Peace and Development 2020 – An Analysis of Recent Experiences and Findings
The report “Peace and Development 2020” analyzes contemporary trends, experiences, and challenges and derives practice-oriented recommendations for German and international development cooperation. It was commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is based on 30 interviews with experts from different world regions and complemented by a comprehensive review of current policy documents and academic research.
Wolff, Jonas / Witt, Antonia / Stappenbeck, Jens / Schnabel, Simone / Peez, Anton / Junk, Julian / Coni-Zimmer, Melanie / Christian, Ben / Birchinger, Sophia / Bethke, Felix S. (2020):
Peace and Development 2020. An Analysis of Recent Experiences and Findings
Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (HSFK/PRIF): Frankfurt a.M.
This report’s analysis generally confirms the positive empirical relationship between development and peace while specifying that inclusion is the central bridge between the two elements. Nonetheless, the processes of development and peace are complex, may even be at odds under certain circumstances, and do not follow a linear logic. These complexities are inadequately reflected in the ongoing political debate, which reduces the development-peace nexus to a simple reactive stabilization of social and political order. This oversimplification has problematic implications for a nexus-oriented peace and development policy.
The recommendations set forth in this report relate to two overarching themes:
1. Understanding the development-peace nexus necessitates an understanding of peace development as a transformational project. Nexus-oriented development cooperation should therefore be aimed at supporting long-term transformations in a flexible manner. This demands both soundly assessing and willingly tackling the inherent risks of such an approach, which in turn requires sophisticated, context-specific analytical skills and capacities.
2. Established goals and strategies must be consistently put into practice. Generally speaking, the key challenge of international development aid in conflict zones is primarily one of implementation, rather than a problem of lacking of knowledge and expertise. First, this concerns the primacy of prevention, which continues to lack strategic direction, concrete and achievable aims, and adequate financial backing. A second challenge concerns an age-old, central tenet of development cooperation: coherence. Coherence must be pursued and established at all levels – in the donor country itself, internationally, and “on the ground” in conflict-affected contexts. Taking the truism of coherence seriously and putting it into practice requires novel organizational designs and institutional change.
Contact
Dr Jonas Wolff
Phone: 069 - 959104-49
Email: wolff@hsfk.de
Dr Julian Junk
Phone: 030 - 206049120
Email: junk@hsfk.de