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Introduction:
Mari Fitzduff, Executive Director of INCORE, suggests that peacemakers
persuade parties that it is in their own interest to end conflict. This means pointing out the human, social, and economic costs of continuing conflict, as well as the possible benefits of cooperation.
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This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Costs and Benefits of Peace
Mari Fitzduff
Professor and Director of the MA Conflict and Coexistence Programme at Brandeis
University
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A: Make peace worthwhile. So how do we deal with the business folk? We
got an economist in to actually look at a few pilot agencies, to look at what is
was costing them to have separate work forces going around doing the electricity
power lines, the cost of paying compensation to people who were harassed or
murdered or whatever. Getting people to come to the cost in terms of businesses,
and going to them and saying are you willing to do something, because we've
estimated this is what your cost is, and therefore making it worth their while.
Also making it easy for them, because a little of businesses would say we're
willing, but what do we do? You really would have to go in and say, look, this
is what we suggest you do in terms of, you know, it could be the way your
workers come in to work. It could be the kind of safety you can offer. It could
be the people you have in the office or in the factory place who will be
available if there are problems. You've got to have a policy on emblems and
flags because they've cost two or three lives every year since you've been here.
You've got to show them that actually it is in their interest. This is a
real art, because for many people, particularly the middle class people who are
outside of the particular zones of conflict, you had to be able to sit down with
them and persuade them that we needed them too.
So, for instance, you could get people who were very senior civil servants
who didn't quite realize that because they worked in health, this had anything
to do with them. Until you show them that actually again you had to have double work
forces, you have the cost of the casualties, and you have whatever. Make sure
that the cost is recognized by everyone and making sure they take up their part
and their responsibility in terms of addressing it.
Q: So in addition to the human costs and the social costsÂ…
A: The actual financial costs. It's an awful thing to say, but often that's
what counts. Economic development, per se, will not work because it can often be
as divisive. That was the other thing we also learned. The maxim we came to was
nothing should happen apart that can be done together, including things like
economic development and open businesses. It was so bad in Northern Ireland, I
remember one time, there's a particular pan of bread that I adore, and I
couldn't find it in certain areas and I kept going into these shops and saying,
where's Pat's, Pat the Baker's bread? I went into another area, which happened
to be a Protestant one, and the sales woman whispered in my ear, "We call
it Linwood's bread here". The cost of actually having to produce different
bread for different parts of the country because they wouldn't be accepted if
they were seen to be Catholic bread or Protestant bread is one such example of
financial costs. Bring home to them that in fact there's an enormous amount to
be gained if you could actually gain acceptance in terms of an increased
connected workforce, greater workforce and etc.
Being very clever about getting everybody on board and often
finding different tactics as to how to get different people on board.
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