Working Group 7: Peace Research and Development
Chair: Prof. Tuomo Melasuo (tuomo.melasuo[at]uta.fi)
Coordinator: Mr Gibril Massaquoi (gibmass[at]yahoo.com)
This working group discussed and analyzed the challenges of achieving sustainable peace and development in democratic and authoritarian regimes as well as in post-conflict environments. It was generally found that human security needs are as challenging to address in post-conflict settings as in democratic systems. Issues such as dictatorship, development, unequal wealth-sharing and energy security (water and fuel) constitute a challenge to growing human development needs. It was suggested that dictatorship in some cases brings equal – if not more – development than some democratic governance systems, and that conflict can bring about development just as development interventions can contribute to conflict in certain cases as well.
The working group concluded that conflicts have different existential dimensions depending on the diverse social, cultural, economic, historical and political origins of the conflict. However, what is needed is an emphasis on addressing human development needs without gender bias or the marginalization of some sectors of society. This will require effective monitoring practices and good governance considerations including transparency and accountability to be addressed. Overall, it became clear that peace research should be mainstreamed as a cross-cutting area of study across the wide range of theoretical and more practice-oriented approaches to promoting development. This is because the local and international dimensions of development are increasingly connected, and the reciprocal relation between peace research and development is of growing importance.
- Proceedings by Gibril Massaquoi