Research
CEMPROC considers research
to be an important part of its mission, with which it can contribute
to a greater understanding of conflict, its sources, its implications,
and effective mechanisms for its resolution. In all of its research
efforts, CEMPROC seeks to take advantage of its specialization in
conflict resolution tools and training in the Latin American and Spanish-
speaking context in order to improve general understanding in this field,
and exploring less-studied areas, particularly in developing countries
of Latin America.
Conflict Dynamics in Developing Areas
CEMPROC has designed a survey instrument which it is distributing in
marginalized neighborhoods in Ecuador with the purpose of measuring a
broad range of attitudes toward conflict and different resolution mechanisms,
and to gather data on the primary sources of conflict in these areas as
well as the availability of mediation and other conflict resolution support
services. The data gathered through this instrument will serve the dual purpose of contributing to a
greater understanding of the application of conflict resolution theory
in developing countries and of generating baseline data that will help
ensure that CEMPROC's programs are designed in such a way to be as
effective as possible in meeting the needs of its target constituency. Click here to see some of the preliminary results from this research project.
Implications of Community-level Refugee Conflict Dynamics for Ecuadorian-Colombian International Relations
CEMPROC uses a service research model to measure attitudes among Colombian refugees and immigrants and the Ecuadorian host community with respect to their perceptions of conflict, sources of tension between Colombian migrants and Ecuadorians, and effective conflict management mechanisms. Using a combination of focus group style open forum, informal interviews, and survey questionnaires, this project, which has received funding from the Johns Hopkins University Program on Latin American Studies and others, seeks to explore how community-level conflict dynamics are filtered and mediated through public messages, stereotypes, the media, and politicians at all levels to affect national-level policy toward Colombia. Click here to see a PowerPoint presentation of some preliminary results
CEMPROC Executive Director has written an analytical paper examining
the violent conflict in Colombia, and particularly focusing on the change
in U.S. foreign policy toward this country during the administration of
President George W. Bush. As perhaps the most violent conflict in the
Western Hemisphere, the Colombian armed struggle has no easy answers;
this analytical work, however, sheds light both on the factors influencing
the current situation and their historical roots, and offers suggestions
for an eventual peace proposal. To read the full paper, click below:
Changing
Gears in Colombia: U.S. Policy under President George W. Bush
Whose Brother’s Keeper? International Trusteeship as a Tool for Creating Peace
"International trusteeship of territories by multilateral institutions or foreign states received renewed attention in the wake of its application in Kosovo and East Timor during the 1990s. Subsequently, interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq have contributed to the intensity of critical discussion over the ability of post-Westphalian sovereignty approaches to delineate the interactions and limitations of competing norms as they apply to questions of human rights, justice, nationalism, and security. This paper seeks to conceptualize clearly the idea of international trusteeship and to establish normative and practical criteria for the application of the trusteeship model to weak, fragile, or post-conflict societies. In particular, I propose that consent of the local population, international legitimacy, and local institutions’ capacity for effective governance form the key dimensions of the legitimacy and feasibility of a potential international trusteeship. Building on disparate perspectives found in the literatures on quasi-states, state building, liberal institutionalism, and critiques of international intervention, the paper tests the utility of these criteria through limited case studies of actual and potential international trusteeships, including East Timor, Kosovo, and the Palestinian territories. Finally, I propose a typology of ‘trustee-like’ international interventions in order to clarify the conceptual muddle that persists in the trusteeship literature."
El Salvador's Negotiated Solution to Civil War
After years of violent conflict, 75,000 casualties, and three years of negotiations, the government of El Salvador and the FMLN rebel alliance signed a historic comprehensive peace accord which brought an end to the war and instituted wide-reaching reforms. This paper employs a broad structural analysis to understand the conditions which led to the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords. Within this explanation of broad power dynamics, however, a multi-stage framework separates the negotiation process into different phases characterized by distinct strategies, goals, and motivations. The combination of structural and integrative conceptual tools offers a nuanced explanation of the negotiations and the resulting peace agreement. The negotiations were shaped profoundly by alterations in the power relationship between the parties, resulting from domestic events, changing norms, and the evolution of the international political context. The unsuccessful November 1989 FMLN offensive on San Salvador and the subsequent murder of six Jesuit priests by the Salvadoran military (with the resulting international backlash) were the immediate triggers that forced both parties to reassess their positions and come to the negotiating table, a decision that was strongly reinforced by external structural realignments including the end of the Cold War, increased pressure for human rights reform and decreased military assistance from the United States government, and the availability of United Nations mediation to push the process along. In response to calls for the application of ‘El Salvador’s lessons’ to contemporary conflicts, the paper considers how these historical parallels can be usefully (but carefully) applied today.