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Nonviolent Peaceforce Feasibility Study 2. Strategies, Tactics And

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Nonviolent Peaceforce Feasibility Study 2. Strategies, Tactics And Nonviolent Peaceforce Director: Mel Duncan 801 Front Ave. St. Paul, MN 55103, U.S.A (++1)-651-487-0800 [email protected] www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org Nonviolent Peaceforce Feasibility Study 2. Strategies, Tactics and Activities in Intervention by Donna Howard, Christine Schweitzer, Carl Stieren Hamburg / St. Paul September 2001 2. Strategies, Tactics and Activities Contents 2. Strategies, Tactics and Activities in Intervention 47 2.1 Introduction Donna Howard and Christine Schweitzer 47 2.2 Peace Teams and Civil Peace Services Donna Howard and Christine Schweitzer 49 2.2.1 Introduction Donna Howard and Christine Schweitzer 49 2.2.2 Peace teams Donna Howard 51 2.2.3 Civil Peace Services Christine Schweitzer 80 2.2.4 Consequences for NP Donna Howard and Christine Schweitzer 92 2.3 Aid and development organisations Christine Schweitzer 95 2.3.1 Introduction 95 2.3.2 Character and goals 96 2.3.3 Activities 98 2.3.4 Outcome and impact 99 2.3.5 Conditions for successfully dealing with conflict 101 2.3.6 Consequences for NP 102 2.4 Larger-scale civilian missions Christine Schweitzer 104 2.4.1 Introduction 104 2.4.2 Character and goals 105 2.4.3 Activities 113 2.4.4 Outcome and impact 120 2.4.5 Conditions for successful larger-scale civilian missions, and for NP 124 2.5 Military-based interventions Christine Schweitzer 128 2.5.1 Introduction 128 2.5.2 Classical peacekeeping and monitoring missions 128 2.5.3 Complex missions 133 2.5.4 The role of civilian personnel in complex missions 139 2.5.5 Peace Enforcement: Can the military end wars? 146 2.5.6 Consequences for NP 147 2.6 Alternatives to military intervention: What is done today by the military that could be done better by civilians? Christine Schweitzer 149 2.7 Facing down the guns: When has nonviolence failed? Carl Stieren 158 2.8 Conclusions Donna Howard and Christine Schweitzer 170 2.8.1 Introduction 170 2.8.2 There is a need 171 2.8.3 A choice of peace strategies 171 2.8.4 When does a project have a likely chance to have impact on the conflict? 175 2.8.5 Policy decisions to be made 176 2.8.6 Implementation questions 177 Appendix to 2.2:Volunteer sending organisations 179 1. Peace team organisations included in the sample Donna Howard 179 2. Civil Peace Services in Europe Christine Schweitzer 183 3. Other peace team organisations (in chronological order) Christine Schweitzer 196 4. Peace Army proposals Christine Schweitzer 199 5. Intervention projects undertaken by spontaneously formed groups Christine Schweitzer 201 Appendix to 2.5.3, Two Examples of complex missions Christine Schweitzer 208 References (for all chapters) 216 2. Strategies, Tactics and Activities The research was done by Peaceworkers as part of the research phase of Nonviolent Peaceforce with the support of USIP. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in the publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Nonviolent Peaceforce or the United States Institute of Peace.. The chapters of the study are: 1. Putting Nonviolent Peaceforce in the Picture Christine Schweitzer 8 2. Strategies, Tactics and Activities in Intervention Donna Howard, Christine Schweitzer, Carl Stieren 47 3. Best Practices in Field Relationships Donna Howard, Corey Levine 216 4. Nonviolent Peaceforce Personnel Mareike Junge and Tim Wallis 256 5. Training and Preparation Christine Schweitzer, Carl Stieren, Mareike Junge 290 2. Strategies, Tactics and Activities 2.1 Introduction 47 2. Strategies, Tactics and Activities in Intervention Donna Howard, Christine Schweitzer and Carl Stieren 2.1 Introduction The following chapter1 aims at describing and identifying successful types of nonviolent or civilian intervention. Shortlisting the whole range of activities described in Chapter 1, we here concentrated on a few types of actors: 1. Peace teams and Civil Peace Services. Here a handful of nongovernmental organizations were examined as precedent for the Global Nonviolent Peace Force. Those selected practice third party nonviolent intervention by placing teams in situations of conflict and instability for more than a short-term visit, march or demonstration. These team-sending organizations have built reputations for maintaining a principled and courageous presence with people who are at risk in conflict. They have additionally analyzed their own work and thus increased our understanding of nonviolent intervention. Included here are Balkan Peace Team, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Peace Brigades International, SIPAZ, Osijek Peace Teams and Witness for Peace. As examples for European Civil Peace Services are examples of the German, the Austrian and the Italien Services, because the other projects have either not yet nor are planning to deploy personnel to the field. Interviews with several key organisers have complemented data taken from publication of the CPS organisations. 2. Development and humanitarian aid organisations. Interviews with a few representatives of such organisations have also here complemented data taken from publications. 3. Civilian governmental missions: Here are five examples of different types of larger- scale missions presented: different NGO (and one UN) election monitoring missions in South Africa in 1994 and 1995, the Peace Monitoring Group in Bougainville being there since 1997, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo 1998/99, and UN missions in El Salvador and East Timor. The information for this and the following sub-chapter has been taken mainly from publications on these missions, complemented by reports of the missions which they tend to make available on the internet. 4. Military-based interventions are, as explained elsewhere, being considered under two aspects: first, there are lessons learned from these missions which might also hold true for unarmed missions. And secondly,. there is the issue of replacing their functions by civilian activities, one of the professed goals of GNPF. The latter question is dealt with in an extra subchapter, 2.6. 1 The research was done by Peaceworkers as part of the research phase of Nonviolent Peaceforce with the support of USIP. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in the publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Institute of Peace. 2. Strategies, Tactics and Activities 2.1 Introduction 48 For all these examples we have looked into their character and goals, their activities, the outcomes and impact2, and tried to formulate as lessons learned conditions for successful complex projects or missions of the respective type. After looking into the different examples and precedents, we have tackled two more questions: Section 6 asks the question under what circumstances non-violent large- scale intervention is capable of replacing military intervention, and section 7 deals with the issue of When nonviolence failed. In the concluding chapter we then have tried to formulate some more general lessons for GNPF. This chapter is the product of a co-operation between three persons: - Donna Howard who delved deeply into the experience of peace teams, - Carl Stieren who dealt with those cases when nonviolence did not work, - and Christine Schweitzer who researched the various other cases, and having looked into Civil Peace Services, co-operated with Donna Howard on Chapter 2. 2 The separation of outcomes and impact is taken from the Impact Assessment methodology as it has been developed in recent years by developmental organisations (Oxfam, GTZ). Impact is defined here as "significant or lasting changes in people's lives, brought about by a given action or series of action". (Roche 1999:21). Outcomes are the immediate effects of activities, independently of their sustainability. For example: A legal rights awareness training course (activity) might lead to people being aware of their rights (outcome). Impact then is if people successfully claim rightgs, and enjoy increased quality of life as a result. (Roche 99:22) 2. Strategies, Tactics and Activities 2.2 Peace Teams and CPS 49 2.2 Peace Teams and Civil Peace Services Donna Howard and Christine Schweitzer 2.2.1 Introduction Hope can only be kindled where there is solidarity. It is much easier to throw yourself into any commitment when you have someone with you, protecting you... I can throw myself from a high place, if I know that there is someone there to make sure I am not destroyed by the fall. You give us the force to be able to throw ourselves into our work. You have been expelled. You have suffered some of the same problems as those whom you have helped... Do not forget that it is precisely because you have suffered with the people that you have been able to support them in building their resistance. Lutheran Bishop Medardo Gomez, accompanied by Peace Brigades International in El Salvador3 Peace Teams and Civil Peace Services are both umbrella terms describing a wide range of activities carried out by civilians in conflict areas, which aim at broadening the scope of local activists by accompaniment and presence, resolving conflicts nonviolently, building peace and reconstructing society. They include training of peace workers, raising awareness of the importance of nonviolent conflict resolution, sending out peace teams and co-operating with the local populations in conflict areas.4 That we have treated them separately in two subchapters is more due to division of work between the two researchers,5 than it is well founded in conceptual differences. If there is a difference, then it is a difference between those projects that concentrate on peacekeeping activities (accompaniment, presence, interpositioning), and those groups that concentrate on peacebuilding. But while there is presently no Civil Peace Service focussing solely on accompaniment (though there are other forms of peacekeeping practised), there are a few groups calling themselves Peace Teams that have been more focussed on peacebuilding than on peacekeeping tasks (BPT).
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