An Anabaptist Paradigm for Conflict Transformation Critical Reflections on Peacemaking in Zimbabwe by Ronald S. Kraybill Thesis Presented for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Universityin the Department of of Religious Cape Studies Town UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN August, 1996 r~:~:;:i:;:,~:~'.j;;·~:.;;, ,~~:,::t:;i::~ !: or in p:, t. Co1JyriGl.,l' i;; n,,U by the ;~Llthoi'• ..~i";tc;-7.·,.·. ~-· ' __ ·.• .• _.~,:--- .. ·,,q•· .• ,··>:-.:, ··~-. ::;.._,.__ The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town . u T ace ll~fl:! ~6 / I &I 'Ll.f 1 5·JAN 1998 Acknowledgments A diverse network of people and organizations contributed to making the writing of this thesis possible. I am grateful to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. which provided a grant enabling the initial research and writing of part of this thesis, the Zimbabwe case study. Two people in this organization deserve special mention. One is Doug Johnston, for it was his vision for documenting and learning from the work of religiously-based actors in peace efforts that led the CSIS to establish the Religion and Conflict Resolution Project, the first serious effort to study the role of religiously-based peace efforts in conflict situations. The other is Cynthia Sampson, whose competence and diligence as research coordinator for the project and co-editor of the resulting essays have much to do with the huge success of the book, Religion: The Missing Dimension ofStatecraft (New York and London: Oxford, 1994), which issued from the project. I am grateful to Oxford University Press for granting permission to publish my case study in this thesis. I spent six unforgettable years at the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the University of Cape Town during which substantial parts of the writing of this thesis took place. I am grateful to director Laurie Nathan and to my many dear'ffiends'. i_n the Centre for providing a stimulating environment in which to operate during this remarkable era, and in which to gain a grasp of the dynamics driving many conflicts. I hold particular appreciation for my advisor, Prof. John de Gruchy, in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town, for maintaining faith and patience in a student who pushed the limits of institutional forbearance. In deference to the demands of my day-to-day practical involvements in conflict resolution during the history-making and tempestuous years of the South African transition, Prof. de Gruchy supported me in my decision to take a slow path on thesis-writing. On my behalf he fended off what I suspect may have been substantial institutional pressures for faster progress. On the other hand when it came time to make the final push to completion, Prof. de Gruchy provided the kind of constructive pressure from above which assists in bringing closure to the inherently untidy process of thesis writing. The Institute for Conflict Studies and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, provided a most supportive home for writing from June to December of 1995 as I wrestled with key sections of the thesis. Staff kept their commitment - negotiated in advance - to sustain a one-way relationship during this time by providing input into my own thinking process without requiring any work from me on behalf of the Institute! In particular I thank John Paul Lederach, firstly for his friendship, but also for his pivotal role in my own intellectual journey as a peacemaker. My indebtedness to his past and present writings will be evident to the reader of this thesis. What will not be evident is the generosity of spirit with which John Paul shared his ideas and suggestions for improving my work. Similarly, I am especially grateful to Cynthia Sampson, now based in Harrisonburg, who was a reliable soundingboard for ideas, a insightful critique, and an ever supportive friend. I thank Ray Gingerich, also of Eastern Mennonite University for numerous ideas and suggestions in addressing theological issues and for the warmth and enthusiasm with which he did so. Harold Otto and Vernon Jantzi, also of Eastern Mennonite offered a number of useful suggestions based on their extensive life experiences. Bill Vendley of the World Comission on Religion and Peace deserves acknowledgement for pivotal suggestions regarding the thesis structure. ' Trying to balance a commitment to robust personal and family life with a desire to be productive and competent vocationally has often been anguishing. My wife Meribeth deserves special recognition here for struggling with me to find a balance. To her credit, she has not been endlessly accommodating and selfless in the face of the limitless demands of my calling! But I she has supported me throughout this long journey and paid a substantial personal price in doing so. That my children have also paid a price was at no time more apparent than when three year old Joshua laughed till the tears came at the news that the thesis had gone off to my advisor for the last time. I thank all four of our children, Morgan, Hannah, Joshua, and Carly for keeping me human and hopeful during this period of intense labor. Harrisonburg, Virginia August, 1996 Contents Introduction Section One: A Paradigm for Peacebuilding Chapter One: Vision Chapter Two: Transformation Chapter Three: Vulnerability Chapter Four: Engagement Chapter Five: Transformation and Structures Chapter Six: Reconciliation Chapter Seven: Community Section Two: Peacebuilding in Zimbabwe Chapter Eight: Catholics Chapter Nine: Moral Re-Armament Chapter Ten: Quakers Chapter Eleven: Conclusion to Section Two Section Three: Conclusions Chapter Twelve: Testing the Paradigm Chapter Thirteen: Final Conclusions Bibliography ., 1 INTRODUCTION The Significance of this Study This thesis outlines a proposal from an explicitly religious standpoint of the key dimensions of peacebuilding, focusing particularly on mediation and facilitation as a primary task. What is the value of such a study? My initial responses in the paragraphs which follow are made at the broadest possible level: the desperate need for effective peacebuilders in a world tom by violence and the potential for religiously-based peacebuilders to fill that need. I then support this response by examining other reasons for the study: the current inadequacy of religious response to conflicts, the danger of manipulation of religious leadership by other actors, and potential for the insights of religiously-based actors to contribute to the over-all practice of peacebuilding and diplomacy. In addressing the latter question I outline my own understanding of the meaning of "religion", an understanding whose impact on the broad question of peacebuilding I explore throughout the chapters which follow. The Changing Context of Conflict and International Relations That conflict is devastating to our world requires little documentation, yet only in numbers are we able to grasp the dimensions of the costs of war. One respected researcher reports that since World War II there have been 149 wars and a total of23,142,000 people killed in them.1 In 1993, the same report estimated that military programs worldwide cost $600 billion per year.2 Another study reports that between 1989 and 1994, ninety-four armed conflicts took place globally in sixty-four locations.3 The statistics for war over a four-century period numb the mind. I Ruth Leger Sivard, World Military and Social Expenditures 1993 (Washington DC: World Priorities, 1993), 20. 2 Ibid., 5. 3 Peter Wallensteen and Margareta Sollenberg, "After the Cold War: Emerging Patterns of Armed Conflict 1989-94" in Margareta Sollenberg, editor, States in Armed Conflict 1994 (Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, 1995), 7. Soldiers and Civilians Killed' 1500s 1,600,000 1600s 6,100,000 1700s 7,000,000 1800s 19,400,000 1900s 107,800,000 (First 90 years only) Tho Changing Nature of Conflict What may be less apparent than the devastation of war is the changing nature of conflict. Perhaps the most important change here is the shift away from the large state as the source of identity towards smaller regional entities, ethnicism, and religion as the source of identity.5 In 1994, only 4 of the 42 conflicts recorded concerned a "classical" inter-state conflict, "where two internationally recognized countries were waging an armed battle over a politically defined issue. Instead, the most common conflicts during this period have been internal conflicts over government (civil wars) or over territory (state formation conflicts)."6 Parties in conflict increasingly seek identity and internal cohesion around narrower lines than that offered by national citizenship, namely through clan, ethnicity, religion, or geographic location.7 Thus traditional approaches to diplomacy and peacebuilding, which assumed the nation-state as the fundamental unit of operation are increasingly impotent to deal with conflicts. Directly related to this isfactionalization and diffusion ofpower. 8 One researcher concluded that as many as 100 different political parties and movements may be active in the countries of Djibouti, Somaliland, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and the Sudan.9 Such a proliferation of factions makes power a diffuse and ever-shifting phenomenon. Organization and planning of peace efforts are complex and difficult. Claims of individual leaders to be representative are hard to assess. Agreements that may be reached are subject to the internal vicissitudes of larger numbers of organizations and thus are harder to sustain on the long-term. In short, no longer is it possible for two or three parties to gather at a negotiations table and walk away confident that agreements reached among them will be sustained.