Development Without Conflict

One of the most important challenges facing civilization is how its natural resources will be used and protected. Too often polarization and litigation cause results with which no one is truly satisfied. Enemies are made, lines are drawn and both people and the environment are degraded. Resolving Environmental Conflict explains the transformative approach toward facilitation. It shows how to help parties empower themselves to define the issues and decide the settlement on their own terms and on their own time through better understanding of one another's perspectives. The transformative approach allows a conflict's outcome to be decided solely by the participants even though resolution may not take place for some months after facilitation is complete. Inherent in the solution is a shared vision for the community without which sustainability is not possible. Beyond shared vision, this book examines notions of development, sustainability, and community and the synergism of ecology, culture and economic needs that promote a healthy environment enriching the lives of all its inhabitants.

Some of the bloodiest conflicts occur on the African continent. An Afrocentric perspective is therefore a suitable starting point for research into the possible strategies for post-conflict peacebuilding. The authors of this book consider the problems around the concept of ‘post-conflict’ and the blurring of military and civilian roles, analysing the UN roles in the DRC and Sierra Leone, as well as the African Union Mission in Burundi. The main context of the book, however, is the South African Army’s strategy for PCRD in Africa, which was developed with the African Union’s 2006 Post-Conflict, Reconstruction and Development Needs Assessment Guide in mind. This book emanates from this plan. It therefore also explores South Africa’s policy imperatives to integrate development projects and peace missions, involving the military as well as civilian organisations. While this book is not intended as an instruction manual, it hopes to ignite an understanding of the particular processes required to develop a sustainable and cohesive post-conflict peacebuilding strategy within the African environment.

This book examines links between post-conflict security, peace and development in Africa, Latin America, Europe and New Zealand. Young peace researchers from the Global South (Uganda, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Brazil, Colombia) as well as from Italy and New Zealand address in case studies traumas in Northern Uganda, demobilisation and reintegration of ex-combatants in the Ivory Coast, economic and financial management of terrorism in Kenya, organised crime in Brazil, mental health issues in Colombia, macro realism in Europe and global defence reforms within the military apparatus since 1990. The book reviews linkages between regional stability, development and peace in post-conflict societies while adding on to the post 2015 international agenda and discusses linkages between peace, security and development.

The emergence of a global and technological world and its accelerating, dissemination before the beginning of the 21st century does not only give rise to technological, economic, social, environmental, political, and educational tasks. Significant philosophical questions, epistemic reflections, and cultural debates result. The aim of this book is to provide information about epistemic, ethical, and cultural implications of sustainable development on an interdisciplinary and international level.

East Asia is a region deeply affected by conflict. Colonial, ideological, and national wars have left their scars and legacies on regional, international, and national governance. Yet East Asian post-conflict development experiences have been viewed as remarkably successful. The three largest economies of East Asia, Japan, China, and South Korea, have all experienced dramatic growth but immediately prior to their periods of expansion, all experienced the devastating impacts of international conflicts and/or civil upheaval. These post-conflict development ’success’ stories do not, however, tell the whole tale. Other states in East Asia and in particular certain regions within some of these states, while apparently emerging from similar conflictual backgrounds, have experienced far less positive transitions. This volume critically assesses measurements of success in East Asian post-conflict development from a human-centered perspective. This involves a major re-evaluation of accepted accounts of domestic governance and international relations in East Asia from both a comparative and inter-disciplinary viewpoint. Case study rich, this volume provides policy prescriptions for East Asian donors and actors in an effort to provide Asian solutions for Asian problems.