Business, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding: Contributions from the Private Sector to Address Violent Conflict

160 Pages·2009·0.97 MB·English

by  Derek Sweetman

Business, Conflict Resolution and
Peacebuilding
Business, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding examines the actions cur-
rently being taken by businesses in areas of violent conflict around the world,
and explores how they can make a significant contribution to the resolution
of violent conflicts through business-based peacebuilding.
This book combines two approaches to provide a comprehensive look at
the current state and future of business-based peacebuilding. It marries a
detailed study of documented peacebuilding activities with a map of the
possibilities for future business-related conflict work and pragmatic sugges-
tions for business leaders, conflict resolution practitioners, and peacebuilding
organizations. The use of the label “business-based peacebuilding” is new
and signifies actions business can take beyond simple legal compliance or
making changes to avoid creating a conflict. Although business-based peace-
building is new, examples are included from around the world to illustrate
that, working together, businesses have a strong contribution to make to the
creation of peaceful societies. The book advocates pragmatic peacebuilding,
which is not overly concerned with cause-driven models of conflict. Instead,
pragmatic peacebuilding encourages an examination of what is needed in the
conflict and what can be provided. This approach is free of some of the ideo-
logical baggage of traditional peacebuilding and allows for a much wider
range of participants in the peacebuilding project.
This book will be of much interest to students of peace studies, conflict
resolution, international security and business studies, as well as to practi-
tioners and business leaders.
Derek Sweetman is Dispute Resolution Director for the Better Business
Bureau in Washington, DC and Instructor at New Century College, George
Mason University, USA.
Routledge studies in peace and conflict resolution
Series editors: Tom Woodhouse and Oliver Ramsbotham
University of Bradford
Peace and Security in the Postmodern World
The OSCE and conflict resolution
Dennis J.D. Sandole
Truth Recovery and Justice after Conflict
Managing violent pasts
Marie Breen Smyth
Peace in International Relations
Oliver P. Richmond
Social Capital and Peace-Building
Creating and resolving conflict with trust and social networks
Edited by Michaelene Cox
Business, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding
Contributions from the private sector to address violent conflict
Derek Sweetman
Business, Conflict
Resolution and
Peacebuilding
Contributions from the private sector to
address violent conflict
Derek Sweetman
First published 2009
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2009 Derek Sweetman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-87570-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-48435-9 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-87570-2 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-48435-0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-87570-4 (ebk)
For Sarah and Sofia

Contents
Introduction 1
PaRT I
Evaluating business-based peacebuilding 7
1 Business-based peacebuilding and conflict resolution 9
2 Relevant work 18
3 Business-based peacebuilding in practice 29
4 Analysis 48
5 The future of business-based peacebuilding and conflict
resolution 60
PaRT II
Designing business-based peacebuilding programs 65
6 Violent conflict and business 67
7 The business case for peace 75
8 Lessons from conflict resolution and peacebuilding 82
9 Mapping the forms of business-based peacebuilding 99
10 Actors in business-based peacebuilding 116
11 Developing business-based peacebuilding 127
12 Caveats and questions 136
References 142
Index 150

Introduction
The Olympics have never been the guarantors of peace envisioned by Pierre
de Coubertin. Nevertheless it was shocking for many viewers to see open
violence between Georgia and Russia in South Ossetia on their televisions
the day before the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
Although the irony was almost too much for many commentators to bear, the
two events remind us both of our dreams for a more peaceful world and the
reality within which we pursue those dreams. This book makes the argument
that one path toward making our dreams of peace into reality is to rely, at
least in part, on the contributions that can be made by both international and
local businesses through business-based peacebuilding.
Over the past thirty years, globalization has had many effects, including
the expansion of multinational businesses farther than ever before. At the
same time, we have seen some of the world’s bloodiest civil wars. New
approaches must be considered to assist an ailing international conflict reso-
lution regime weakened by indecision in the international community, ideo-
logical differences between participants and, to some extent, outdated ideas
about high-level diplomacy and mediation.
To say that business in this context can be part of the solution is not to
ignore the fact that businesses can contribute to the creation and perpetuation
of conflict. While some of these are the so-called “merchants of death” prof-
iting through the production of weapons and even of violence, many more
contribute through ignorance of their company’s effects on the countries in
which they operate or a misguided notion of firm interest. This is a very
pregnant topic familiar to anyone with a passing acquaintance with the
concept of blood diamonds (or the movie of the same name), but it is one
that will largely be set aside in this discussion. There are excellent research-
ers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that analyze and publicize
the links between business and conflict. Here, instead, the intent is to answer
the question: How can businesses – both local and international – be utilized
within peacebuilding to help create more peaceful societies and resolve
violent conflicts?
This book is somewhat unorthodox in structure and intent. It is comprised
of two deeply related, but functionally independent parts and is also intended