Each of these three books is concerned with the period following the end of war. They share a common viewpoint that this moment of transition is often defined by a fragile peace that carries with it the potential for a return to conflict. With this perspective as a point of departure, each study provides an examination of strategies through which a nascent peace might be protected and further developed.
Mats Berdal's Building Peace after War focuses on the role of peacekeepers within post–civil war states. Berdal emphasizes that recent peacekeeping missions have required that the troops associated with these efforts go beyond simply providing security and instead contribute to the rebuilding of state and societal institutions. In recognition of this shift in approach to peacekeeping, the study provides a critical consideration of both the successes and failures experienced by missions intended to strengthen peace.
Berdal's book takes the form of three extended essays, each focused on a different aspect of peacekeeping. The study begins with a contemplation of the complexities that characterize the post–civil war environment. The author emphasizes that postwar states confront a range of pathologies nurtured by the conflict; these include predatory foreign states, organized criminal activity, and a culture tolerant of violence. The second essay turns to a consideration of the practices that might provide peacekeepers with an opportunity to succeed within this challenging environment. Berdal argues that legitimacy is central to the success of any peacekeeping effort. The mission itself must be perceived as legitimate by the targets of intervention, and the postwar state must gain the confidence of citizens through the provision of security and essential public services. The final essay serves as a discussion of the creation and functioning of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) within the United Nations. Berdal finds that the PBC, initially envisioned as a means of bringing greater coherence and resources to peacekeeping missions, has been stymied by the conflicting interests of UN member states.
Taken as a whole, this book presents important insights that deserve serious attention from scholars concerned with post–civil war states. It also offers useful and concise discussions of recent peacekeeping efforts that serve to illustrate the arguments. If there is a criticism to be offered of the book, it is that the chapters do not complement one another sufficiently to form a central argument. Instead, each essay stands apart as developing a separate theme and thus undermines the justification for presenting these ideas between the covers of a single volume.
Brett Bowden, Hilary Charlesworth, and Jeremy Farrall's edited book The Role of International Law in Rebuilding Societies after Conflict also focuses on the challenges confronting post–civil war states. It examines the attempts by third parties to foster values such as human rights, the rule of law, and democracy as a means of encouraging a robust peace in states emerging from conflict. Each chapter focuses on one or more aspect of international law and identifies examples in which there have been efforts to promote these principles within a postwar setting.
Taken as a whole, the studies presented by the editors offer a strongly pessimistic assessment of the efforts of outside actors to promote peace. Many of the chapters characterize these interventions as a form of neocolonialism in which third parties seek to impose their values without sufficient regard for the local culture. The studies also consider instances in which the actions of peacekeeping troops, including their involvement in scandals associated with sexual exploitation, have fallen far short of the values these soldiers are expected to promote within a postwar environment.
In light of the critical assessments of foreign intervention that define the perspective of contributors, John Braithwaite's concluding chapter emphasizes the need for a greater sense of humility on the part of outside actors contemplating intervention within a state emerging from civil war. A recognition that this involvement, regardless of initial motivations, may unintentionally harm the interests of local populations should encourage greater caution in terms of any decision to intervene and how to approach interactions with societies traumatized by conflict.
The difficulty that confronts this volume is that it takes the form of a polemic rather than a balanced, academic investigation. Reading the individual contributions leaves the impression that external intervention never improves the well-being of societies emerging from conflict. As the editors note, “What is striking is that all of the studies of post-conflict societies suggest major problems with the enterprise of state-building and point to the general disillusionment of the affected populations” (p. 10). This is problematic as it ignores the positive lessons to be learned from relatively successful efforts at peacebuilding, such as those of Mozambique and El Salvador.
While Galia Press-Barnathan's The Political Economy of Transitions to Peace is similarly concerned with fostering a robust peace within postwar states, her study focuses on the resolution of interstate wars rather than civil wars. The mechanism she focuses on for facilitating reconciliation between post-war states is the deepening of economic ties. Although previous scholarship has considered the relationship between existing levels of economic interdependence and the potential for conflict, Press-Barnathan's study is unique in considering how “economic interaction, trade, and interdependence can bring about peace or help upgrade peace” (p. 9).
Press-Barnathan develops three central arguments concerning the potential for building economic ties between states as a pathway to peace and normalized relations. First, the rewards of economic interdependence must extend to broad segments of the affected societies if it is to encourage an enduring peace. In the absence of widely shared benefits, citizens as a whole will have little interest in ensuring that peace remains in place. Second, a low level of economic disparity between states facilitates economic cooperation and normalization. In instances in which one country is clearly stronger, concerns about succumbing to economic domination will militate against building a genuinely cooperative relationship. Third, outside actors may enjoy some success in promoting economic interdependence between formerly warring states. However, normalization requires that there be clear benefits to deepening the relationship that extend beyond the incentives provided by a third party.
In order to test and validate these claims, Press-Barnathan presents six case studies of efforts to build economic interdependence and peace between formerly warring states. The case studies are paired by region: the Middle East (Israel and Egypt; Israel and Jordan), Asia (Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia; Japan and South Korea), and Europe (Germany and France; Germany and Poland). The author argues that the most successful instances of building economic interdependence and cultivating peace are within Europe, while the least successful cases are present in the Middle East. The examples from Asia prove more ambiguous in terms of their degree of success with the tasks of simultaneously building economic ties and fostering peace when compared to the other two regions.
The majority of research on the relationship between economic interdependence and the potential for peace has taken the form of quantitative analyses. What is particularly valuable about Press-Barnathan's study is that it extends beyond simply identifying the degree of interdependence and, instead, provides readers with well-developed narratives concerning the processes of nurturing interdependence and their varying levels of success. While the level of detail is a strength of her book, there is one item that may have warranted greater consideration by the author. It would have been valuable to further examine the degree to which regime type plays a role in shaping the future prospects for nurturing economic interdependence and peace. While the concluding chapter does provide a brief discussion of the reasons that democratization may inhibit economic interdependence, the study would have benefited from a systematic discussion of how differences in political systems shape the reactions and relative influence of citizens concerning the prospects for building economic bonds with a former enemy.
Given a shared focus on the challenges associated with strengthening peace in postwar states, there are a number of common themes that emerge within these studies. First, each of these works is cautious about how to characterize the concept of peace in the postwar environment. Both Berdal's book and the edited volume highlight the fact that it is rarely the case that an end to civil war brings a definitive conclusion to violence within a country. Instead, postwar states often experience a continuation of high rates of bloodshed linked to such phenomena as revenge killings, criminal activity, and a culture habituated to acts of brutality. In the case of post–civil war Guatemala, Berdal (p. 49) cites statistics noting that 10 years after the war had ended, there was “a ‘peacetime’ rate of extra-judicial killings higher than at any time during the war.”
Press-Barnathan also addresses the challenges inherent in defining the concept of peace as she considers the resolution of interstate conflicts. Drawing on the work of others, she is careful to distinguish between two stages of peace. She identifies an initial stage of “cold” peace in which combatants sign an agreement but continue to view one another with hostility and suspicion; this contrast with a second potential stage of “warm” peace in which former enemies are confident that conflict will not reemerge.
A second common theme that emerges within these studies is a strong skepticism about the possibility of identifying a key set of prescriptions that might serve as a formula for peacebuilding success within societies emerging from conflict. Each work offers the perspective that states are necessarily different from one another based on their historical and cultural circumstances. These differences must be taken into account when considering appropriate and effective strategies of intervention.
Given the doubts articulated about identifying a common formula for peacebuilding, all of these studies eschew the use of a quantitative methodology for testing the effectiveness of particular strategies of intervention. Berdal (p. 20) is the most outspoken in his criticism of quantitative research concerning peacebuilding, arguing that these studies tend to “dehistoricise and depoliticise” the process in such a way as to limit important insights. In a similar vein, Press-Barnathan argues that a quantitative approach would prove inappropriate for an analysis of the means through which states deepen their economic cooperation in the aftermath of war. She instead favors structured case studies that allow for a consideration of both context and process.
A final theme that is common to the books considered in this review is a sense that any efforts to strengthen peace within a country emerging from conflict will require multiple forms of intervention. While each study highlights a particular aspect of third-party influence, they all recognize that addressing the various challenges confronting a postwar state will require that multiple strategies of assistance take place simultaneously. This is best represented in the Bowden, Charlesworth, and Farrall edited volume in which there is a discussion of the importance of weaving together a network of both actors and strategies supportive of an emerging peace.
These three books collectively demonstrate a growing concern among both academics and policymakers about addressing the challenges associated with strengthening peace in states emerging from conflict. They highlight for readers different mechanisms that are available to third-party actors as they seek to shift a society's focus away from violence and toward peace and reconciliation.
