What are the impacts of political settlements on creating peace? What is the best way to support peace processes to produce inclusive and robust political settlements? This paper explores issues around the renegotiation of the political settlement within war-to-peace transitions. During such transitions there are opportunities to shift the terms of the political settlement. To engage with these challenges in ways that benefit the poor and marginalised, greater understanding is needed of the political processes involved and of links with conflict.
The process of resolving conflict has profound implications for the quality of the state’s governance. Out of conflict can emerge an opportunity to create a new framework for political settlement that sets a trajectory for a more responsive state. Too often this opportunity is lost and the settlement that emerges does not address broader governance issues or underlying grievances. This can increase the risk of a return to violence.
There are numerous challenges in supporting peace processes that increase the likelihood of developing capable and responsive states. It can be useful to consider the following questions:
- Will the peace process widen out to become more inclusive and more comprehensive?
- Are there efforts to increase public confidence in the process, in the parties and in the negotiated agreements?
- Are there strategies for supporting local capacities to engage constructively and skilfully with the process?
- Will the agreements require public endorsement, such as a referendum, that encourages the negotiators to develop public support?
In order to support statebuilding in general, it is important to:
- Focus further on understanding the state-society negotiations that underpin a more responsive state.
- Integrate process-sensitivity into initiatives. Recognise that ‘how’ can matter as much as ‘what’.
- Explore the tensions and complementarities between statebuilding and peacebuilding, counter-radicalisation, and mainstream development assistance.
- Ensure that key analytical tools adequately incorporate assessment of the political settlement and of processes that can help to promote reforms.
During conflict, external actors can support the creation of a context conducive to peace negotiations. Strategies can focus on:
- Policies that reduce or eliminate the parties’ options for achieving their goals unilaterally.
- Enabling the development of trusted communication channels between parties and spaces for informal and constructive dialogue.
- Efforts to increase confidence in the potential for a negotiated settlement.
- Building the parties’ capacities to pursue a political strategy and negotiate effectively.
External actors can use their influence and resources to support the process of peacemaking. They can generate positive incentives and apply pressure. Policies are more likely to constructively influence the parties’ behaviour if they are:
- Crafted and exercised as components of an overarching peace process support strategy.
- Calibrated to the parties’ motives and responsive to societal forces supporting peacemaking.
- Designed and implemented in ways that help build momentum in a peace process.
- Supported by a degree of strategic coherence among external actors and appropriate mechanisms for coordination.
It is important to encourage broader public participation in negotiations that reform the state. Efforts should:
- Help to create the space for wider participation, both literally and politically.
- Offer training and capacity building in negotiation and policy formulation to political groups and other civil society actors to prepare them for effective participation.
- Use their influence and resources to help ensure that the format does not disadvantage certain participants.
