Doctoral Degrees (Philosophy)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/652

Browse

Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Philosophy) by Author "De Coning, Cedric Hattingh"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Complexity, peacebuilding and coherence : implications of complexity for the peacebuilding coherence dilemma
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012-12) De Coning, Cedric Hattingh; De Villiers-Botha, Tanya; Jordaan, Barney; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Philosophy.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation explores the utility of using Complexity studies to improve our understanding of peacebuilding and the coherence dilemma, which is regarded as one of the most significant problems facing peacebuilding interventions. Peacebuilding is said to be complex, and this study investigates what this implies, and asks whether Complexity could be of use in improving our understanding of the assumed causal link between coherence, effectiveness and sustainability. Peacebuilding refers to all actions undertaken by the international community and local actors to consolidate the peace – to prevent a (re)lapse into violent conflict – in a given conflict-prone system. The nexus between development, governance, politics and security has become a central focus of the international effort to manage transitions, and peacebuilding is increasingly seen as the collective framework within which these diverse dimensions of conflict management can be brought together in one common framework. The coherence dilemma refers to the persistent gap between policy-level assumptions about the value and causal role of coherence in the effectiveness of peacebuilding and empirical evidence to the contrary from peacebuilding practice. The dissertation argues that the peacebuilding process is challenged by enduring and deep-rooted tensions and contradictions, and that there are thus inherent limits and constraints regarding the degree to which coherence can be achieved in any particular peacebuilding context. On the basis of the application of the general characteristics of Complexity to peacebuilding, the following three recommendations reflect the core findings of the study: (1) Peacebuilders need to concede that they cannot, from the outside, definitively analyse complex conflicts and design ‘solutions’ on behalf of a local society. Instead, they should facilitate inductive processes that assist knowledge to emerge from the local context, and such knowledge needs to be understood as provisional and subject to a continuous process of refinement and adaptation. (2) Peacebuilders have to recognise that self-sustainable peace is directly linked to, and influenced by, the extent to which a society has the capacity, and space, to selforganise. For peace consolidation to be self-sustainable, it has to be the result of a home-grown, bottom-up and context-specific process. (3) Peacebuilders need to acknowledge that they cannot defend the choices they make on the basis of pre-determined models or lessons learned elsewhere. The ethical implications of their choices have to be considered in the local context, and the effects of their interventions - intended and unintended - need to be continuously assessed against the lived-experience of the societies they are assisting. Peacebuilding should be guided by the principle that those who will have to live with the consequences should have the agency to make decisions about their own future. The art of peacebuilding lies in pursuing the appropriate balance between international support and home-grown solutions. The dissertation argues that the international community has, to date, failed to find this balance. As a result, peacebuilding has often contributed to the very societal weaknesses and fragilities that it was meant to resolve. On the basis of these insights, the dissertation concludes with a call for a significant re-balancing of the relationship between international influence and local agency, where the role of the external peacebuilder is limited to assisting, facilitating and stimulating the capacity of the local society to self-organise. The dissertation thus argues for reframing peacebuilding as something that must be essentially local.