Partnering for Peace: Practitioner Stories of Global North - South Peacebuilding Partnerships A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy at George Mason University By Seth B. Cohen Master of Arts University of New Mexico, 2002 Bachelor of Arts Colorado College, 1993 Director: Sara Cobb, Professor Department of Conflict Analysis & Resolution Fall Semester 2013 George Mason University Fairfax, VA Copyright: Seth B. Cohen All Rights Reserved ii DEDICATION This manuscript is for all those who dedicate their lives to transforming settings of violence and unrest by working together with others who often have different ways of working, seeing, and being in this world but share a common goal of helping to create more peaceful places to live. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am extremely grateful to the peacebuilders who contributed to this research with their insightful narratives of partnership. Although I cannot acknowledge these experienced practitioners in this research by name, they clearly have a strong sense of who they are, and their stories have much to teach us. I am also very thankful to Dr. Sara Cobb for her guidance and keen insights throughout the entire PhD process. Many thanks to my wife Shirley for her enthusiastic encouragement and support as I focused on my research and writing! I would also like to thank my friends Agatha Glowacki and Paul Stone for their great support during the writing and editing process. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………………………….vi List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………………….....vii Abstract................................................................................................................………………………...viii Chapter One: Introduction .......................................................................................................... …1 Chapter Two: Conceptual Framework and Review of Literature… ............................. .12 Chapter Three: Research Questions & Methodology .......................................................... 61 Chapter Four : North-South Partnerships: The Context for Engaging Together...... 90 Chapter Five : Trust in the Early Stages of Partnership .................................................. 132 Chapter Six : Ways of Engaging: Practitioner Actions and Methods .......................... 167 Chapter Seven: Critical moments and Turning Points in Partnerships .................... 217 Chapter Eight: End Stages - Do Outsiders Exit or Stay Engaged? ............................... 284 Chapter Nine: What Matters Most: Lessons Accumulated ............................................. 304 Chapter Ten: Discussion: A Deeper Look at the Morphology of Partnerships....... 331 Chapter Eleven: Concluding Remarks, Limitations, and Future Research .............. 369 Appendix A: Case Study of a North-South-South Partnership on Land Use Conflict Resolution in Iguazú, Argentina………………………………...……………………...388 Appendix B: Researcher’s Reflection on a Partnership……………………………………405 References.……………………………………………………………………………………………………..410 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page Conflict Resolution and Transformation: A Brief Comparison of Perspective .. ……16 The Partnership Cases ................................................................................................................... 88 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page The Morphology of Partnerships………………………………………………………………….…...89 What Matters Most ........................................................................................................................ 305 Nested Model of Interdependent Partnerships ................................................................ 373 Asymmetry Scale - Balancing Power ..................................................................................... 380 vii ABSTRACT PARTNERING FOR PEACE: PRACTITIONER STORIES OF GLOBAL NORTH-SOUTH PEACEBUILDING PARTNERSHIPS SETH B. COHEN PHD George Mason University, 2013 Dissertation Director: Dr. Sara Cobb Peacebuilding and conflict resolution interventions often require partnerships between local experts who are from those conflict settings and skilled professionals who are “outsiders.” Efforts to resolve or transform protracted social conflicts must be carefully planned and implemented in any conflict setting, but such interventions arguably require extra sensitivity and awareness when outsider- Northerners partner with insider-locals in the global South. This study investigates how these North-South partnerships develop and unfold through an in-depth process of narrative research that profiles the lived experiences of both Northern and Southern based “peacebuilding” practitioners. Their stories teach us about instructive cases of partnership that unfold in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor), Colombia, Argentina, Zanzibar, Kenya, Nigeria, and Israel/Palestine. The practitioners’ narratives are presented through an interpretive morphological analysis of North-South partnerships. The morphology of partnerships reveals the shape and stages of these partnership cases and examines critical moments and turning points that unfold in the course of partnership. The contributions of this study include new insights about the beginning, middle, and end stages of partnership while also detailing how seasoned practitioners make sense of their goals, actions, and interactions with their partners as they address “critical moments” that arise from various dynamics of identity, culture, and power that shape conflict intervention and peacebuilding work. Their stories reveal that strong interpersonal relationships built on trust and reciprocity provide the basis for solid partnerships. Yet despite many success stories, the pervasive asymmetry in power and funding resources between Northern and Southern partners creates dependency and numerous other challenges. The study concludes with a discussion of several considerations for how practitioners and organizations might improve partnership practices, including ways they might decolonize peacebuilding efforts and balance asymmetries in funding by shifting more control to local partners. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Many people say that interventions fail because the partnerships fail. Many institutions do not know how to work together. Therefore, it's a dilemma as to how do we ask the people questions that are so difficult because they are in conflict, when we as partners working for peace are not capable of mediating our own problems? This is something that I put in all of my assessments that I have done for peace processes. I've seen that the difficulty lies in the organizations and institutions where there is not a commitment with “el campo de trabajo” (the field). – Practitioner from the Global South There is no simple or fixed path to transform communities plagued by violent conflict, or nations torn by war, into places where non-violent choices take precedence over violence and where different identity groups manage to peacefully co-exist. As a result of this complicated challenge, efforts to resolve protracted social conflicts or prevent future violence often require partnerships between local experts who are from those conflict settings and skilled professionals who are “outsiders.” Insiders might need outside resource support for their local interventions. Outsiders also initiate programs in foreign conflict zones, but can they operate successfully in those regions without local assistance and guidance? Learning how those involved in peacebuilding activities partner with others, and what they do together, therefore matters greatly for understanding what works and what is problematic about insider-outsider joint collaborations. Conflict interventions between outsiders and insiders should be carefully planned and implemented in any conflict setting, but they arguably require extra 1 sensitivity and awareness when outsider-Northerners (from North America & Western Europe) work with insider-locals in the global South (nations in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, for example). Well-conceived conflict interventions can contribute to “positive peace” by transforming relationships, addressing injustice, and improving socioeconomic structures within society (Galtung 1969). Yet a lack of proper skills or poor planning by conflict practitioners could lead to ill-conceived “peacebuilding” partnerships -- and their accompanying interventions -- that do not build peace but instead contribute to increased violence and greater marginalization of some groups by others. These North-South “outsider-insider” collaborations motivated the present inquiry into what occurs in these partnerships. What do these outsider and insider practitioners do, and are they successful, in their partnership efforts? For instance, do outsider practitioners conceptualize, analyze, and carry out interventions in ways that acknowledge and address different ways of knowing rather than privileging a Euro-centric or Western-Northern values framework? What role do the Southern partners play in the design and implementation of interventions when Northern based peacebuilders partner with locals in the global South? The inherent dynamics of funding, power, and culture in North-South collaborations are central concerns in this research. Finally, what can the overall dynamic(s) of these relationships teach us about conflict resolution and peacebuilding efforts? Some conflict resolution scholar-practitioners promote a cosmopolitan