The face of development aid: volunteers and their hosts in southern Israel

The current scholarship on development aid has asserted that a “transformation” of development, one that “puts people first”, is presently taking place in the particular form of volunteer aid. In southern Israel, this claim is evident in recent attempts to “strengthen” depressed “development town” communities through a movement that combines Zionist settlement with the volunteer aid of university students. Based on ethnographic work in the development town of Yeruham, this article problematises this claim by investigating the daily encounter of volunteers with members of their multiply marginalised host community. It challenges such claims of “transformation” and exposes the complex social reality of what it means to “develop” and “empower” a population routinely framed as disadvantaged and targeted for aid.     

俄格冲突后的格鲁吉亚局势

俄格冲突是近年来俄罗斯地缘政治突围的继续和延伸。这次冲突对相关国家之间的关系有重大影响,同时也使格鲁吉亚的国内局势发生了重大变化。目前阿布哈兹和南奥塞梯面临重新确定身份的问题,这两个地区不会并入俄罗斯,但是它们与阿扎尔一样会继续远离格鲁吉亚。格鲁吉亚加入北约和欧盟的希望更加渺茫,萨卡什维利政府也有倒台的危险。不过冲突后这一年来,外高加索地区进入了一个相对稳定的时期。     

The emergence of a fourth pillar in development aid

Development co-operation has traditionally been the playing field of governments, multilateral institutions, and established development NGOs. In the past decade, however, other actors in Northern countries (such as businesses, migrants' organisations, professional groups, and schools) have shown active interest in development-related activities. Although they do not belong to the epistemic community of development specialists and are often overlooked in the discourse and literature on development co-operation, their number and importance are growing. These novel approaches to development co-operation give rise to some important reflections about their methodologies, potential impact, and fundraising. Based on the authors' experiences and research in Belgium, the article raises some issues about what they term the fourth pillar of development co-operation, with the aim of stimulating the academic and policy-oriented debate.     

For better? For worse? Humanitarian aid in conflict1

Humanitarian aid should be judged against international humanitarian law (IHL), which gives civilians certain basic rights, including protection in armed conflicts. Aid agencies should consider the various side-effects of their interventions, in order to assess the net impact and decide whether to work in any given situation. They have no responsibility to provide aid where the net impact is negative, or to those who violate international law. If governments fail in their responsibilities to protect civilians, this does not give aid agencies the responsibility of filling the vacuum; but it does mean that they should campaign for governments to act. Current Northern debate on support for the citizens of countries in conflict is usually expressed in terms of charity, rather than a response to what people are doing for themselves. Aid agencies should help to change this.     

Windows of opportunity for conflict prevention: responding to regional conflict in West Africa1

This article charts the course of regional crisis in West Africa since 1999 and assesses the extent to which the United Nations (UN) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) succeeded in preventing an escalation of crisis in that sub‐region. It argues that although windows of opportunity existed for preventing the escalation of conflict and attention was sometimes paid to warning signs, the UN and ECOWAS had limited success largely because the regional dimensions of the conflicts were not recognized earlier. Additionally, while there has been increased collaboration between the UN and ECOWAS in response to regional crisis, these efforts are hampered by the absence of a systematized base of operations. This paper discusses the experience of the last five years and concludes that ECOWAS has not only become more responsive but has developed an evolving political framework for early action which could be greatly improved with coordinated and targeted support from the UN.     

Governing failure: development,aid and audit in Haiti

This paper analyses practices for monitoring, tracking and assessing the international aid and reconstruction efforts in Haiti in an attempt to ‘build back better’ from the devastation of the January 2010 earthquake. We suggest that aid and reconstruction efforts filter through an international network of development organisations. This network also acts as a governing auspice, overseeing the transformation of Haiti from a ‘failed state’ to a strong democratic state. The central governing mechanism in this reconstruction effort involves the embedding of the ideas and practices of audit within Haitian political and civic culture. We reveal how, in Haiti, this culture of audit monitors aid and reconstruction through biopolitical technologies such as benchmarks and performance indicators, and through the constitution of calculable and accountable entities. More than a means of implementing disaster recovery, audit culture is a technique of biopolitical governance that aims to transform Haiti's state, civic institutions and citizens into entities accountable to an international development agenda.     

Pastoral development and the use of para-vets in southern Sudan

Pastoralism in the Sudan has produced complex and varied livestock management systems, finely adapted to local environmental conditions. The isolation of pastoral communities has made it difficult for development agencies to form working relationships with them, and mistakes have been made when donors attempted to introduce unsuitable breeds and crops. The author advocates post-drought restocking with camels, because of their high tolerance of drought and low susceptibility to disease, and with goats, which are not labour-intensive, and reproduce at a fast rate. The article traces the social consequences of evicting pastoralists from range lands to make way for cash crops like cotton, and the environmental consequences of overgrazing. It describes Oxfam's programme of rehabilitation among pastoralists, with its emphasis on the use of locally-trained para-vets, and community participation in the management of animal health services.     

Knowing but not knowing: conflict,development and denial

Drawing on case study material from Uganda and Nepal, this paper highlights the tension between what is ‘known’ and what is ‘done’ by practitioners working in the arena of conflict and development. It explores the forms of knowledge given conceptual and practical influence and the development interventions that are consequently sanctioned or sidelined. Examining Stanley Cohen's work on atrocities and suffering, the paper considers the explanatory potential of the concepts of denial and acknowledgement in the context of conflict and development. It argues that this approach opens conceptual and practical space in which to address the interplay between personal experiences of conflict contexts and institutional barriers to communication and changed practice.     

The World Bank's (post-)conflict agenda: the challenge of integrating development and security

Linkages between security and development, and the need for national and international organizations to integrate these areas and concerns in policy, are widely recognized. It is, however, less clear how to practically accomplish this. Different policies will address different security and development concepts and aspects, and choices on focus and priority need to be made. This can generate tensions and resistance within organizations, resulting in limited integration. A case study of the World Bank's attempt to be more ‘conflict-sensitive’ demonstrates this dynamic. This attempt has had various positive aspects, but the integration of conflict concerns in its programmes and policies remains uneven and somewhat limited. While there is certainly room for improved integration, this should not be pursued beyond the point where the Bank's comparative advantage is undermined and resources from its core mission of combating human poverty diverted.     

Breaking the cycle of violence: doing development in situations of conflict

During the 1980s, armed conflict devastated an increasing number of the world's poorest countries. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) engaged in relief and development were hard-pressed to determine their most effective response to situations where normal development became meaningless, and yet short-term relief programmes failed to deal with ‘permanent emergencies?s. This article describes the nature of these conflicts, their impact on the poor, and the evolution of NGO programmes in response. It explains why some NGOs have attempted to do development in the face of on-going violence, sometimes employing risky strategies and desperate measures. It argues the need for NGOs to play a part in building a civil society which can help to break the cycle of violence.     

Most Significant Change in conflict settings: staff development through monitoring and evaluation

Capoeira4Refugees is an NGO that uses the Afro-Brazilian art form of Capoeira to promote psychosocial well-being in children affected by conflict and occupation. Capoeira4Refugees introduced the Most Significant Change (MSC) methodology to monitor and evaluate project implementation and impact across two locations in the Middle East. Analysis of interviews conducted with five field staff revealed that in line with, and building on, previous research, MSC became an empowering tool that led to staff development. The potential for MSC to build staff reflexivity, independence, and leadership has implications for other organisations working in conflict areas, particularly in situations of remote management.     

The anticipation of interstate conflict

This study posits a predictive model of crisis escalation—one of the central concerns in the study of conflict. Crises arise in differing contexts, and these contexts are assessed in terms of their varying propensities to develop into open international conflict. The point of departure is the model first developed in “The War Trap Revisited” (Bueno de Mesquita, 1985). Some extensions are made to his theory, aspects of perception and misperception are incorporated, and a previously discontinuous predictive argument is refined into a continuous one. The extensions are tested empirically using data on European disputes between 1815 and 1965.     

The EU's security actorness: the case of EUMM in Georgia

This article addresses conceptually the European Union (EU)'s security actorness, explaining its meaning, identifying the factors that are constitutive to the concept, and analyzing whether the EU is a security actor in Georgia, through its increased presence and engagement in the country and its eventual implications for the South Caucasus. The article argues that the complementary nature of the different EU tools deployed on the ground and their comprehensive nature have contributed to the EU's consolidation as a security actor in the South Caucasus. However, and despite the successful assessments of the European Union Monitoring Mission in the context of common security and defense policy development, the mission's deployment and its contribution to regional stability are influenced to a great extent by the role and involvement of external players, in particular in this case, that of Russia.     

Peace amidst development: 1 a conceptual agenda for conflict and peace research

In recent years, the focus of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Cybernetics Technology Office (DARPA/CTO) has become increasingly applied in nature. Concurrently, an explicit concern with coordinating and integrating research and analysis has pervaded the DARPA/CTO milieu. These emphases mirror trends in certain segments of political science; both policy‐relevance and cumulativeness have emerged as prominent themes in disciplinary communication and research evaluation processes.¹     

The psychosocial effects of conflict in the third world

In current armed conflicts around the world, over 90 per cent of casualties are civilians. This article reviews medical and anthropological evidence of the psychosocial effects of extreme experiences such as torture, mutilation, rape, and the violent displacement of communities. The consequences for women and children are considered in particular. The author argues that the social development programmes of non-governmental development organisations should be extended to support social networks and institutions in areas of conflict, and ends by giving guidelines for mental health promoters working in traumatised communities.