Why is it that ruling parties with origins as rebel movements fighting against perceived injustices and exclusion often abandon the ideas and visions of state transformation that they had articulated when they were fighting? Using the case of the Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie–Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie (CNDD-FDD) in Burundi, this article shows that rather than experiencing an abrupt ideological change when the CNDD-FDD became a ruling party, there had always been ideological divergence within the movement. Over time, progressive ideas of inclusive state transformation were repeatedly sidelined in favour of a focus on resistance, and then state capture. Paradoxically, then, once it became a ruling party the CNDD-FDD reverted to governance practices that were akin to those that had led it to take up arms in the first place. This is not because of an absence of commitment to progressive ideas among some CNDD-FDD members, but because the internal dynamics of the CNDD-FDD meant that those factions relying on power politics eventually gained the upper hand over those that articulated a more progressive, inclusive vision, due in part to their ability to back their ideas with force.
This special issue of Disasters presents a selection of papers from a conference entitled Politics and Humanitarian Aid: Debates, Dilemmas and Dissension, held on 1 February 2001 in London. The conference was convened by ODI, CAFOD and POLIS 1 at the University of Leeds, and sponsored by the Department for International Development (DFID), the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), CAFOD and Oxfam. It brought together humanitarian aid personnel, policymakers and academics to discuss the changing relationship between politics and humanitarian assistance, and its consequences. 2 Humanitarian assistance has always been a highly political activity, but the relationship between humanitarian aid and politics is changing. The first three papers in this volume seek to analyse these changes and argue that humanitarian action is increasingly becoming an integral part of Western governments' strategy to transform conflicts, decrease violence and set the stage for liberal development. This changing role of humanitarian aid is frequently called the 'new humanitarianism', and has characterised the international response to many recent conflicts. The current war in Afghanistan is the most recent illustration of the convergence between humanitarian action and politics. The presence of a co-ordinated, well-publicised humanitarian effort alongside the military effort in Afghanistan highlights the extent to which politics has encroached upon humanitarian space. As argued in the paper by Mohammed Haneef Atmar (this issue: 321-30), humanitarian aid practices in Afghanistan are determined by Western foreign policy goals, rather than by the conditions required for principled humanitarian action. 3 The new humanitarianism together with its underlying coherence agenda has been accepted and supported by many actors within the policymaking and NGO communities. However, the conference on 1 February 2001 and the papers in this special issue show that there is no consensus on this new agenda, and that important dissenting voices within the aid and academic communities are becoming heard. The diverse views of the participants at the conference reflect the wider debate within the humanitarian community about the importance of traditional humanitarian principles, and the appropriate relationship between humanitarianism and politics. Many participants at the conference felt that the language of humanitarianism and the roles, responsibilities and principles underpinning humanitarian action must be clarified.
How do the visions of the state articulated by armed movements during conflict change when they become political parties after war? We show that ideas about the state are often central to the strategies and direction of these new parties, but there is variation in the extent to which these ideas have changed. The first part of this article shows why a focus on former rebel parties provides valuable insights into the role of ideas in post-war politics. The second part draws on the literatures on civil wars and political parties to highlight their relevance for former rebel parties. The third part provides a framework for understanding the variation in the role of ideology in former rebel parties, by focusing on ideological content and explanations of post-war ideological continuity and change. This part also introduces the other articles in the special issue and wider collection. Finally, we discuss the effects of these ideologies when they encounter other logics of post-war politics.
This paper explores the possibilities and challenges of local media to contribute to postconflict peacebuilding. Many donors are involved in local media post-conflict peacebuildingprojects, but there has been relatively little attempt to situate these activities into an overall peacebuilding framework, or to systematically evaluate their success. This paper looks at some of the literature on local media and development to uncover thepossibilities for local media for peacebuilding, but argues that distinct peacebuilding objectives must be considered in the designing of local mediapeacebuildingprojects. The paper develops afiamework for understanding how diffierent kinds of local media activities can affiectpeacebuildingprocesses, yet it also highlights the fact that more sophisticated evaluation tools need to be developed to measure the peacebuilding impact of all kinds of local media projects. Through the analysis of several local media projects in Rwanda and Bosnia, the paper supports the general notion that local media projects can contribute to peacebuilding, but shows that success is by no means guaranteed or absolute. Cet article explore les dkfis aauquels sonr confiontkes les presses locales qui souhaitent contribuer rf bdtir la paix dans les zones d'aprks guerre. D'aprks l'auteur, bien de donateurs s'engagent dans les projets de paix auxquels contribuent les presses locales, sansvraiment situer ceux-ci dans leurs contextes ou sans en faire une kvaluation. A travers une revue de la littkrature des relations qui existent entre la presse locale et le dheloppement, l'auteur montre que bien qu'elle air du potentiel rf bdtir la paix, cettepresse devrait formuler des object$ distincts dans sess projets. Un cadre est prksentk pour nous aider It concevoir comment les activitks de la presse locale peuvent influencer le processus de l a paix, bien que des mesures d'haluation plus sophistiqukes soient souhaitables. En utilisant les cas de la presse au Rwanda et en Bosnie, l'auteur dkmontre que malgrk son potentiel rf kdijier la paix, le succks de cette presse ne reste pas assurk. She is thankful to Professor Rex Brynen and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.
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