Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- About the authors
- List of acronyms
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The perils of war-to-democracy transitions
- 1 Dilemmas of war-to-democracy transitions: theories and concepts
- Part II The security context
- Part III The political process
- Part IV International engagement
- References
- Index
1 - Dilemmas of war-to-democracy transitions: theories and concepts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- About the authors
- List of acronyms
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The perils of war-to-democracy transitions
- 1 Dilemmas of war-to-democracy transitions: theories and concepts
- Part II The security context
- Part III The political process
- Part IV International engagement
- References
- Index
Summary
War-torn societies entering the path toward democracy and peace face the challenge that efforts to achieve one of these desirable goals can have negative effects on the other. This chapter puts forward the concept of war-to-democracy transitions to capture the dynamic between the two interacting processes of democratization and peacebuilding. Democratization refers to the process of opening up political space, including improvements regarding contestation, participation, and human rights. Peacebuilding regards the post-settlement period and includes the implementation of the peace agreement. The focus is on the dilemmas that arise when the two processes have adverse effects on each other. A dilemma is a trade-off situation, where usually the choice is between two bad things. However, here the dilemmas regard two goals widely held to be mutually reinforcing, namely democracy and peace. Such dilemmas for post-war transitions occur when actions taken in the name of democratization have negative effects on the peace process. Dilemmas are also activated when actions taken in the name of peace have negative effects on democratization. In addition, the dilemmas are often interacting: there is seldom one dilemma at a time, and one dilemma may make another dilemma even more critical. Such dilemmas pose severe challenges for both local and international actors engaged in peacebuilding and democratization.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- From War to DemocracyDilemmas of Peacebuilding, pp. 17 - 36Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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