Suchergebnisse

European Report on Development ; Crucial social and cultural elements underpin state institutions and ensure that they function. This is true in any context, but it is even more important to understand and truly acknowledge in "fragile" ones. Conventional perspectives need to be broadened and need to look at the multiplicity and diversity of political institutions (formal and in-formal), cultures and logics through which state resilience and state-building processes may be supported. Such an approach would help re-integrate the "intangible" dimensions that constitute the substantive content of institutions, their ethos, beyond their mere forms. Based upon concrete experiences in different African countries, this paper explains what these intangible dimensions are in three of the sectors usually concerned with reforms (politics, justice and security), and why they are important and should be better integrated in analyses, intervention strategies and aid programmes. An equally important dimension of such integration is that it would also allow better consideration of local capacities and resources to be taken, in particular in terms of resilience, and would allow it to go beyond the impression of "vacuum" or "chaos" too often given to situations of fragility. Finally, the paper presents some concrete recommendations to integrate these dimensions better into the priorities and modalities of European aid, as well as suggest a few avenues for further research on the subject.

This article offers a critical analysis of aid programmes aimed at supporting local civil societies in post-conflict peacebuilding (PCPB). Such programmes are often seen to carry the best hopes for a genuine democratic counterweight to existing power-brokers and to hold the key to the building of a 'new' society. But, in their interventions, outsiders tend to forget the large diversity of local civil societies, creating many counter-effects in the way international programmes purport to support or empower local people. The resulting consequences affect the ways in which international and local actors interact in post-conflict contexts and, accordingly, the ways in which actual 'civil society' may contribute to PCPB. A close analysis of these elements reveals larger political ambiguities present in PCPB strategies and actions. The article ends with a series of recommendations to support a better understanding and acknowledgment of local processes and resources in any aid programme, as well as greater accountability on the part of outsiders.

Béatrice Pouligny — « Building peace » after massacres
This contribution is concerned with what it may mean to « construct » peace, in societies that have been subjected to mass crimes. It underlines the specific difficulties that researchers are confronted with in practical situations. On the one hand, they have to understand how such massacres could be committed beyond common beliefs on the subject ; on the other, they have to identify resources from which peace may be built in the given society. In so doing, they have to delve deeply into highly paradoxical situations. Such is the adventure for which the first part of this article advances several methodological

L'aide humanitaire d'urgence est à un tournant de son histoire. Une réflexion a commencé au sein de nombreuses organisations non gouvernementales (ONG), afin de surmonter les contradictions et les dérives qui accompagnent leurs opérations sur les terrains de guerre : victimisation trompeuse de populations locales, détournement ou instrumentalisation de l'aide par des belligérants — ou des puissances extérieures. Par ailleurs, l'engagement humanitaire est souvent de plus en plus sélectif, voire discriminatoire, pour tenir compte non seulement des préférences politiques des gouvernements, qui jugent bon d'intervenir ici plutôt que là, mais aussi des préférences médiatiques, dont les effets sont pour le moins ambivalents. Enfin, nombre d'ONG se trouvent placées, sur le terrain, dans la position d'agents des diplomaties occidentales, entraînant parfois une utilisation abusive du « label » humanitaire. Cette réflexion, urgente, pourrait utilement déboucher sur une redéfinition du contenu politique, économique et éthique de l'intervention humanitaire.

This contribution sets out to consider certain ethical and methodological issues raised by the conduct of investigations in situations of extreme violence. It proposes to explore the relationship with the specific 'object' in terms of researchers' responsibility towards the people about whom their research is conducted. That approach is based primarily on the development of a 'comprehensive' sociology from the perspective of meaning, with the aim of entering the subjectivity of the other person. Within the context of extreme violence, such an approach poses increased difficulties, which this article endeavours to explore. That involves the researcher in constant, complex critical analysis of situations that disrupt all his or her bearings. Making the other person not simply an 'object' but a 'subject' of research also means going beyond categories that might constrain the researcher and entails continuous linkage of individual and collective histories. This naturally raises questions concerning not only the investigative but also the analytical techniques employed by the researcher.