External publications

When can international peacebuilding make a difference? Identifying patterns of support that help sustain peace after civil war

Mross, Karina / Charlotte Fiedler / Jörn Grävingholt
External Publications (2018)

published on blogs.worldbank.org 09.05.2018

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How can countries emerging from civil war be supported on their path toward sustainable peace? Besides the finding that multidimensional peacekeeping reduces the risk of civil war recurrence, little systematic knowledge exists on the effects of international efforts to foster peace. Therefore, debates over priorities, sequencing, and other questions regarding the design of international support in postconflict contexts are far from concluded. At the same time, recurring violence continues to haunt many countries that have experienced civil war. Against this background, this post takes a closer look at external support for post conflict countries. It summarizes findings from the research project, “Supporting Sustainable Peace,” conducted at the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) between 2015 and 2017 and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Distinguishing between five areas of engagement: peacekeeping, non-military security support, support for politics and governance, to socio-economic development and to societal conflict transformation we find that 1) international support can clearly make a difference in post-conflict situations, 2) peacekeeping is but one important component of effective post-conflict support and 3) supporting governance can be an alternative international strategy of effective peace support.