Chapter 3. Facilitating and Supporting the Political Process

SUMMARY

This chapter outlines the centrality of successfully facilitating and supporting political processes. It underscores the political nature of a peace operation, and the need to bring political processes and solutions to the forefront. UN peace operations should be part of a comprehensive political solution to resolve conflict. In essence the chapter discusses the need for political issues to have primacy in all mission considerations. In the absence of such political engagement at every level, including at the strategic level, the prolonged presence of a mission is likely to freeze a particular political situation. The mission, and the MLT in particular, therefore need to carefully navigate a crowded political environment which lies at the centre of gravity of a sustainable peace.

The chapter discusses a set of five operational-level outputs, each with its own set of activities, risks and benchmarks, which together contribute to the overall outcome of successfully facilitating and supporting the political process.

• Host Country Engaged and Relations Promoted. This output highlights the need to engage with national partners to ensure that the mission meets people’s needs at the national and local level, and to help sustain consent and national/local ownership. The host government is the principal partner in this endeavour. Interaction between the mission and the host government should be strengthened with a view to restoring government control, keeping the peace process alive and managing any potential relapse into violent conflict.
• Peace Process Supported. This output serves as a reminder that negotiating a political settlement is usually a complex and delicate process. The content of the settlement is likely to determine the challenges that will arise during the implementation phase. A peace operation can only succeed if the conflict parties are genuinely committed to resolving the conflict through a peaceful political process. It is essential that women and youth are able to meaningfully participate in the peace process.
• Legitimate State Authority and Institutions Strengthened. This output serves to re-institute the social contract between the government and the population. It is critical that the reform of state institutions are sustained through the longer-term development phase to keep the country from slipping back into a situation in which public trust is eroded because of weak institutions and poor governance.
• National Reconciliation Promoted. This output reflects the principle that, ultimately, political leaders and the population at large must desire reconciliation more than conflict in order to achieve a sustainable peace. Reconciliation, however, is a long-term process. The mission’s continued engagement on this front – for example by way of monitoring consent and progress, and mentoring change – will be critical. The role of the mission is to help consolidate legitimate institutions, not a particular group or party. This requires sensitivity in handling the changing relationship between the mission and the host government.
• Peaceful and Credible Elections Held. This output reflects the fact that elections are often an integral part of the political settlement and constitute an important benchmark in the peace process. The holding of peaceful and credible elections and the creation of a sustainable electoral management body is thus a vital part of a political transition and the legitimacy of governance, as well as an important element in the promotion and protection of human rights.

Each of these five outputs generates a set of considerations, which reflect the inevitable polarities inherent in trying to advance political solutions for resolving conflicts. These point to the need to balance conflicting issues, such as:

• broadening political engagement with stakeholders beyond the host government while recognizing that this may cause sensitivities and tensions;
• weighing specificity on key provisions in peace processes likely to be contentious and vagueness that allows the process and negotiations to mature;
• working with host government counterparts to address urgent needs to provide security and basic services with the need to foster legitimate state authority;
• promoting peace or national reconciliation efforts at the expense of justice; and
• holding early elections to show progress in the political process but that may not be deemed to be free, fair nor credible by the population.