1. Containing the Dangers of Democratization: A Record of Peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Author:
- Thorsten Gomes
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
- Abstract:
- Peacebuilding aims at creating structures and capabilities within the affected society which will avoid the relapse into armed conflict. Since the end of the Cold War, democratization has been chosen as the standard strategy of peacebuilding. Democracy provides an alternative to armed conflict. Governments can be removed without bloodshed, and other political intra-state disputes may be settled or solved non-violently as well. Democracy deserves a prominent place in theories of civil peace. Nevertheless, some dangers for civil peace and the democratic order itself have roots in the elements of democracy. Democratic liberties can just as well be (ab)used by anti-democrats as by extremists, and thus democratic systems bear the risk of their own overthrow. A second danger results from the political contestation that characterizes democracy. Competition offers incentives for candidates and political parties to inflame hatred and fear in order to win the support of as many people as possible. A third peril is the use of majority rule to exclude whole conflict parties from political decision-making or to ignore their needs and interests completely. Under the specific conditions of post-war societies the destructive potential of democracy and democratization is more easily activated. That is due to the fact that war has pushed back democratic attitudes and actors, while extremist and criminal actors have risen into high social and political positions. Compared to well-established democracies, it is less likely that democratic rules will be obeyed. Conflict parties abide less by democratic norms and distrust each other more than in consolidated democracies. Democratic contestation means “organized uncertainty” (Adam Przeworski). In post-war societies, however, there is so much at stake that uncertainty seems to be more threatening than in established and consolidated democracies.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Ethnic Conflict, and Post Colonialism
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Herzegovina, Eastern Europe, and Balkans