Conference Overview Helping Failed States Recover: Lawrence, Kansas Conference Overview and Provisional Agenda "The private sector has for too long been ignored by those concerned with conflict prevention: companies are powerful actors that have a role to play in transforming violent conflict. This relates both to foreign investing companies and local companies. Ensuring that both OECD company activities and development support to local business 'do no harm,' and that opportunities for actively engaging private sector actors in conflict prevention and peacebuilding are sought out, represent important new areas of development and peacebuilding. ...more needs to be done by OECD development actors to move beyond recognition to action." OECD, 2004, Promoting a Conflict Prevention Approach to OECD Companies and Partnering with Local Business, (Paris: March): 3. Overview. Conflict and post-conflict development are among the most rapidly growing fields in government, international institutions, academia, NGOs and business. Figure 1 suggests why: since World War II, 228 armed conflicts have affected 150 countries--121 (in 81 countries) since the end of the cold war. Intrastate conflicts shot-up fivefold during 1946-1991, and are overwhelmingly the predominant type of conflict. Equally striking, the number of conflicts has declined sharply in the past 15 years, from a peak of 51 in 1992 to 31 in 2005, even as the incidence of global terrorism has increased. In fact, both the number of intrastate conflicts and peace agreements since the end of the cold war were unprecedented, but about one-half of all peace accords collapse in five years (Harbom, et.al. 2006, Banfield, et.al. 2006). Figure 1: Number of Armed Conflicts by Type, 1946-2005 a/ Source: Lotta Harbom, Stina Hogbladh and Peter Wallensteen, 2006,"Armed Conflict and Peace Agreements," Journal of Peace Research 43 (5) September: 619. During 1946-2002, internal conflicts resulted in more than 5 million battle deaths (Lacina and Gleditsch, 2005: 11-12). During 1945-99, internal conflicts killed an estimated 20 million people and displaced 67 million more (Sambanis, 2003: 1). September 11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as their complex reconstruction have greatly heightened the interest and activities in conflict affected countries. The U.S. President's post-September 11 National Security Strategy identified failed states not only as a global challenge but the main threat to U.S. security (U.S. Government, 2002). In 2005, about 2 billion people worldwide lived in insecure or failed states (Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace, 2006). Conference Rationale and Description. This conference aims to help fill a gap in the work on conflict and post-conflict development. There has been a proliferation of organizations, publications and conferences dealing with conflict issues, and a growing body of lessons learned from practical experience in conflict-affected countries. Much of the work on business in these countries has focused on the role that some firms have played in sustaining conflict, in particular, through producing or trafficking in "conflict diamonds" and other natural resources that finance strife. This work has brought about campaigns, sanctions and guidelines aimed at deterring these practices, such as the Kimberly Process; UN Security Council sanctions on trafficking in conflict diamonds; the Publish What You Pay Campaign; and the Extractive Industries Initiative. Other initiatives focus on conflict sensitive business tools to help corporations avoid practices that exacerbate strife and minimize their risks in conflict prone areas. Yet, there has been a comparative dearth of work in the conflict literature on the potentially powerful role of business in preventing conflict and in contributing to sustainable peace, including that of diaspora entrepreneurs as well as local and international business. But interest in and work on the role of business in conflict prevention and post-conflict renewal is clearly on the rise. (See, for instance, Nelson, 2000, United Nations Security Council, 2004; Bais & Huijser, 2005; Bray, 2005 & 2006; Banfield, 2006, et.al.; DFID, et.al., 2006; and GPPI, et.al., 2007; the work of the UN Global Compact (http://www.unglobalcompact.org/.); and the recently launched Peace through Commerce initiative (http://www.peacethroughcommerce.com/ ). Opportunities for Business in Post-Conflict Countries. At the same time, there are considerable opportunities for business in post-conflict environments. Many post-conflict countries have made great strides in reforming macroeconomic policies, thus bringing about exchange rate and price stability as well as impressive economic recoveries. Stable and more predictable macroeconomic conditions as well as expanding economic activity have enabled firms to successfully enter the market or expand their operations. And many of these same firms are helping to catalyze change in onerous business regulations and further contribute to national renewal. Many post-conflict countries have set up low regulation enclaves such as free trade zones to foster new business and economic growth. Four other factors create attractive business opportunities. In a number of cases the end of civil hostilities ushers in remarkably secure environments. Second, large peacekeeping operations inject copious resources into post-conflict economies, facilitating exchange rate stability and recovery of economic activity. Third, international institutions and bilateral agencies provide considerable assistance, both technical and financial, to spur post conflict reconstruction and development, providing business opportunities across a variety of sectors. This includes deep reductions in external debt for qualifying post-conflict countries. The World Bank Group also extends guarantees against political risk to businesses that launch operations in post-conflict countries. A number of national agencies do the same. Fourth, large numbers of nationals from the diasporas return after conflict ceases, deploying their entrepreneurial and professional abilities, investment capital and buying power in favor of economic revival of their home countries. Nonetheless, many post-conflict countries have been slow to overhaul the cumbersome and costly regulatory regimes that contributed to their impoverishment and internal strife in the first place, and that limit their post-conflict development and renewal. (See the detailed country rankings on Ease of Doing Business, World Bank Group, 2006.) Streamlining business regulatory regimes should be a top priority for those working with conflict prone countries. Conference Objectives and Expected Outputs. The symposium has five objectives. The first is to explore how the private sector can best contribute to conflict prevention, post-conflict development and sustainable peace and security. The second is to help bring together those working in conflict prevention and reconstruction with business people to exchange lessons learned. The third is to better inform regional entrepreneurs and business people about conflict sensitive business practices. The fourth is to better inform regional firms about some of the key challenges and opportunities for business in conflict affected countries. Finally, we aim to reach a broader audience of development practitioners, academics and business people on the role of business in post conflict development through the dissemination of a report on and multimedia of the proceedings. Audience. The symposium is geared to meet the needs of business people, development practitioners and researchers working in the fields of business and peace-building. We aim to assemble experts from international institutions, government, NGOs and academia as well as Kansas, Greater Kansas City, regional and international businesses. The conference also should be of interest to our students considering a career in humanitarian affairs; conflict resolution and peacekeeping; international business; and with development agencies and the foreign service as well as to the wider university community. KU CIBER. The Center for International Business Education and Research at the University of Kansas is part of a nationwide network of 30 CIBERs selected for the strength of their international programs. Across the U.S., CIBERs provide services and programs to help business excel in the global marketplace. Lynn Ground, Advisory Board, KU CIBER, October 2006 Overview BibliographyKarolien Bais and Minjnd Huijser, 2005, The Profit of Peace. (Corporate Responsibility in Conflict Regions.) (Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing Ltd.) Jessica Banfield, Canan Gündüz, Nick Killick (eds.), 2006, Local Business, Local Peace: the Peacebuilding Potential of the Domestic Private Sector. (London: International Alert.) http://www.international-alert.org/our_work/themes/LBLP.php John Bray, 2005, "International Companies and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Cross-Sectoral Comparisons," Social Development Papers (Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction) #22, (Washington. D.C., June.) John Bray, 2006, "Public-Private Partnerships in State-Building and Recovery from Conflict," International Security Program Briefing Paper. (London: The Royal Institute of International Affairs: September.) Department for International Development (DFID, UK), Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Germany), GTZ & International Alert, 2006, Private Sector Development and Peacebuilding--Exploring Local and International Perspectives. Conference held in GTZ Haus, Berlin, Germany, September 14-15, 2006. Global Public Policy Institute (GPPI), Wilton Park, German Foreign Office Forum Global Issues, 2007. Investing in Peace: Spurring Private Involvement in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding. Conference to be held January 11-13, 2007, in Wilton Park, United Kingdom. Lotta Harbom, Stina Hogbladh and Peter Wallensteen, 2006,"Armed Conflict and Peace Agreements," Journal of Peace Research 43 (5) September. Foreign Policy and Fund for Peace, 2006, "Failed States Index," Foreign Policy, May-June: 50-59. Bethany Lacina and Nils Petter Gleditsch, 2005, "Monitoring Trends in Global Combat: A New Dataset of Battle Deaths," European Journal of Population, 21:145-166. http://www.prio.no/cscw/cross/battledeaths/ Jane Nelson, 2000, The Business of Peace: The Private Sector as a Partner in Conflict Prevention and Resolution. (London: International Alert, Council on Economic Priorities and the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum.) http://www.international-alert.org/publications/237.php Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 2004, Promoting a Conflict Prevention Approach to OECD Companies and Partnering with Local Business, (DAC Conflict, Peace and Development Cooperation Network Briefing Paper), (Paris: March). http://www.international-alert.org/publications/regiona.php?sub=G Peace Through Commerce: http://www.peacethroughcommerce.com/ Nicolas Sambanis, 2003, "Using Case Studies to Expand the Theory of Civil War," Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit Working Paper No. 5. (Washington, D.C.: the World Bank, May). http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/sdvext.nsf/67ByDocName/ United Nations Global Compact: http://www.unglobalcompact.org/. United Nations Security Council, 2004, The Role of Business in Conflict Prevention, Peacekeeping and Post-conflict peace-building. (4943rd Meeting, S/PV.4943.) (New York: United Nations, April 15). United States Government, 2002, National Security Strategy. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government). http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.html World Bank Group, 2006, Doing Business 2007: How to Reform. (Washington, D.C.: World Bank.) http://www.doingbusiness.org |
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