Electing Peace: From Civil Conflict to Political Participation

EAN: 9781107189171
Published 25/07/2017
Language: English

Settlements to civil conflict, which are notably difficult to secure, sometimes contain clauses enabling the combatant sides to participate as political parties in post-conflict elections. In Electing Peace, Aila M. Matanock presents a theory that explains both the causes and the consequences of these provisions. Matanock draws on new worldwide cross-national data on electoral participation provisions, case studies in Central America, and interviews with representatives of all sides of the conflicts. She shows that electoral participation provisions, non-existent during the Cold War, are now in almost half of all peace agreements. Moreover, she demonstrates that these provisions are associated with an increase in the chance that peace will endure, potentially contributing to a global decline in civil conflict, a result which challenges prevailing pessimism about post-conflict elections. Matanock's theory and evidence also suggest a broader conception of international intervention than currently exists, identifying how these inclusive elections can enable external enforcement mechanisms and provide an alternative to military coercion by peacekeeping troops in many cases.

Part I. Introduction and Theory
1. Credible transitions from civil conflict
provisions for combatant participation in post-conflict elections
2. Electoral participation provisions
a theory of external engagement
3. International involvement over time
changes with the end of the Cold War and patterns there-after
Part II. Causes of Electoral Participation Provisions
4. Trading bullets for ballots
examining the inclusion of electoral participation provisions
5. Shifting expectations of engagement
paving a path for peace agreements based on electoral participation provisions
Part III. Consequences of Electoral Participation Provisions
6. Participating for peace
examining the effect of electoral participation provisions on peace
7. Engaging through elections
external observation and incentives around elections during implementation
Part IV. Conclusion
8. Securing peace
conclusions about electoral participation and external engagement in post-conflict states.