Why It Worked: Moving from Success to Effectiveness in Conflict Resolution and Peace Negotiations

Peace Agreements or Pieces of Paper: UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and Peace Negotiations and Agreements

The closing chapter concludes the book by summarising the findings of the analysis into forty years of peacemaking and war experience in Northern Ireland and Turkey, and how these might be applied to other ethno-nationalist conflicts in which similar peace processes have been instituted. This chapter discusses the implications of the policies applied in the two specified conflicts for conflict resolution theory more broadly and lays out a framework for further research in the field. It argues that there is a complementarity between three major aspects of conflict resolution processes: backchannel communications, as the unofficial aspect; peace organisations, as the informal and semi-official aspect; and official negotiations, as the official aspect. The conflict resolution processes in these two cases encouraged the conflicting sides to consider talks and to enter into a negotiation process at the pre-negotiation stage. The processes then intended to reach a peace agreement during the negotiation stage. This book has suggested that a peace agreement requires mediation by an independent third party: between the British government and their adversaries, the IRA and the republican movement, in one case, and the Turkish government and their adversaries, the PKK and pro-Kurdish movement in the other.

In 31 October, 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted and signed SC Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security. Resolution 1325 recognizes that civilian, particularly women and children are the worst affected by conflict. Resolution 1325 call for women participation in conflict prevention and resolution initiative, the integration of gender perspective in peace building, peace keeping mission and the protection of women in regions of conflict. The resolution reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace-building, peace keeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction; stressing the importance of equal participation in peace and security. In Africa, women participation in policy making, peace building and conflict resolution is still faced with setbacks despite the passing of the SCR 1325 two decades ago. Findings from this study has shown that, women have been subjected to domination by men as a result of persisting cultural stereotypes, abuse of religious and traditional practices, patriarchal societal structures in which economic, political and social power are dominated by men while women played the role of followers of male decision-makers. The study identifies such challenges for a change or reforms them. The paper reviewed many of the extant studies on the role and potentials of women in peace building and conflict resolution. Analyzing those challenges inhibiting the participation of women in peace process. The paper adopted the qualitative approach whereby data collected from secondary sources were reviewed, explained and analyzed within the purview of the study. The paper conclude, the views that bringing women into the peace process, as participation of women makes it sustainable and reduces possibility of inadequate outcome or failure of the entire process, may be an illusion. Unless the women are economically and politically empowered, as one of the outstanding equality of peace-makers or negotiators is the amount of political and economic influence they possessed. Only elite centric gender blind composition of negotiation and peace process team cannot ensure sustainable peace process as there could be no peace with one side so disadvantaged.

This research based on the condition of international peace and security that experiencing dynamic and volatile in many parts of the world. A conflict that paid international attention over the past 20 years is the Darfur conflict within the problem of ethnic background. The Darfur conflict has killed at least more than 500,000 people and left more than 750,000 residents to flee to other countries for reasons of security and a better life. Facing the fact that many people who become casualties in this protracted conflict, many international parties are urging the Sudanese government to immediately resolve its internal conflicts and offer help if needed. One of the international organization that assist handling of this conflict is the United Nations (UN). Through the Security Council, the UN established a peacekeeping operation called UNAMID which is a joint mission of peace between the United Nations and the African Union. This peace mission who handle the Darfur conflict to UNAMID managed to achieve a resolution of the conflict in the form of a peace agreement, called the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur in 2011. Keywords : Darfur, UNAMID, conflict resolution, facilitator, peace agreement

Research reveals that women are rarely included in mediation and peace negotiations (CFR: 2017). In the peace negotiations signed from 1990-2017, women represented two percent of the mediators, eight percent of the negotiators and five percent of the witnesses and signatories (ibid).In addition, of the one thousand one hundred and eighty seven peace agreements signed during the period 1990-2017, only nineteen percent of these mentioned women, while five percent made reference to gender based violence (ibid).The above figures bears testimony that the actual numbers of women involved in international mediation and peace keeping efforts are significantly very low. In addition, the figures reveal the general hesitancy by peace brokers to engage women in the mediation of violent conflict. This is not because there is lack of competent women but because the acknowledgement of the need to include women in conflict resolution, mediation and peace processes has simply not been present. United Nations Resolution 1325 calls for women inclusion and participation in conflict prevention, mediation and negotiation processe. The paper argues that the participation of women at the peace table improves the negotiation process, contributes to a more comprehensive peace agreement, and bolsters the prospect of sustainable peace. Applying discourse analysis to draw information from reports, related literature, the article found out that women`s needs are different from those of men, factors which are normally overlooked or forgotten in the negotiation processes, resulting in less effective and less sustainable peace agreements because the needs and concerns of half the population are ignored or not addressed. The articles concludes that the inclusion of women in peace processes creates an enabling environment where the wisdom, experiences and talents of both men and women are harnessed for the promotion of sustainable peace..

Why do some peace agreements end armed conflicts whereas others do not? Previous studies have primarily focused on the relation between warring parties and the provisions included in peace agreements. Prominent mediators, however, have emphasised the importance of stakeholders at various levels for the outcome of peace agreements. To match the experience of these negotiators we apply a level-of-analysis approach to examine the contextual circumstances under which peace agreements are concluded. While prominent within the causes of war literature, level-of-analysis approaches are surprisingly scant in research about conflict resolution. This article compares two Sudanese Peace Agreements: the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005) that ended the North–South war and led to the independence of South Sudan, and the Darfur Peace Agreement (2006) which failed to end fighting in Darfur. We find that factors at the local, national and international level explain the different outcomes of the two agreements. Hence, the two case studies illustrate the merit of employing a level-of-analysis approach to study the outcome of peace agreements. The main contribution of this article is that it presents a new theoretical framework to understand why some peace agreements terminate armed conflict whereas others do not.

Track Two Diplomacy (Track Two) frequently has contributed to the resolution of protracted, asymmetric, and ethnonational (PAE) conflicts, but exactly how is not fully known. In this article we explore what role, if any, unofficial and informal dialogues across different “tracks” played in different conflicts. We focus on the role of the third party, how the results of Track Two dialogues were “transferred” to their intended audiences, and how the inclusion of civil society actors and broader public opinion affected negotiations and dialogue. To accomplish this, we develop an original typology of roles that Track Two can play—which provides a framework—and present a conceptual tool based on this typology to illustrate multidirectional transfer from Track Two to different recipients.

Reconciliation in Peace Agreements?

The July 1999 Lomé Peace Agreement, the third in the series of peace agreements signed to end Sierra Leone's then eight‐year war, collapsed in May 2000, with the arrest and detention of UN peacekeepers by the members of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The collapse of the agreement raised fundamental questions about the future of peace in Sierra Leone, and forced many observers to wonder whether there are peculiarities inherent in the country that frustrate peace agreements, or that the agreements themselves are defective, and should not be expected to work. There is also the additional factor of an inability of parties and mediators to the conflict to implement peace agreements either because of a lack of political will or limited resources to start the process. This article takes a critical look at the Lomé Peace Agreement and argues that its failure was due more to the desire of negotiators and a fundamentally weak government to appease the rebel faction than address the key issues underlining the conflict. It argues that the peace agreement has once again uncovered the fragility of peace processes and the role of the international community in assisting that process. Finally, it considers the wider implications of Sierra Leone's failed peace process for international efforts in peacekeeping, conflict resolution and conflict management.

The reasons behind the development and outcomes of peace negotiations remain a subject of debate among scholars and practitioners. Structural conflict conditions of the conflict are often emphasized as key explanatory variables. However, this approach often neglects the actual intricacies of peace talks once they are in place and, instead, correlates negotiation outcomes with variables that are not actively part of them. Drawing on conflict resolution theory and the theory of complexity, the article proposes a theory for understanding the dynamics of peace negotiations. The main argument is that in a complex environment like one of peace talks, decisions on process design can be a key determinant of the effort devoted by the parties, and thus, of the negotiations unfolding. One contribution of this approach is the recognition of the potential of a negotiation to transform the relationship between the parties from one of conflict to one of cooperation in a joint effort to work toward a negotiated solution, provided that the complexity of the negotiation and the uncertainties associated to it are properly managed. Negotiation process design can provide some of the tools to do so. Similarly, this approach makes it possible to understand the existence of negotiations in which the parties are interested in keeping the dialogue open, regardless of some conditions of the conflict, for instance, alleged lack of ripeness. As an example, the paper studies the case of the Colombian government's parallel peace negotiations with the FARC and the ELN in the period 2010–2018, which shows the possible role of process design variables in the different paths of these two negotiations.

On the 31 October 2000 UNSC Resolution 1325 was adopted. The resolution provided for a range of measures aimed at the inclusion of women in the prevention, management and resolution of conflict. In particular, several of the resolution's provisions addressed the role of women and gender in peace negotiations and agreements. This article examines whether and how Resolution 1325 has impacted on the drafting of peace agreements. We analyse explicit references to women and gender in peace agreements from 1990 to 2010, providing a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the extent to which women and gender are addressed. We conclude by using our findings and analysis to address the relationship of feminist intervention to international law, and debates around the strategies and trade-offs which underlie feminist promotion and use of UN Security Council Resolutions in particular.

Counting Peace Agreements: The Transitional Justice Peace Agreement Database

The world over, Peace Agreements remain the most frequently used means of ending conflict. For more than five decades, the Southern part of Sudan (now South Sudan) has been plagued by armed conflict, despite numerous conflict resolution efforts by both regional, international state and Non-State Actors. The study evaluates the influence of architectural design of the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS 201 and the 2018 Revitalised-Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan, (R-ARCISS 2018) on Security Sector Reforms (SSRs). The study was anchored on John Paul Lederach’s peace-building theory, social constructivism, Arnstein’s ladder of Citizen participation and securitisation theory. The study primarily adopted a descriptive cross-sectional survey design, with correlational and explanatory research elements. Quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were used. Questionnaires, Content Analysis Guides, and focus Group discussions were also used. Target population was former and current members of armed groups in South Sudan. Snowball sampling was used to identify the respondents that were surveyed. Key informants were purposively sampled based on the individuals that could provide the most comprehensive information on the variables of interest to the study. For explanation and clarification, data from the study were presented using descriptive statistics such as tables, pie charts, bar graphs, and percentages, as well as inferential statistics. Findings indicated that the designs of both Peace Agreements are weak. As far as the process is concerned, weaknesses appear primarily where there were a limited number of mechanisms to address impediments to the agreement, little agreement on the ownership of natural resources, inadequate modalities of navigating the interests of external actors, and poor handling of differing political interests. It is recommended that a new process for a strong peace agreement be initiated, and that it should be preceded by rigorous baseline surveys so as to address some of the contentious root causes of the conflict such as negative ethnicity and militarisation along ethnic lines.

Resolving protracted, asymmetric, and ethno-national conflicts is a notoriously problematic process, and only a handful of such attempts have ended in success. This paper is the first comparative study examining the relevance of “politically motivated violent offenders” (PMVOs) in propelling the shift from a long and bloody armed struggle to a negotiated agreement; indeed, they play an indispensable role in the ratification and the eventual implementation of any such agreement. We compare the role of PMVOs in three cases of protracted conflict resolution processes in the 1990s—Northern Ireland, South Africa, and the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Accords. We argue that PMVOs constitute a distinguished socio-political actor characterized by high symbolic capital as the embodiment of the national struggle. This renders them a major source of political legitimacy, a necessary condition for attaining peace with hitherto sworn enemies and securing its implementation and stabilization. The paper analyzes the provisions within the respective agreements pertaining to prisoners’ release as an incentive, or lack thereof, especially for organizations outside the peace process to cease violence. Whereas the British and South African governments fully recognized the PMVO issue, Israel’s failure to recognize its importance was a major factor leading to the breakdown of the Oslo process.

The role of women in conflict resolution and peacebuilding is increasingly emphasized in multilateral policy discourse. Following the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, which called for increased participation of women in conflict resolution at decisionmaking levels, (1) the UN Security Council adopted, in October 2000, its first resolution focusing on the role of women in the maintenance of international peace and security (SC/RES/1325/2000). (2) In November 2000, the European Parliament adopted a similar resolution encouraging women's participation in conflict resolution. (3) Security Council Resolution 1325 calls for (1) an increased representation of women in decisionmaking related to peace and security, including UN peace operations; (2) the better protection of women and girls under international humanitarian and human rights law; and (3) special attention to women in the pursuit of postwar justice, disarmament and demobilization, and repatriation and reintegration of refugees. In the follow-up, two major studies are being prepared to enhance the understanding of critical issues facing women in conflict and postconflict situations. The UN Division for the Advancement of Women is leading the secretary-general's study on women, peace, and security, while the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has commissioned independent experts' assessments of the impact of armed conflict on women and the role of women in peacebuilding. (4) Statement of the Problem The role of women in conflict resolution and peacebuilding is multidimensional. First, women's participation is conceived as an issue of equitable representation, for legitimate conflict resolution requires an inclusive and participatory process, (5) and thus is part of a reform process in which decisionmaking power is transferred to every citizen on the basis of equality. Second, it is frequently argued that women bring gender perspectives to the substance of negotiations. representation at the negotiating table is the sine qua non of gender equality and inclusion, says Graca Machel in the secretary-general's report on children in armed conflict. (6) According to Swanee Hunt of the Women Waging Peace program at Harvard University, Common sense dictates that women should be central to peacemaking, where they can bring their experience in conflict resolution to bear. (7) As such, women are expected to articulate and negotiate favorable terms for women and gender equality based on their experiences as single heads of households, community leaders, humanitarian and social workers, and peace activists. Some claim an even more substantial role for women. Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of UNIFEM, states, commitment to peace also remains critical to ensuring the sustainability of peace agreements signed by political and military factions. (8) It is thus no accident that Resolution 1325 places a strong emphasis on the increased representation of women in peace-related functions. One-third of the eighteen-article resolution is devoted to measures that increase women's participation in peacemaking, peace negotiations, and peacekeeping operations, and as special representatives and envoys of the secretary-general. Yet the premise of women's participation as an introduction to gender equality and sustainable peace agreements has not been tested; it is not backed by empirical evidence. In fact, the short- to medium-term results of many peace processes point to the contrary: women continue to be discriminated against and marginalized in postwar society. In Kosovo, despite the introduction of 30 percent electoral quotas for women, only 8.2 percent of those elected to the Municipal Assemblies in the October 2000 elections were women. (9) In Burundi, despite the historic convention of the All-Party Women's Conference in July 2000 in which two women from each of nineteen political parties participating in peace negotiations, formulated women's recommendations, and managed to incorporate twenty-three of them into the final peace agreement, conference-goers could not agree on which one delegate would represent them at the accord signing. …