The political economy of peacebuilding: The case of women's cooperatives in Nepal

Authors

  • Smita Ramnarain

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15355/epsj.8.2.26

Keywords:

Peacebuilding, women, cooperatives

Abstract

Critiques of liberal, top-down approaches to peacebuilding have motivated a discussion of alternative, locally-led, and community-based approaches to achieving and maintaining sustainable peace. This article uses a case study of women's savings and credit cooperatives in post-violence Nepal to examine the ways in which grassroots-based, locally-led peace initiatives can counter top-down approaches. The article presents ethnographic evidence from fieldwork in Nepal on how cooperatives expand through their everyday activities the definition of peace to include not only the absence of violence (negative peace) but transformatory goals such as social justice (positive peace). By focusing on ongoing root causes of structural violence, cooperatives problematize the postconflict period where pre-war normalcy is presumed to have returned. They emphasize local agency and ownership over formal peace processes. The findings suggest ongoing struggles that cooperatives face due to their existence within larger, liberal paradigms of international postconflict aid and reconstruction assistance. Their uneasy relationship with liberal economic structures limit their scale and scope of effectiveness even as they provide local alternatives for peacebuilding.

References

Ballentine, K. and J. Sherman, eds. 2003. The Political Economy of Armed Conflict: Beyond Greed and Grievance. Boulder CO: Lynne Rienner/International Peace Academy.

Barnett, M., H. Kim, M. O’Donnell, and L. Sitea. 2007. “Peacebuilding: What Is in a Name?” Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations. Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 35-58.

Bennett, L. 2005. “Gender, Caste and Ethnic Exclusion in Nepal: Following the Policy Process from Analysis to Action,? Conference Paper: New Frontiers in Social Policy, Arusha. http://www.k4health.org/sites/default/files/Gender,%20caste%20and%20ethnic%20exclusion%20in%20Nepal.pdf [accessed 11 September 2013].

Boutros-Ghali, B. 1992. Report of the UN Secretary-General: An Agenda for Peace. Published 17 June 17 1992. http://www.cfr.org/peacekeeping/report-un-secretary-general-agenda-peace/p23439 [accessed 13 July 2013].

Boyce, J. 2002. “Aid Conditionality as a Tool for Peacebuilding: Opportunities and Constraints.” Development and Change. Vol. 33, No. 5, pp. 1025-1048.

Brauer, J. and J.P. Dunne. 2012. Peace Economics: A Macroeconomic Primer for Violence-Afflicted States. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press.

Dhakal, N.H. 2007. “Towards Expanding the Frontier of Microfinance Services in Nepal.” Paper. International Conference on Rural Finance Research: Bringing Research into Policy and Practices, 19-21 March 2007. Rome, Italy: FAO. http://www.fao.org/ag/rurfinconference/docs/papers_theme_2/towards_expanding_the_frontier.pdf [accessed on 21 July 2013].

Dodge, T. 2010. “The Ideological Roots of Failure: The Application of Kinetic Neo-liberalism to Iraq.” International Affairs. Vol. 86, No. 6, pp. 1269–1286.

Donais, T. 2009. “Empowerment or Imposition? Dilemmas of Local Ownership in Postconflict Peacebuilding Processes.” Peace and Change. Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 3-26.

EPIC [Education for Peace in Iraq Center]. 2007. “National Groups Join with EPIC in Calling for Humanitarian, Economic Surge to Help End Iraq War.” 24 July. For reference, see Herring (2008) below.

Fanthorpe, R. 2006. “On the Limits of Liberal Peace: Chiefs and Democratic Decentralization in Post-War Sierra Leone.” African Affairs. Vol. 105, No. 418, pp. 27-49.

Galtung, J. 1969. “Violence, Peace and Peace Research.” Journal of Peace Research. Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 167-191.

Galtung, J. 1976. “Three Approaches to Peace: Peacekeeping, Peacemaking, and Peacebuilding,” pp. 297-298 in J. Galtung, ed. Peace, War and Defense: Essays in Peace Research, Vol. II. Copenhagen: Christian Ejlers.

Glennester, R., E. Miguel, and K. Casey. 2011. “Reshaping Institutions: Evidence on External Aid and Local Collective Action.” Cambridge, MA: NBER Working Paper 17012.

Goodhand, J. and N. Lewer. 1999. “Sri Lanka: NGOs and Peace-Building in Complex Political Emergencies.” Third World Quarterly. Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 69-87.

Goodhand, J. and O. Walton. 2009. “The Limits of Liberal Peacebuilding? International Engagement in the Sri Lankan Peace Process.” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 303-323.

Guttal, S. 2005. “The Politics of Post-War/Post-Conflict Reconstruction.” Development. Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 73-81.

Herzberg, B. 2007. “Monitoring and Evaluation During the Bull-dozer Initiative: 50 Investment Climate Reforms in 150 Days. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

Herring, E. 2008. “Neoliberalism Versus Peacebuilding in Iraq,” pp. 47-64 in M. Pugh, N. Cooper, and M. Turner, eds. Whose Peace? Critical Perspectives on the Political Economy of Peacebuilding. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Klein, N. 2007. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. London: Penguin.

Lederach, J.P. 1997. Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press.

Mac Ginty, R. 2010. “Hybrid Peace: The Interaction Between ‘Top-Down’ and ‘Bottom-Up’ Peace.” Security Dialogue. Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 391-412.

Mansuri, G. and V. Rao. 2004. “Community-Based and Driven Development.” World Bank Research Observer. Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 1-39.

Miklian, J., K. Lidén, and Å. Kolås. 2011. “The Perils of ‘Going Local’: Liberal Peacebuilding Agendas in Nepal.” Conflict, Security and Development. Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 285-308.

Moore, D. 2000. “Levelling the Playing Field and Embedding Illusions: ‘Post-Conflict’ Discourse and Neo-Liberal ‘Development’ in War-Torn Africa.” Review of African Political Economy. Vol. 27, No. 83, pp. 11-28.

Paffenholz, T. 2003. Community-based Bottom-up Peacebuilding. The Development of the Life and Peace Institute’s Approach to Peacebuilding and Lessons Learned from the Somalia Experience (1990-2000). Uppsala: Life and Peace Institute.

Paris, R. 2004. At War’s End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Parnell, E. 2003. “The Role for Cooperatives and Other Self-Help Organizations (SHOs),” pp. 285-308 in E. Date-Bah, ed. Jobs After War: A Critical Challenge in the Peace and Reconstruction Puzzle. Geneva: ILO.

Pearce, J. 2005. “The International Community and Peacebuilding.” Development . Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 41-49.

Pugh, M. 2005. “The Political Economy of Peacebuilding: A Critical Theory Perspective.” International Journal of Peace Studies. Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 23-42.

Pugh, M. 2011. “Local Agency and Political Economies of Peacebuilding.” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism. Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 308-320.

Pugh, M., N. Cooper, and M. Turner, eds. 2008. Whose Peace? Critical Perspectives on the Political Economy of Peacebuilding. London: Palgrave.

Ramnarain, S. 2011. “Women’s Cooperatives and Peace in India and Nepal.” International Research Series. Toronto: Canadian Cooperatives’ Association.

Richmond, O. 2006. “The Problem of Peace: Understanding the ‘Liberal Peace’.” Conflict, Security and Development. Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 291-314.

Richmond, O. 2009. “Becoming Liberal, Unbecoming Liberalism: Liberal-Local Hybridity via the Everyday as a Response to the Paradoxes of Liberal Peacebuilding.” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding. Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 324-344.

Richmond, O. 2010. “Resistance and the Post-Liberal Peace.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies. Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 665-692.

Richmond, O. and J. Franks. 2008. “Liberal Peacebuilding in Timor-Leste: The Emperor’s New Clothes?” International Peacekeeping. Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 185-200.

Ruwanpura, K. 2007. “Awareness and Action: The Ethno-Gender Dynamics of Sri Lankan NGOs.” Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography. Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 317-333.

Sentama, E. 2009. “Peacebuilding in Post-Genocide Rwanda: The Role of Co-operatives in the Restoration of Interpersonal Relationships.” Ph.D. Thesis. University of Gothenburg: School of Global Studies. Sweden.

Shima, S. and Y. Ghale. 2007. “Building Hope while Providing Credit Through Co-operatives: A Case Study of Women Coping with Conflict in Nepal,” pp. 207-215 in J. Emmanuel and I. MacPherson, eds. Co-operatives and the Pursuit of Peace. British Columbia Institute of Co-operative Studies. [City]: New Rochdale Press.

Suhrke, A. 2008. “Democratizing a Dependent State: The Case of Afghanistan.” Democratization. Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 630-648.

Wehnert, U. and R. Shakya. 2003. “Microfinance and Armed Conflict in Nepal: The Adverse Effects of the Insurgency on the Small Farmer Cooperatives Ltd. (SFCLs).” Working Paper No. 3. Kathmandu: Rural Finance Nepal.

Weihe, T. 2004. Co-operatives in Conflict and Failed States. Washington, D.C.: United States Overseas Co-operative Development Council.

Whyte, W.F. and K.K. Whyte. 1991. Making Mondragon. 2nd rev. ed. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press.

Woodward, S. 1995. Balkan Tragedy: Chaos and Dissolution after the Cold War. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.

Downloads

Published

2013-10-01

How to Cite

Ramnarain, S. (2013). The political economy of peacebuilding: The case of women’s cooperatives in Nepal. The Economics of Peace and Security Journal, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.15355/epsj.8.2.26

Issue

Section

Articles