Abstract
Local ownership as currently pursued by external actors may facilitate early recovery and reconstruction in the aftermath of war, but it has little relevance for the durable settlement of civil war. Ownership assumes a different quality and substance when the objective is to achieve a lasting political settlement of civil war, ownership should therefore be operationalized as part of the political process of conflict transformation, and it should be approached as political ownership. Political ownership determines not only the quality of the relationship between the conflict parties; it also governs external relations, in particular with those external forces playing a direct role in the peace process. This applies in particular when sovereignty is challenged through externally driven policies, such as the protection of civilians from internal threats or the objection to non-democratic regime change. An externally supported peace process takes place in the context of a tripartite asymmetric relationship. This leads to a very distinct and also uneven division of roles and responsibilities. However, it is argued that a framework conceptualizing political ownership and the lasting settlement of civil war must be part of a comprehensive model to explain the failure of political processes to end civil war.
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Notes
- 1.
This is in particular the case when a ‘comprehensive peace agreement’ was signed and interim arrangements are put in place until a final government is formed, for example through elections. See Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement, at: http://unmis.unmissions.org/Portals/UNMIS/Documents/General/cpa-en.pdf (5 June 2013).
- 2.
UN Report of the Secretary General, The rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies, UN Doc. S/2004/616, 3 August 2004, para 17.
- 3.
UN General Assembly, Peacebuilding in the aftermath of conflict, A/67/499, 8 October 2012.
- 4.
UN Security Council, Resolution on the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission, S/RES/1645, 12 December 2005, para 10.
- 5.
Security Council Resolution, S/RES/1590, 24 March 2005; Security Council Resolution, S/RES/1996, 8 July 2011; Security Council Resolution, S/RES/2046, 2 May 2012 “decides that Sudan and South Sudan shall take the following actions with immediate effect” following the resumption of armed conflict between the Republics of South Sudan and Sudan.
- 6.
The opening paragraphs of Security Council decisions authorizing Peacekeeping Operations refer to all relevant UN General Assembly and UN Security Council decisions without establishing a specific relevance with the country concerned.
- 7.
Local ownership in the case of military victory to end civil war needs to be explored separately.
- 8.
The correlation between underdevelopment and internal armed struggle lacks empirical evidence. Still, it is frequently used as argument to justify the submission of reconstruction and development appeals at donor pledging conferences, justified as part of the peace process.
- 9.
The moral dilemma that each intervention which did not take place is as problematic as the one which has taken place is of much debate in particular in the context of “The Responsibility to Protect” (ICISS Report; at: http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/ICISS%20Report.pdf (5 June 2013)).
- 10.
Brahimi Report 2000; at: www.un.org/peace/reports/peace_operations (5 June 2013), in particular Chapter VI. The Brahimi Report does not address the issue of ‘local ownership’.
- 11.
The acceptance of the demand of the Government of Sudan that the character of UNAMID must be “African” limited the options of the UN Secretary General to staff the mission, in particular at the senior level. The bargaining power of the Government of Sudan was further strengthened when DPKO and the Secretary General accepted without protest the dismissal of the SRSG Jan Pronk in October 2006.
- 12.
She draws attention to the role external actors should play to stabilize peace agreements and political settlements.
- 13.
This applies to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between the Government of the Sudan and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM). The objective of the CPA was to create conditions for a reformed and “New Sudan”, separation was considered then a remote option only.
- 14.
The initial recommendations for a peace operation in South Sudan made by UNMIS are in total contrast to the mission approved by the UN Security Council under resolution S/RES/1996 UN Security Council 2011 of 8 July 2011. Neither the Government of the newly independent Republic of South Sudan nor UN Staff with long standing experience in Sudan and South Sudan do agree with the approved mission mandate and concept (Discussions held by the author with the Government of South Sudan and UNMISS officials in March 2011).
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Schumann, P. (2014). Local Ownership and the Settlement of Civil Wars: External Intervention in Internal Armed Conflicts—Arguments for a Conceptual Framework of ‘Political Ownership’. In: Hellmüller, S., Santschi, M. (eds) Is Local Beautiful?. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace(), vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00306-1_2
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