Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) was created as a dedicated institutional mechanism to address the special needs of countries emerging from conflict. As a new inter-governmental body mandated to marshall resources and to promote integrated strategies t

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The goal of this paper is to examine the longer term effects of the Salvadoran Commission on the Truth. To do so, it will compare El Salvador's democratization process with that of Nicaragua, a country that shared a UN-sponsored peace process, but did not utilize a truth commission. I will do this by examining three broad areas: the development of an environment of respect for human rights; institutional reforms that facilitate greater accountability and respect for the rule of law; and the establishment of interpersonal trust and trust in institutions associated with repression in the old order.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: There is near unanimity among scholars and practitioners that, in order to move forward, societies coming out of periods of violence must in some way examine, acknowledge, and account for past violence committed by various groups. One mechanism for producing and delivering this truth is a truth commission. Truth commissions have become a near-global phenomenon for delivering transitional justice to individual victims and for providing a common truth to society as a whole. At least twenty-five truth commissions have existed or currently exist in Latin America, Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and the Far East. This examines whether truth-telling mechanisms can contribute to sustainable peace, and, if so, how and under what conditions. It does so by examining whether truth telling contributes to the following elements, all of which are deemed to be constitutive of sustainable peace: reconciliation, human rights, gender equity, restorative justice, the rule of law, the mitigation of violence, and the healing of trauma.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper will explore the assumptions that are built into both the Japanese and Canadian/Scandinavian approaches to human security. While these two schools approach the subject in different ways, and advocate distinct policies, they share some fundamental views about the make-up of society and the validity of human security, and peacebuilding. In taking human security for granted we may be missing crucial dynamics that contribute to violence and instability. By focusing on policy differences the debate is curtailed and the very validity of 'human security' is assumed. This paper will challenge the assumptions of human security by examining the discourse of identity and how human security practice is implicated in identity politics. This paper will draw on 6 months of field research in Cambodia to explore the question of how human security has been impacted by questions of discourses of identity. It will be argued that in advocating particular models of social interaction, and in promoting discourses of identity that are often at odds with the target states' identity construction, conflict can be exacerbated by the international community. This is a process that can only be understood through a critical perspective that treats the discourses of identity as social constructions lacking in any inherent truth.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Armed conflicts often lead to large-scale displacement, and other humanitarian problems. These may (or may not) be addressed in different ways during peace processes. In this paper I discuss what I refer to as the peacebuilding framework and the feminist peace framework, in order to determine whether either of these analytical frameworks can be used in an analysis of how the success of peace processes is influenced by the inclusion of the issue of displacement and the participation of displaced persons in negotiations.

I argue that both frameworks see peace processes as windows of opportunity for transformation of societies. I find that the need to include marginalized people and issues that concern them in negotiations is central to the feminist peace framework, and that the question of what is meant by a successful peace process is more developed in the peacebuilding framework. I tentatively conclude that a combination of the two frameworks might be useful for a study of displacement and peace processes.