Additional insights into peace processes are offered by Beyond Intractability project participants.
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What Are They?
Like the word "peace," the term "peace process" can be defined in many different ways. Former Track I and Track II diplomat Harold Saunders, defines peace processes as "a political process in which conflicts are resolved by peaceful means."[1] They are a "mixture of politics, diplomacy, changing relationships, negotiation, mediation, and dialogue in both official and unofficial arenas."[2]
Saunders says that peace processes operate simultaneously in four arenas:
- The Official Arena: This is the arena of official "track I" diplomats who establish personal relationships with their counterparts on the other side, negotiate interim and final agreements, and work to improve relationships between governments.
- The Quasi-Official Arena: This is the arena that Susan Allen Nan in her essay on Track I-Track II Coordination calls track one-and-a half. The people involved are outside of government, but have close ties to government and trade information back and forth. The Oslo Agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians was forged through quasi-official negotiating with a Norwegian mediator.
- Public Peace Processes: This is the arena of sustained dialogue between non-officials, who try to address the "human" (as opposed to governmental) causes of conflict: perceptions, stereotypes, distrust, sense of hopelessness. Such dialogues have been taking place between Israelis and Palestinians for years, though much less now than before. Similar processes have occurred in many other intractable conflicts: the Cold War, Tajikistan, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, and Cyprus for example.
- Civil Society: This is the arena in which civilians live and work. It is comprised of networks of relationships, often between disputing groups. In intractable conflicts, these relationships break down, causing tears in the framework of civil society which must be rebuilt in any peace process.
Another definition is given by scholar Tim Sisk who defines peace processes as "step-by-step reciprocal moves to build confidence, resolve gnarly issues such as disarmament, and carefully define the future through the design of new political institutions. In other terms, a peace process is an intricate dance of steps---choreographed by third-party mediators---among parties in conflict that help to gradually exchange war for peace."[3] "Exchange war for peace" suggests that Tim is limiting his definition to violent international and civil conflicts.
Yet the same definition could apply to non-violent conflicts as well. For example, the conflict between the races in the United States is seldom violent, yet we would do well to build confidence between the races and perhaps even build new political institutions or restructure the old ones so they are more inclusive. Indeed, one of the African-American members of this project, S.Y. Bowland explained to me that mediators of color frequently refer to their activities as "peacebuilding," a term I had previously associated only with violent international conflicts.
Another typology is suggested by scholar Nicole Ball. Ball divides peace processes into two stages and each of these into two phases. The first stage of a peace process is cessation of violent conflict. This she breaks up into two phases: negotiation and cessation of hostilities. The second stage is peacebuilding, which moves from a transition phase to a consolidation phase. The objectives of each of these phases is shown in the diagram below: [4]
From Nicole Ball, "The Challenge of Rebuilding War-Torn Societies [5]." |
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As can be seen from this diagram, the peace agreement, on a timeline, is left of middle, meaning as long as it may take to agree to a peace settlement, implementing that settlement takes even longer. In one of his more pessimistic, but perhaps often realistic observations, peacebuilder and scholar John Paul Lederach often observes that getting out of a conflict takes as long as it takes to get into it. So if a conflict has been building and breeding for a century, Lederach warns it will take that long to get over it.
Such pessimism is not always founded, however. The Cold War started just after World War II, in 1945. It lasted over 40 years --certainly seemed intractable-- yet it ended very quickly, with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 followed by the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. Similarly,Apartheid in South Africa seemed like a never-ending institution, but it was dismantled and a bi-racial government and society was established relatively quickly.
But even in these very successful cases, the peace agreement (which only existed in one of the two cases) did not mark the end of the conflict, but only its transformation. Much work must follow: disarming, establishing new relationships, new institutions, and repairing old ones. All of this is part of the "peace process."
Most of the essays that follow are subsets of this "peace process." Some are "intervention processes," meaning that they are carried out by someone or ones who come in from the outside and "intervene" in the conflict to try to help the parties transform or resolve it. Such processes include official and unofficial mediation, dialogue, peacekeeping, peacemaking, peacebuilding, and much more. Other processes are direct approaches---ones carried out by the parties themselves without outside intervention. These include conflict assessment (which can also be done by an outside third party) and negotiation. More detail on all of these, and other related, approaches are found in the other essays in this section of the knowledge base.
[1] Harold H. Saunders, "Prenegotiation and Circum-negotiation: Arenas of the Multilevel Peace Process". Turbulent Peace. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace 2001. p. 483.
[2] Ibid.
[3] "Timothy D. Sisk, "Democratization and Peacebuilding" in Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall, eds. Turbulent Peace. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace 2001. p. 787.
[4] Nicole Ball. "The Challenge of Rebuilding War-Torn Societies." in Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall, eds. Turbulent Peace. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace 2001 pp. 721-722
[5] Ibid.
Use the following to cite this article:
Burgess, Heidi. "Peace Processes." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: May 2004 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/peace_processes/>.
Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic
Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Brahm, Eric. "Comparative Peace Processes in Latin America -- Summary." Conflict Research Consortium, 2000.
Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/booksummary/10029/.
This is a summary of Cynthia Arnson's "Comparative Peace Processes in Latin America."
Chufrin, G.I. & H.H. Saunders. A Public Peace Process.
Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/articlesummary/10110/.
This is a summary of an article describing one of Saunders' four arenas of the peace process, though it also puts this arena in its context with other aspects of the peace process.
Saunders, Harold H. Prenegotiation and Circum-negotiation: Arenas of the Peace Process by Harold Saunders. CRC.
Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/articlesummary/10521/.
This a summary of the article that explains Saunders' view of the four elements of the peace process.
Processes of Peace. Creators of Peace.
Available at: http://www.iofc.org/en/programmes/cop/.
Security in Latin America: Peace Processes. Center for International Policy.
Available at: http://www.ciponline.org/bibliogr/peacepro.htm .
This webpage links to a variety of resources related to peace processes in Latin America.
The Collaborative for Devlopment Action, Inc. (CDA).
Available at: http://www.cdainc.com/index.php.
CDA organizes and spearheads efforts that focus on the role of third party actors in conflict or post-conflict contexts. CDA currently directs efforts that involve humanitarian and development agencies, peace and conflict resolution organizations, multinational corporations and donor agencies.
Offline (Print) Sources
Arnson, Cynthia J., ed. Comparative Peace Processes in Latin America. Stanford University Press, May 1, 1999.
This book contains 16 essays that look at different peace processes in South America such as the peace process in Chiapas and the protracted search for settlement in Colombia.
Darby, John and Roger Mac Ginty. Contemporary Peacemaking: Conflict, Violence and Peace Processes. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003.
Sisk, Timothy D. "Democratization and Peacebuilding." In Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict. Edited by Crocker, Chester A., Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, eds. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2001.
How to craft postwar democratic instituions to foster reconciliation, to design a democratic system that may help manage and ameliorate the underlying causes of conflict over the long term.
Darby, John and Roger MacGinty. Guns and Government: The Management of the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Palgrave MacMillan, March 2002.
Darby and Mac Ginty identify six key strands in the Northern Ireland peace process and assess how factors in each facilitated or obstructed political movement. Chapters are devoted to political change, violence and security, economic factors, external influences, popular responses, and the role of images and symbols. The book is part of a wider study of the management of contemporary peace processes and has a strong comparative theme. It draws heavily on interviews with key players (politicians and policymakers) in the peace process.
Bell, Christine. "Peace Processes, Peace Agreements, and Human Rights: What Are They? ." In Peace Agreements and Human Rights. Edited by Bell, Christine, ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Saunders, Harold H. "Prenegotiation and Circum-Negotiation: Arenas of the Multilevel Peace Process." Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict , 2001.
"Saunders argues that the peace process includes more than just official negotiations. 'Peace requires a process of building constructive relationships in a civil society not just negotiating, signing, and ratifying a formal agreement.'[p. 420] Saunders describes the different arenas in which the peace process is pursued, and describes the basic phases of the peace process." Click here for more info.
du Toit, P. South Africa's Brittle Peace: The Problem of Post-Settlement Violence. London: Palgrave MacMillan, April 1, 2001.
South Africa has succeeded in establishing a democracy, but has yet to eliminate public violence from society. This book takes up the issue of post-settlement violence and ways of consolidating the newly-found democratic peace. The role of negotiated institutions such as the new police force, economic factors relevant to the anticipated "peace dividend," external factors such as arms smuggling networks, popular responses to rising threats to physical safety, and symbolic factors in enhancing the capacity of the state to deal with this issue are examined.
Ball, Nicole. "The Challenge of Rebuilding War-Torn Societies." In Managing Global Chaos: Sources of and Responses to International Conflict. Edited by Crocker, Chester A., Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, eds. Washington DC: USIP Press, 1996.
This is a chapter about the consolidation of peace and the questions that should be addressed by both governments of war torn societies and the international development community. Ball proposes several steps to improve the quality of assistance provided for war-torn countries.
Ginty, Roger Mac and John Darby, eds. The Management of Peace Processes. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.
This study followed peace processes in Israel/Palestine, South Africa, Basque Country, Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland for over two years. The project was conducted by academic partners in all five areas.
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Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
Engaging Armed Groups in Peace Processes. Conciliation Resources.
Available at: http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/engaging-groups/index.php.
This page has links to information and a report that came out of the ACCORD international joint analysis roundtable workshop, "Engaging armed groups in peace processes." The workshop was attended by a range of government and armed group representatives, intermediaries and donors. Participants were able to exchange and reflect among people with direct experience of creating and implementing strategies to address the problem.
Offline (Print) Sources
The Effects of Violence on Peace Processes. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, November 1, 2001.
This book examines the fact that ethnic violence is extremely difficult to curtail. Cease-fires tend to break down and peace agreements are regularly violated. Darby argues that even when blatant political violence is ended by a cease-fire, it tends to re-appear in new forms and continues to threaten peace processes. "He analyzes the nature and impact of four interrelated kinds of violence: violence by the state, violence by militants, violence in the community, and the emergence of new violence-related issues during negotiations. For each kind of violence, the author draws out the policy implications, suggesting how the "guardians" of the peace process can defeat would-be spoilers and change a culture of violence. The volume concludes by distilling five propositions on the relationship between violence and peace processes (Amazon.com)." The author employs five specific cases to demonstrate his points: Northern Ireland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Israel-Palestine, and the Basque country. Click here for more info.
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