherent in the process. Moreover, they cannot work with only the state, or with just civil society organisations; engagement is required from both and from the wider society.

The challenge for international actors is to help accelerate the socio-political processes of state formation while avoiding violence and moving more quickly in the desired direction. Interpeace-style programmes create multiple spaces for public debate, discussion, negotiation. They pursue collaborative work in which priorities for a peaceful society are collectively identified and consensus is built on how to address them. Interpeace has adopted principles to guide their engagement in state-building and state formation activities:

A focus on peace-building rather than on state-building
Process design and process-management expertise rather than thematic expertise
A broad-based and inclusive process that seeks engagement with and from all sectors of a society
An informal process that remains non-binding, thereby facilitating frankness and complementing formal processes
Strengthening national capacities and broadening local ownership

An Interpeace-style approach pays much attention to legitimacy. Its programmes acquire it through three sources: composition and behaviour of programme partners; the inclusive and genuinely participatory nature of the process; and the fact that the proposals generated are the result of collaborative and consensus-oriented work between all key stakeholders. Focusing on the socio-political realm also fosters a democratic culture of public debate and consensus-seeking.

This approach is not without its challenges. Gaining and maintaining a quality relationship with programme partners is often difficult; involving all relevant actors in society in the process can be complex, with self-interested actors often ‘part of the problem’. Fitting long-term socio-political processes into short-term project formats while external blueprints are being imported with external funding is challenging. The Interpeace experience supports recommendations based on concentrating on state-society relations:

Internal processes in the long-term show themselves more robust than the 'results' derived from shorter-term external assistance and cooperation
Public participation and open public debate combined with capacities for negotiation and collaboration are most likely to lead to compromises and moderation and avoid violence.
A strong democratic culture will shape governance relations and governance institutions that are inclusive, work for the public good, and provide a solid foundation for state formation.

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Source: Van Brabant, K., 2008, 'Peacebuilding and Statebuilding: An Invitation for Reflection - Interpeace's Experiences', Interpeace, Geneva