Moving from Civil Conflict to Civilized ConflictEXPERIENCES OF SOCIAL POLICY DEVELOPMENT AFTER POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Post-Conflict Social Policy Development

“We… had long prepared ourselves for the coming negotiations, but what we had not anticipated was the chaos of a country in transition… Every social system was under review. Old laws were being scrapped. New people were in charge everywhere… Who to speak to? What to say?... How to be heard at all amongst the hundreds of activist groups making demands and clamouring for influence?”

- William Rowland, South African Disability Rights Activist

(Rowland 2004: 17).

Political,

Social, &

Economic factors

Immediate responses Long-term commitments

Political Challenges

citizen survival

political survival

economic development

peace & stability

international assistance

Economic Challenges

Investments Education & training

Demobilization

Employment opportunities

Repairing damaged infrastructure

Resuming health services

Addressing human rights violations

Potential barriers Taxation

Corruption or inefficiencies

Debt

Redistribution of resources (particularly military/security expenditure)

Limitations of international assistance

Challenges for civil society

A disability movement should be:

Inclusive

Organised

Politically Aware

Social movements:

- Engage with opponents with conflicting ideas

- Linked by dense informal networks

- Shared identity

(Della Porta & Diani 2006: 20)

 Mozambiqu

e

South

Africa

Northern

Ireland

Population

(2011)23.9 million a

50.5 million

a1.8 million b

Area a 801,590 km21,221,037

km213,843 km2

Population

density29.9/km2 41.3/km2 130.8/km2

Date of conflict 1975 – 1992

1960* –

1994

*apartheid

began in

1948

1969 – 1998

Estimated

number of

casualties from

conflict

Over 1

million

(66,667 or

0.53% of

population

annually)

24,111*

(1,722 or

0.007% of

population

annually)

3,601

(120 or

0.01% of

population

annually)

Estimated

number of people

with disabilities

(2009)

1.2 million/

6% of

population

(2011)

2.8 million/

6.3% of

population

(2007)

324,000/

18% of

population

a) data.un.org; b) Northern

Ireland Census;c) 2012 Human

Development Index;

d) data.un.org; e) data.worldbank.

org

*death resulting from political violence 1984-1998

  Mozambiqu

e

South

Africa

NI as

part of

UK

Human Development

Index rank c185 121 26

Life expectancy at birth

c50.7 years

53.4

years

80.3

years

Population below

poverty line ($1.25/day)

c

59.6% 53.4% n.a.

Average number of

births per woman

(2011) d

4.8 2.4 1.8

Average years of

schooling (2012) c1.2 years

8.5

years

9.4

years

Gross National Income

(2012) c

total domestic & foreign

output claimed by

residents of a country

$906/ £553$9,594/

£5,850

$32,528

/

£19,836

Urban population (2012)

a31% 62% 80%

Population with access

to electricity (2009) e12% 75% n.a.

What can we learn?

Mozambique

Conflicting ideas between international agencies and domestic priorities has slowed progress on collaborative policy development.

There was strong cooperation between civil society and the disability rights movement.

Northern Ireland

Multi-party political structures are difficult to unify in relation to policy development and the competition for funding has kept a disability rights movement from forming.

South Africa