Alternative Theories About Post-Civil War Resolutions and Factors That Facilitate Peace

Alternative theories about post-civil war resolutions and Factors that facilitate peace

Democracy often emerges as a direct consequence of resolving long-standing civil wars, as seen in several African and South American countries. However, it has been claimed that post-civil war environment is inherently more favorable to dictatorship than to democracy because the creation of stable political order, not the promotion of democratic process, is the first priority (Huntington 1968). Indeed, out of eighteen post-civil war countries in which the United Nations peacebuilding operations attempted to establish some form of democratic governance between 1988 and 2002, thirteen countries still remain some form of authoritarian regime as of then (Call and Cook 2003, 233-24).

Post-conflict reconstruction involves various tasks such as peacebuilding, state-building, economic reconstruction, and democracy promotion. Peacebuilding can be defined as coordinated action undertaken by former parties used to be at war with each other and international actors at the end of conflict to prevent the resumption of large-scale violence. The critical component of peacebuilding is the DDR process - disarmament of parties at war, demobilization of combatants, and reintegration of parties at war, and individual ex-combatants into societies.

Economic reconstruction needs no further elaboration beyond its literary meaning.

But it is worth noting that establishing property rights and liberal market economies has become

the core task of post-conflict economic reconstruction since the end of the Cold War, when

international economic organizations, such as the World Bank, and western donors began to take

an active role in peacebuilding processes (Paris 1997). Economic reconstruction is commonly expected to have a positive impact on post-civil war democracy. Fast economic growth during the transition from war to peace reduces the risks of conflict resumption.

Establishing a...