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The Interconnectedness of Military, Political and Economic Tools in Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Reconstruction

February 17, 2013 Free Content, International Relations, Post Conflict Reconstruction No comments

(C) Kapok Tree Diplomacy. Jan. 2011. All rights reserved. Jeff Dwiggins. 12.5 pages, double-spaced, 3,310 words. 30 references.

Introduction                                       FREE CONTENT

Post-conflict reconstructionFor the last twenty years following the end of the Cold War, the nature of conflict has transitioned from mostly interstate conflicts to predominantly intrastate conflicts characterized by a “complex web of social, economic, cultural, political and religious factors” (Bercovitch & Jackson 3). As the context underlying conflict has changed, the approaches to conflict resolution (CR) and post-conflict reconstruction (PCR) have adapted as well. Policy-makers have a variety of military, political and economic tools at their disposal to contend with the security, welfare and political representation issues resulting from fragile and failed states.

This essay will analyze the policy tools available for CR and PCR, and, in doing so, answer the following questions:

(1)   To what extent are the political, economic and military tools available to policymakers for use in conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction interconnected?

(2)  Has the application of such tools become considerably more challenging since the end of the Cold War? If so, how and why? If not, why not?

Section One of the essay will provide a brief summary of how the environment of conflict has changed since the end of the Cold War. Section Two will analyze the military tools. Section Three will cover the political tools, and Section Four will address the economic tools. Section Five will include a brief summary of how these tools are interconnected, but the assertion that they are interconnected will be made in each section of the essay.

Likewise, the question of whether the application of these tools has become considerably more challenging since the end of the Cold War may be answered in the affirmative with the how and why addressed throughout each section of the paper. Section Six will conclude the paper with a brief summary of the essay.

The views and opinions expressed in this paper are completely my own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of the Navy (DON) or any of the Armed Forces.

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Free Preview – Civil War and Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire – An Analysis of the Sources and Causes

February 12, 2013 International Relations, Prevent/Contain Intl. Conflicts No comments

Civil War and Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire – An Analysis of the Sources and Causes
{(C) Kapok Tree Diplomacy. Oct. 2010. 10 pages double-spaced. 19 references}

Table of Contents

I. Political Sources and Causes
a. Félix Houphouët-Boigny and the Legacy of Authoritarian Rule
b. Henri Bédié, General Robert Gueï and Laurent Gbagbo
c. Concept of Ivoirité
d. Dependency on the State
e. French Involvement
f. Multi-Party Democracy
g. Corruption
h. Political Source and Causes – Summary

II. Economic Sources and Causes
a. Dependence on Agriculture
b. Growth without Development
c. Lack of Investment Capital
d. Structural Adjustments
e. Land Tenure
f. Uneven Development
g. Economic Source and Causes – Summary

III. Social and Ethnic Sources and Causes
a. Foreign Workers
b. Ethnicity
c. Social and Ethnic Sources and Causes – Summary

IV. Regional Sources and Causes
a. Small Arms, Mercenaries and Destabilization
b. Failed Peace Accords

V. Conclusion

I.  Political Sources and Causes

Félix Houphouët-Boigny and the Legacy of Authoritarian Rule. An appropriate place to begin an analysis of the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire is with the man who ruled the country from 1960 – 1993 and his benign authoritarianism. Houphouët-Boigny lured millions of migrant workers to southern cocoa fields in the 60’s and 70’s with a generous citizenship and land ownership package embodied in the premise of “the land belongs to those who work it” (Mimiko 194). Few people complained about the liberal immigration and land ownership policy when Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by 8 percent per year on average between 1960 and 1979 while other African nations had minimal or negative growth (Country Studies, “Introduction”).

Houphouët-Boigny held Côte d’Ivoire’s sixty ethnic groups together and kept them relatively happy for over thirty years by rewarding minority groups through a patronage system with prestigious government jobs and positions (Akokpari 97). However, as the abundance of land dwindled and cocoa prices plummeted in the 80’s and 90’s, state wages were cut in half and social dissent escalated dramatically (Guesnet, Muller, & Schure 12). Houphouët-Boigny could no longer patronize all his enemies, and indigenous Ivoirites began seeing their migrant neighbors in a new light. Scarcity began to aggravate ethnic divisions and undermine stability (Klaas 112). Furthermore, Houphouët-Boigny failed to name a successor prior to his death in 1993, creating an unstable situation where his successor, Henri Bédié, had to “legitimize his ascension to power” (Kohler 17).

Free Preview – Civil War and Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire – Table of Contents and Section One