Partnerships for Peace and Development in Fragile States: Identifying Missing Links

Abstract

Literature on partnerships has grown rapidly in the past decade across different disciplines. However, despite conceptual attention to the value of strategic multi-stakeholder collaboration to promote peace and reconciliation, challenges posed by (post-)conflict, fragile contexts have barely been considered in empirical studies. In this article we contribute by bringing together debates from different partnership literatures and providing an overview of existing, relatively limited research insights on partnerships for peace in fragile states. We present a typology of different levels (local, national, international) at which collaboration takes place and different types of partnerships (philanthropic, transactional, engagement, transformative). This is exemplified with specific attention to Africa, where most fragile states are found, and to partnerships with transformative potential. The analysis suggests that the lowest-level (local) partnerships tend to exclude the national government, while the most recent international, multilateral-driven collaboration has not included business; national cases are most transformative but incidental and not yet leveraged internationally. Despite the interconnected nature of conflict and fragility issues, linkages between partnerships and partners at different levels are largely missing, offering potential for further development by a broad spectrum of scholars and thought leaders. Insights from 'extreme' unconventional contexts thus have relevance for management research more generally.

Enhancing the Concept of Corporate Diplomacy: Encompassing Political Corporate Social Responsibility, International Relations, and Peace Through Commerce

“…Corporations have assumed a central role as in determining trade and development policy, as well as in addressing issues that are not effectively governed (Hocking, 2004). At times, this occurs at international and national levels, but partnerships have also been used at local levels and often without government engagement (Kolk & Lenfant, 2015).…”

“…At a more public level, business diplomacy is occurring more frequently in response to actual or potential conflicts through the increasing phenomenon of multistakeholder initiatives (Kolk & Lenfant, 2015). Multistakeholder initiatives are "voluntary and collaborative relationships between various parties, both State and non-State, in which all participants agree to work together to achieve a common purpose or undertake a specific task and to share risks, responsibilities, resources, competencies and benefits" (Tennyson & Bowman, 2003, p. 36).…”

Corporate Social Responsibility and Pro-Peace Practices in Colombia

“…It has been stablished that there is a complex interdependence between corporate behavior and the resolving or maintining of conflicts (Fort and Schipani, 2007), and from the beginnings of 2000 it's been studied how companies react strategically before their stakeholders in environments of violent conflicts (Dunfee and Fort, 2003). Of course, the new literature's field work is centered around conflict or post-conflict zones such as Nigeria, Congo, Sudan, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia and Sub-Saharan Africa or the Middle East (Palestine-Israel) (Getz and Oetzel, 2009;Jiménez Peña, 2014;Kidder, 2006;Kolk and Lenfant, 2015;Madichie and Madichie, 2016;Nwagbara, 2014;Rettberg, 2007;Westermann-Behaylo, 2009). …”

“…Subsequently, considering that Colombia to date may be characterized a post-conflict territory or in transit to it, and that companies must play a vital role in this process, the present work looks for hints to understand if the main CSR practices and the reports generated by companies could be an instrument or antecedent to Pro-Peace activities (Guáqueta, 2006;Kolk and Lenfant, 2015;Oetzel, Westermann, Koerber, Fort and Rivera, 2010). In search for empirical evidence a qualitative and exploratory scope study was carried out, which employed as instrument interviews to companies and associations focused on performing or monitoring Sustainability Memoirs under the GRI criteria.…”

Responsible business under adverse conditions: Dilemmas regarding company contributions to local development

“…Interestingly, while companies are increasingly considered as entities with great potential to play a positive role, 'mainstream' international business and management research has lagged behind, most notably with regard to the specificities and impact of corporate engagement in developing countries in relation to inclusiveness and the promotion of peace and development (Kolk & Lenfant, 2015a;.…”