Peace via social justice and/or security

This chapter examines the relationship between social justice, security and peace. The authors note significant internal heterogeneity in India and Europe, despite the statebuilding efforts in India and standardization processes in Europe. The authors give an overview of five sets of ideas which have linked social justice and peace. All five sets of ideas are showing that if social justice is taken seriously then social harmony will be preserved and at the same time tensions will be reduced, together with chances for conflict. However, they find that peace accords have a tendency to emphasize security rather than welfare. This is because international interventions are usually led by leading actors from the global north who are guided by neoliberal agenda. They usually underplay social aspects of the state and emphasise its security aspect. This is one of the reasons why priority is given to security over social justice, when sequencing of activities in the intervention. The authors give an example of reforms in Georgia which led to drastic undermining of state in terms of social provision. They conclude that international attempts which focus on social justice are much fewer in numbers than those which address security issues.

Agency, autonomy and compliance in (post-)conflict situations: perspectives from Jammu and Kashmir, Cyprus and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Chapter 4 looks into ways in which agency is exercised within civil society with particular focus on manifestations of compliance and resistance. The authors claim that despite the power imbalances, the agency still manages to find its way in both active and post-conflict zones. They identify different ways in which this agency is manifested in the three settings that they discuss: Jammu and Kashmir, Cyprus and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In Jammu and Kashmir they give examples of youth protesting against the police, and parents’ associations which use constitutional rights to introduce the change. In Cyprus, they discuss non-compliance to the EU trade regulations which were meant to foster interdependence on a divided island. In case of Bosnia, they examine acts of everyday resistance to ethnic segregation which was imposed by the peace accord. The authors stress the important role that power politics play in such settings and conclude that it is necessary to analyze how power is shaped and perceived through interactions of various actors in the setting.

Introduction Cultures of governance and conflict resolution in the EU and India

This volume is made up of chapters reflecting results from a European Union Framework project entitled ‘Cultures of Governance and Conflict Resolution in the EU and India’. In it the authors examine the intersection of governance, culture, and conflict resolution in two very different but connected epistemic, cultural, and institutional political settings: the world’s largest democracy and the world’s most ambitious regional organisation, the former resistant to the echoes of British colonialism and eurocentrism, and the latter strongly influenced by British and American thinking on the liberal peace....

Peacebuilding in India: Meghalaya’s experience

This chapter discusses the experience of peacebuilding in the north-eastern Indian state of Meghalaya. The authors analyze the potential of the Indian democratic governance in dealing with conflict in this part of the country. Their findings come as a result of the fieldwork undertaken in Khasi, Garo and Jaintia Hills which aimed at scrutinizing the claims on the ‘peacefulness’ of this state. The chapter finds the main fault line in peacebuilding in Meghalaya in the lack of consideration of various patterns of ethnicity issues, and in putting too strong emphasis on underdevelopment and political economy. The authors claim that a comprehensive, long-term approach is needed to successfully rehabilitate former insurgents which should be followed by adjusted development policies, replacing short-term monetary compensations which only foster insurgency.

Everyday resistance to conflict resolution measures and opportunities for systemic conflict transformation

This chapter examines alternative perspectives on conflict resolution in chapter 7. The authors attempt to broaden the debates beyond the liberal peace and examine the issues which could shape responses to conflict in a different way. They focus on experience, traditions and culture, as well as interaction between actors in a given setting. The authors look at different types of resistance and analyze how and which of those are manifested in Bihar and Jharkhand, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Cyprus. They conclude that everyday resistance can be manifested in a violent, non-violent, short or long-term, sporadic and constant forms, proactive and offensive; it can come as a result of social dissatisfaction; directed and intentional, but also undirected and unintentional.

Government of peace and resistive subjectivities: autonomy, ethnicity and gender in North-East India and Bosnia-Herzegovina

In the second chapter the authors discuss the notion of ‘government of peace’ and elements which constitute resistance in Northeast India and Bosnia-Herzegovina. They focus on the role of identity as seen through the glasses of ethnicity and gender. They rely on Samaddar’s definition of ‘government of peace’ which in essence constitutes the market-driven reorientation of governance. This reorientation ties security to development and produces resistive subjectivities, according to the authors of this chapter. They claim that North India and Bosnia-Herzegovina were no exception in this regard and they discuss resistance dynamics in the two case studies. Their findings confirm the conclusion of the chapter that ‘government of peace’ has to adhere to the principle of heterogeneity due to the fact that it has to deal with different subjects.

Political economy of conflict and peace: governmentality of participation and strategic veto in Bihar and Jharkhand, India

This chapter analyzes dynamics of conflict in Bihar and Jharkand, and explores patterns which shape governance policies, especially in terms of political economy. The author claims that all actors involved in the conflict have the power to exercise a strategic veto, however they cannot structure the outcomes. Naxals on the one side, and state actors on the other, can exercise a strategic veto on each other’s operational activities and at the same time they limit each other in terms of policies pursued. However, the state can exercise more power in this case, as it sets terms of engagement. Prakash highlights the importance of the distribution of developmental benefits and claims that they play a central role in protracting the Naxal conflict. In order to break out of this perpetuation of the conflict, local institutions have to be strengthened, especially in terms of their ability to prioritise issues that they deem important, argues Prakash.

Investigating the relationship between governance and conflict resolution in India and the EU

Chapter 1 discusses the relationship between governance and conflict resolution in India and the EU. It finds a lot of similarities between the two entities especially in terms of their concern for democratic credentials and institutional design, increasingly based on neo-liberal principles. Both India and the EU give primacy to statebuilding in their conflict resolution strategies and emphasise the importance of development and bureaucracy in the process. The authors find that one of the main differences between the two entities is in the security measures they undertake. While the EU has a more relaxed approach to security policy, India puts emphasis on the use of hard security measures, seeing itself as a unitary sovereign actor rather than a quasi-federal entity (as with the EU). This is also one of the most common critiques of India’s efforts in producing conflict resolution, along with the inefficiency of its governance and the corruption that surrounds it. The EU can be partly criticised for its selective approach to conditionalities in accession/association process which in some cases even resembles the colonial past of some of the most prominent members of the EU. The authors conclude that the two entities achieve a certain level of governmentality while their success in producing conflict resolution in a purer form of reconciliation and social justice is relatively limited.

The local is everywhere: a post-colonial reassessment of cultural sensitivity in conflict governance

Chapter six discuss the notion of ‘the local‘ through the history of governance in colonial and post-colonial India. The authors focus on ability of liberal governance to adapt to local culture. They discuss Ilan Kapoor's integration of postcolonial theory with debates on development and use this to identify what could make the liberal peacebuilders more open towards the idea of greater inclusion of local voices. The authors suggest that emphasis should be put on socio-cultural sensitivity. This entails that the international interveners should familiarize themselves with the context as much as possible. They invite critical analysis of the main issues at stake, which would be aimed against relevant theoretical debates. The authors also call for attention to the distribution of resources that are usually limited in conflict settings. They conclude that as long as subjective norms and interests of the peacebuilders are harmonised with local culture and practices - not creating tensions - they can be legitimately promoted.