Payoff of Promises: Articulating, Negotiating, and Implementing Wealth-Sharing

Led by Scott Gates
Jan 2008 - Dec 2010
Project funded by the Research Council of Norway

The primary objective of this project is to trace dynamics of peacebuilding, emphasizing wealth-sharing. We will examine the cases of Burundi, Nepal, Nigeria and Sierra Leone across the phases of peacebuilding: from the initial stages of disagreement and clashes, through peace agreements, to the post-agreement implementation of wealth-sharing and distributive measures. The process that we are studying can be divided into three phases: Promise, Peace and Payoff. In the project, we examine:

• How and why do rebel group promises transmute or transform during the negotiation process, and what types of promises are eventually included in peace agreements?

• What happens if rewards based on original promises from rebel groups do not satisfy the accumulated expectations of rebel group supporters?

• What are the implications of distributive and redistributive aims in peace agreements?

• What role does the international community play in this dynamic? What can donors do to facilitate wealth-sharing?

 

Publications in the pipeline:

Binningsbø, Helga Malmin & Siri Aas Rustad, 2011. ‘Sharing the Wealth: A Pathway to Peace or a trail to Nowhere?’, Unpublished manuscript. CSCW/PRIO.

Rustad, Siri Aas & Helga Malmin Binningsbø, 2011. ‘A Prize worth Fighting for? Natural Resources and Conflict Recurrence’, Unpublished manuscript. CSCW/PRIO.

 

Publications

Peer-reviewed Journal Article

Miklian, Jason; Kristoffer Lidén & Åshild Kolås (2011) The Perils of ‘Going Local’: Liberal Peace-building Agendas in Nepal, Conflict, Security & Development 11(3): 285–308.
Kolås, Åshild & Jason Miklian (2009) Managing Intractable Conflict: Indian Strategies, Journal of Conflict Management and Development 3(3): 1–20.
Buhaug, Halvard; Scott Gates & Päivi Lujala (2009) Geography, Rebel Capability, and the Duration of Civil Conflict, Journal of Conflict Resolution 53(4): 544–569.
Butler, Christopher K. & Scott Gates (2009) Asymmetry, Parity, and (Civil) War: Can International Theories of Power Help Us Understand Civil War?, International Interactions 35(3): 330–340.
de Soysa, Indra & Helga Malmin Binningsbø (2009) The Devil's Excrement as Social Cement: Natural Resources and Political Terror, 1980–2002, International Social Science Journal 57(1): 21–32.
Binningsbø, Helga Malmin & Kendra Dupuy (2009) Using Power-Sharing to Win a War: The Implementation of the Lomé Agreement in Sierra Leone, Africa Spectrum 44(3): 87–107.
Lujala, Päivi (2009) Deadly Combat over Natural Resources: Gems, Petroleum, Drugs, and the Severity of Armed Civil Conflict, Journal of Conflict Resolution 53(1): 50–71.
Rustad, Siri Aas; Jan Ketil Rød; Wenche Larsen & Nils Petter Gleditsch (2008) Foliage and Fighting: Forest Resources and the Onset, Duration, and Location of Civil War, Political Geography 27(7): 761–782.

Edited Volume

Öberg, Magnus; & Kaare Strøm, eds, (2008) Resources, Governance and Civil Conflict. London: Routledge/ECPR.

Conference Paper

Butler, Christopher K.; & Gates, Scott 2010 African Range Wars, .

PRIO Paper

Miklian, Jason (2008) Mine Action in Nepal: Overviewing Progress and Challenges, PRIO Paper. Oslo: PRIO.