Recovering from Conflict: Reconciliation, Peace and Development - Book Review

Contemporary Review, Dec, 2002

Recovering from Conflict: Reconciliation, Peace and Development. Edward Newman and Albrecht Schnabel, editors. Frank Cass. [pounds sterling]45.00. 321 pages. ISBN 0-7146-5324-1. This study, edited by two teachers in the United Nations University, looks at the multitude of problems associated with the restoration of peace to countries ravaged by war or internal fighting.

All the contributions naturally are centred on the work of the United Nations. There are essays on the restoration of justice, on restoring a network of individuals who will maintain peace, on the work of the U.N. itself and the WorldBank. Contributors look at the problem of refugees, financing peace-keeping operations, conducting elections once the fighting has stopped, the difficulties involved in re-establishing legitimate political institutions, the specific problems with restoring civil society in Africa, and the difficulties of coping with 'crimes against humanity'. The task facing peacekeepers is a daunting one for 'without strong insti tutions (judicial, economic, cultural) states cannot be rebuilt'.