The 1st study meeting

Concerning the purpose and results of the research

Sato:

How about publishing the results of our research for the purpose of education and study? "We should keep a specific record."

Kodama:

We need to make a unified framework in advance because this theme has difficulties involved with the interdisciplinary approaches.

Sato:

The problem is how will we unite the various approaches.

Nakanishi:

For instance, Mr. Otsubo says he would like to research how economic discrepancy causes conflicts.

Sato:

We should investigate the reasons why conflict occurs. I hope to examine the status of the results at the end of four years of research. Investigating the reasons for conflict is not enough. There is also the problem of how to use the research for forming aid policy. Before preforming the research into aid policy, it is necessary to understand the conflict first.

Sato's report "Concept of peace building: conflict and development"

Sato:

The objective of security shifts from national security to human security. The tendency has been that the purpose of development is individual safety. Even within the United Nations, the trend toward the idea that we should strive for social justice, not simple development, can be seen after the Social Development Summit.

Until now Peace Keeping Operations (PKO) have been executed for world peace, which is one of the main purposes of the United Nations. But by adding to the past role of cease-fire monitoring, the PKO has accomplished a more inclusive approach including development in a variety of areas, such as, provisional administration activity and the establishment of democratic governments. Within the areas of peace creation, peacekeeping and peace building, peace building has been placed in the third or final stage in the sequence. But the approach of the CIDA in Canada has placed peace building as a more comprehensive activity. JICA also follows this movement.

JICA has looked for new methods by which they can send human resources from Japan, even to sites of man-made disasters. I think it is important to understand that conflict is inevitable in human society and it is not necessary to suppress but to manage it, in other words, to prevent the escalation to armed conflict. If the independence of justice and a fair court system are not established, violence for self-help breaks out. My research theme focuses on the democratic political process for peaceful solutions of conflict, and the need for assistance for establishment of a legislation system for access to the protection of human rights and justice.

Social development for easing of the structural factors effecting conflict is necessary. As for Japan’s role in this process, cooperation based on our experience in the fields of (1) democratization, (2) rule by law and (3) social development may be needed. Moreover, preparing a cooperative framework with the non-government, or private, sector should be strengthened, and cooperation with international organizations is also important. It is necessary to take the stance of learning something from the refugee, not the development of an exclusion policy toward them.

Discussion

Nakanishi:

I made a precedence research through an internet search using keywords like conflict and development. When I consider a new area from Prof. Sato's report referring to my precedence research, the cooperation with related organizations is treated in detail by the abstraction theory.

Sato:

I was asked by Harvard University to submit the case study in the UNTAC.

Nakanishi:

I think I'll be able to find a constant pattern using the case study. We should not be preoccupied with the case study.

Kodama:

The case study after the occurrence of a conflict is clearly understandable. But in development where conflict has not occurred, and the relationship between development and social unrest is comparatively confusing. To integrate the awareness of the conflict into the development process is important, but it is a problem of how to actually accomplish it.

Nakanishi:

When we think about the conflict that has not yet occurred, but will occur in future, it is significant to learn from those cases of conflict that have already occurred. However, it may be necessary to consider the relationships between a local problem and a global problem.

Kodama's report

Kodama:

Peace study research started in the middle of 1950's. At that time, what we could do to prevent nuclear war was a main concern. The center of the study was Europe and America, but only France was studying it using another form of logic.

At the end of 1960's the North-South problem was featured and then the theory by Galtung came out. The first methodology in peace study was a statistical method. Galtung analyzed the peace process by using a numerical formula because he had a doctor's degree in mathematics. His analysis gave researchers a very fresh impression and a view that peace study has hopeful future. Moreover, the game theory was proposed. The game “Prisoner’s dilemma” has been taught commonly to freshmen, even in economics now, but peace study research introduced it first.

Then the social environment changed a lot. Peace movements became active, so thousands or millions of people gathered and took to the streets. At the end of 1970's, NGOs came to be prominent and an interface between such social movements and peace study came to be needed. The pattern where people involved in peace movements have entered into peace study has increased because they ultimately felt the limits of peace activities and the necessity for research. Though some researchers tried to access the peace movements, they were a minority. Secretary-generals of NGOs who have a doctor's degree are not unusual, and better treatment than that of university staff has also enforced this trend.

The worldwide wave toward nationalistic movements attracted interest and concern about the new world order, but recently the awareness of how we can prevent conflict has risen.

Citizen movements have some identifiable features. One is that of the actor, or member. They have many participants with very high levels of education. Many collage graduates and postgraduates participate. The notable tendency that people should work for improvement of present society, rather than for social revolution, is also related to the actor's social position.

As for the type of organizational system, informal and non-organized groups have increased. The number of group members is small, but they tend to aim for a horizontal organization. The sense of value of NGOs has been formed from unique ideals, such as that self-realization is more important than material gain.

The standard division of study areas is Asia, Middle East, Africa and South America. Another division is based on the direction for resolution of conflict. The two categories of long-term and short-term mingle with the three categories of politics and war, economy and culture. As for aid, various levels, such as support of goods and support for system building, exist.

As for working actors in international society, the United Nations, international organizations, nations and NGOs are counted as being part of the cast. But, from this group, the NGOs are actors which are not closely examined as a research object.

Some large NGOs have close relationships with high-ranking government officials and the situation of competition for dominance among NGOs is seen. In brief, cooperation with each other within NGOs is still immature.

Many problems still exist. Two of these problems are “How to select research objects and think about the interrelationships between them,” and “How to make the best use of research objects for the development of aid policy.”

Discussion:

Sato:

The cooperation between the short-term activity of the UNHCR, which becomes involved just after the beginning of the conflict, and the long-term activity of the UNDP is contained within the concept of "Continum".

Otsubo:

The economical problem can be equated to the relationship between the IMF and the World Bank.

Arakaki:

The UNHCR has begun to be interested in helping the street children. If the UNHCR becomes short of money, it strengthens its cooperation with the government and other international organizations when it begins a medium to long-term activity.

Nakanishi:

I think that the Japanese government started to associate with NGOs in a positive way later than other governments. How do other governments cooperate with NGOs?

Kodama:

The relationship between governments and representatives from NGOs is very close.

Sugimoto:

In Japan, cooperation between government and NGOs started in 1996. The turning point was the Kyoto Conference where the NGOs were given the right to speak as an observer. Recently, cooperation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by announcing conferences with the theme of peace building shows a steadily progressing situation.

Futamura:

Mr. I think it's a little difficult to accomplish practical research of the potential conflict areas and compile the research into a solid study in just four years.

Sato:

I hope you make use of your specialty.

Sakurai:

We might be unable to discuss the research based on the same stance and concept. First, we do not share a common recognition about the concept of "conflict". Still, I might be able to make some contribution from my specialty to this study. However, for example, the purpose of fieldwork research for a cultural anthropologist is not the improvement of the society.

Sato:

In the context of following one’s local sense of value first, I can understand Mr. Sakurai's standpoint. Please teach us the concept of conflict from the viewpoint of social anthropology next time.

Arakaki report"Conflict and Development: refugee’s eye in peace building"

Arakaki:

Typically, in past refugee research the management issue after the conflict and the human rights issue have been mainly discussed.

1. The problem of refugees can't be understood only from the context of the emergency humanitarian assistance. For instance, sometimes the existence of refugees becomes a conflict factor. It also can be possible that the problem of the refugee drives the peace building process.

2. The refugee can be the main actor on the stage of peace building.

3. I hope the case of Sri Lanka can explain the linkage between the refugee problem and peace building.

Ohira's report

Ohira:

Following the tendency that development becomes a political matter, the UNDP also becomes involved with the problem of conflict and development. The UNDP begins early to establish a relationship at the local level and connect it to their established network. Therefore, a good role from the United Nations is expected. When we follow the works of the entire United Nations, it is significant to pay attention to the UNDP.

Concerning the situation of cooperation within the United Nations, many research assignments are still left. I want to think about the mutual relationship between organizations and the relationship between headquarters and the local office.

The possibility of introducing an early warning system is being explored in Kosovo and Bulgaria. I want to cover the research of this point.

As my plan, I'm also thinking to gather information and interview at home, and choose East Timor as a case study abroad.

Nakanishi report:

Nakanishi:

When considering the problems of Palestine, Kurd, Afghanistan and Iraq, we need to think systematically. I want to examine these problems from the viewpoint of cooperation, rather than individually as thought before.

I'm thinking of examining the problem of the Afghan refugees in Iran and the Afghan rebuilding problem as a research target.

Otsubo's report:

Otsubo:

In the last year of my career at the World Bank, I worked on the issue of: “What kind of policy for the reform and liberation of China could minimize the tension and social unrest.” So if the social gap connects with the cause of conflict, I want to search for it. And if it can be controlled by policies, I want to think how it is possible to do this. Moreover, I would like to examine the resource cost of a conflict.

As a research plan, while I am collecting the databases relating to the income gap, I will examine them by combining this data with other data. I want to consider the Philippines and Thailand as a research area, in addition to China, Indonesia and India. Also I am interested in Africa, I will start to research there after deciding on a region during the second or third year.

Memorandum:

Sato:

Establish a system for the secretariat. Above all, the home page needs to be outsourced by CDDI including an English version.
Next meeting: July 4th (Friday) 16:30-
Submit a four-year study plan and planning for the current year in concrete form.