Civil society
Civil society in conflict transformation: ambivalence, potentials and challenges
Does civil society contribute to conflict transformation?
Authors:
M. Fischer
Publisher:
Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management, 2006
What is the potential for civil society actors to contribute to peace building and conflict transformation?
To explore this issue, this article discusses various terms and definitions linked to debates about civil society and gives a general overview of NGO activities at the international and regional level. It then presents a critical assessment of NGO roles and addresses the potential contributions of civil society in war-torn societies and post-conflict peace building with specific reference to the last 10 years of experience in the Balkans. It also puts into context the development of civil society in relation to the challenges of state-building and investigates the theoretical implications of this relationship for our understanding of the term “civil society”.
The article concludes that:
- experience in post-war regions and transformation countries (e. g. the Balkans) has shown that increasing the number of NGOs is not necessarily a guarantee of a vibrant civil society
- support for civil society should be further developed as a key element of development and peace politics
- civil society cannot be “created” entirely from the outside without considering the local capacity
- civil society actors have certain capacities and clear limits, and this is why they should also be evaluated in terms of their readiness and capacity for self-reflection about their roles, mandates and impact
- peace building and conflict transformation require an integrated approach that addresses state institutions, economic structures and civil society
