Social capital building as capacity for postconflict development: The UNDP in Mozambique and Rwanda

Global Governance

Volumn 10, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 437-457

  Fred Mensah, Ben K ^a  

^a HOWARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 11144271376     PISSN: 10752846     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/19426720-01004005     Document Type: Review

References (90)

1. UNDP, Operational Flexibility in Crisis and Post-Conflict Situations: Lessons Learned from the Field (New York: UNDP, Evaluation Office, forthcoming).
2. Fergus Lyon, "Trust, Networks and Norms: The Creation of Social Capital in Agricultural Economies of Ghana," World Development 28, no. 4 (2000): 664.
3. A situation observed on the war-torn island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea was illuminating. The conflict on the island left social scars, bad memories, and mistrust among the people to the point where they were often afraid to freely share views and embark upon any form of collective action. See UNDP, Reconstructing Governance in Bougainville: A Report (Port Moresby and New York: UNDP Evaluation Office, 2002), pp. 2-3.
4. Charles Call and Susan Cook, special issue, "Governance After War: Rethinking Democratization and Peacebuilding," Global Governance 9, no. 2 (spring 2003): 136.
5. Valerie Braithwaite and Margaret Levi, "Introduction," in Braithwaite and Levi, eds., Trust and Governance (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1998), p. 5.
6. Ben K. Fred-Mensah, "Capturing Ambiguities: Communal Conflict Management Alternative in Ghana," World Development 27, no. 6 (June 1999).
7. I am grateful to Douglas Keh who, as task manager for the project Operational Flexibility in Crisis and Post-Conflict Situations in the UNDP Evaluation Office, hired me as one of the senior consultants to the project. This enabled me to travel to Mozambique, Rwanda, and Papua New Guinea in the winter of 2002.
8. Morten Bøås and Desmond McNeill recently defined an idea as a "concept which powerfully influences development policy," "Power and Ideas in Multilateral Institutions: Towards an Interpretative Framework," in Bøås and McNeill, eds., Global Institutions and Development: Framing the World? (New York: Routledge, 2004), p. 1.
9. Barry Buzan, People, States, and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1991), p. 70.
10. See Mark M. Brown, "Democratic Governance: Toward a Framework for Sustainable Peace," Global Governance 9, no. 2 (2003): 142.
11. Simon Blackburn, "Trust, Cooperation and Human Psychology," in Braithwaite and Levi, Trust and Governance.
12. Tom R. Tyler, "Trust in Democratic Governance," in Braithwaite and Levi, Trust and Governance.
13. Emergency Projects to Improve Food Security in Rwanda (Kigali: UNDP-USAID, 1998). This project was designed to help alleviate the acute food shortage situation that resulted in the wake of the genocide and thereby lay the foundation for a long-term solution to Rwanda's chronic food insecurity problem.
14. See UNDP, Sharing New Ground in Post-Conflict Situations: The Role of UNDP in Reintegration Programmes (New York: UNDP Evaluation Office, January 2000), pp. 35-37.
15. UNDP, Governance Foundations for Post-Conflict Situations: UNDP's Experience (Management Development and Governance Division Bureau for Development Policy, January 2000), p. 3.
16. Michael Woolcock, "Social Capital and Economic Development: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis and Policy Framework," Theory and Society 27, no. 2 (1998): 151-208.
17. See http://jolis.worldbankimflib.org/e-nljolis.htm.
18. Pierre Englebert, State Legitimacy and Development in Africa (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2000), p. 59.
19. Robert D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).
20. Partha Dasgupta and Ismail Serageldin, "Preface," Social Capital: A Multifaceted Perspective (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2000), p. x.
21. Desmond McNeill, "Social Capital and the World Bank," in Bøås and McNeill, Global Institutions and Development, p. 109.
22. See Louis Putterman, "Social Capital and Development Capacity: The Example of Rural Tanzania," Development Policy Review 13 (1995): 5-22.
23. "Framing" is used here in the sense in which Bøås and McNeill used it. The authors defined it as an exercise of power that serves to limit the power of "potentially radical ideas" and thereby weaken their capacity to effect change. Framing both draws attention to a specific issue, such as social capital in the current case, and determines how such an issue is viewed. Thus, framing operates on both analytical and policy terms - that is, it determines what the issue is and what needs to be done. Effective "frame," as Bøås and McNeill noted, is one that makes favored ideas seem like common sense and makes unfavored ones appear unthinkable. See Bøås and McNeill, "Power and Ideas in Multilateral Institutions," pp. 1-2.
24. Englebert, State Legitimacy and Development in Africa, p. 59. See also Christiaan Grootaert and Thierry van Bastelaer, "Introduction and Overview," in Grootaert and van Bastelaer, eds., The Role of Social Capital in Development: An Empirical Assessment (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 2-4.
25. Englebert, State Legitimacy and Development in Africa, p. 59. See also Christiaan Grootaert and Thierry van Bastelaer, "Introduction and Overview," in Grootaert and van Bastelaer, eds., The Role of Social Capital in Development: An Empirical Assessment (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 2-4.
26. See McNeill, "Social Capital and the World Bank," pp. 108-109. See also James Coleman, "Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital," American Journal of Sociology 94 (supplement) (1988): S95-S120.
27. See McNeill, "Social Capital and the World Bank," pp. 108-109. See also James Coleman, "Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital," American Journal of Sociology 94 (supplement) (1988): S95-S120.
28. Putnam, Making Democracy Work.
29. McNeill, "Social Capital and the World Bank," p. 109.
30. Ibid., p. 109.
31. Stephen Knack, Social Capital, Growth and Poverty: A Survey of Cross-Country Evidence, SCI Working Paper No. 7 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1999), p. 1; McNeill, "Social Capital and the World Bank," p. 109.
32. Stephen Knack, Social Capital, Growth and Poverty: A Survey of Cross-Country Evidence, SCI Working Paper No. 7 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1999), p. 1; McNeill, "Social Capital and the World Bank," p. 109.
33. Grootaert and van Bastelaer, "Introduction and Overview," p. 3.
34. See Hali Edison, "Testing the Links: How Strong Are the Links Between Institutional Quality and Economic Performance," Finance and Development (June 2003): 35-36.
35. "Capability" has been defined elsewhere as "the ability to undertake and promote collective actions efficiently." See World Bank, World Development Report 1997 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 3. See also Valerie Bockstette, Areedam Chanda, and Louis Putterman, "States and Markets: The Advantages of an Early Start," Journal of Economic Growth 1 (2002): 349.
36. "Capability" has been defined elsewhere as "the ability to undertake and promote collective actions efficiently." See World Bank, World Development Report 1997 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 3. See also Valerie Bockstette, Areedam Chanda, and Louis Putterman, "States and Markets: The Advantages of an Early Start," Journal of Economic Growth 1 (2002): 349.
37. Ruth Lane, The Art of Comparative Politics (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1996), p. 8. Lane derived this sociological insight from Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality (New York: Anchor), 1997.
38. Ruth Lane, The Art of Comparative Politics (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1996), p. 8. Lane derived this sociological insight from Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality (New York: Anchor), 1997.
39. Douglass C. North, Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic-Performance (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 4-5.
40. Grootaert and van Bastelaer, "Introduction and Overview," pp. 3-4.
41. Jean Ensminger, "Transaction Costs Through Time: The Case of the Orma Pastoralists in East Africa," in James M. Acheson, ed., Anthropology and Institutional Economics: Monographs in Economic Anthropology, No. 12 (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1994).
42. North, Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, p. 126.
43. Edison, "Testing the Links," p. 35.
44. Grootaert and van Bastelaer, "Introduction and Overview," p. 1.
45. See Jacob Bercovitch, ed., Conflict and Third Parties: Strategies of Conflict Resolution (Boulder: Westview, 1984), p. 22.
46. Lyon, "Trust, Networks and Norms."
47. The most extreme form of this conception of trust and faith in an entity is found in the Bible: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1).
48. John P. Powelson, The Institutions of Economic Growth: A Theory of Conflict Management (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972).
49. Karla Hoff, Avishay Braverman, and Joseph E. Stiglitz, "Introduction," in Hoff, Braverman, and Stiglitz, eds., The Economics of Rural Organization: Theory, Practice, and Policy (New York: Oxford University Press, for the World Bank, 1993), p. 10.
50. Khalid Malik, "Towards a Normative Framework: Technical Cooperation, Capacities, and Development," in Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Carlos Lopes, and Khalid Malik, eds., Capacity for Development: New Solutions to Old Problems (Sterling, Va.: Earthscan, 2002), p. 26.
51. As used here, state collapse refers to a situation in which the state is incapable of performing even its most basic functions to provide welfare and security to its residents. I. William Zartman, "Introduction," in Zartman, ed., Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1995).
52. UNDP, Promoting Conflict Prevention and Conflict Resolution Through Effective Good Governance: A Conceptual Survey and Literature Review (an interim report) (New York: UNDP, n.d.), p. 21.
53. Braithwaite and Levi, Trust and Governance, p. 5.
54. Mamadou Dia, "Development and Cultural Values in Sub-Saharan Africa," Finance and Development (December 1991): 10-13; Africa's Management in the 1990s and Beyond: Reconciling Indigenous and Transplanted Institutions (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1996). See also Ben K. Fred-Mensah, "Capturing Ambiguities: Communal Conflict Management Alternative in Ghana," World Development 27, no. 6 (June 1999).
55. Mamadou Dia, "Development and Cultural Values in Sub-Saharan Africa," Finance and Development (December 1991): 10-13; Africa's Management in the 1990s and Beyond: Reconciling Indigenous and Transplanted Institutions (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1996). See also Ben K. Fred-Mensah, "Capturing Ambiguities: Communal Conflict Management Alternative in Ghana," World Development 27, no. 6 (June 1999).
56. Mamadou Dia, "Development and Cultural Values in Sub-Saharan Africa," Finance and Development (December 1991): 10-13; Africa's Management in the 1990s and Beyond: Reconciling Indigenous and Transplanted Institutions (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1996). See also Ben K. Fred-Mensah, "Capturing Ambiguities: Communal Conflict Management Alternative in Ghana," World Development 27, no. 6 (June 1999).
57. Gordon R. Woodman and Bradford Morse, "How State Courts Create Customary Law in Ghana and Nigeria," in Morse and Woodman, eds., Indigenous Law and the State (Dordrecht: Fows Publications, 1987).
58. See Marc J. Swartz, "Bases for Political Compliance Among Bena Villages," in Marc J. Swartz, Victor W. Turner, and Arthur Tuden, eds., Political Anthropology (Chicago: Aldine, 1966). See also Ben K. Fred-Mensah, "Bases of Conflict Management Among the Buems of the Ghana-Togo Border Area," in I. William Zartman, Traditional Cures for Modern Conflicts: African Conflict "Medicine" (Boulder: Lynner Rienner, 1999), pp. 42-44; and "Ghana: Kanye Ndu Bowi: Un cadre philosophique autochtone pour la gestion des conflits," IK Notes, No. 56 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, May 2003), pp. 2-3.
59. See Marc J. Swartz, "Bases for Political Compliance Among Bena Villages," in Marc J. Swartz, Victor W. Turner, and Arthur Tuden, eds., Political Anthropology (Chicago: Aldine, 1966). See also Ben K. Fred-Mensah, "Bases of Conflict Management Among the Buems of the Ghana-Togo Border Area," in I. William Zartman, Traditional Cures for Modern Conflicts: African Conflict "Medicine" (Boulder: Lynner Rienner, 1999), pp. 42-44; and "Ghana: Kanye Ndu Bowi: Un cadre philosophique autochtone pour la gestion des conflits," IK Notes, No. 56 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, May 2003), pp. 2-3.
60. See Marc J. Swartz, "Bases for Political Compliance Among Bena Villages," in Marc J. Swartz, Victor W. Turner, and Arthur Tuden, eds., Political Anthropology (Chicago: Aldine, 1966). See also Ben K. Fred-Mensah, "Bases of Conflict Management Among the Buems of the Ghana-Togo Border Area," in I. William Zartman, Traditional Cures for Modern Conflicts: African Conflict "Medicine" (Boulder: Lynner Rienner, 1999), pp. 42-44; and "Ghana: Kanye Ndu Bowi: Un cadre philosophique autochtone pour la gestion des conflits," IK Notes, No. 56 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, May 2003), pp. 2-3.
61. See Stephen R. Lewis Jr., "Policymaking and Economic Performance: Botswana in Comparative Perspective," in S. J. Stedman, ed., Botswana: The Political Economy of Democratic Development (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1993).
62. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Carlos Lopes, and Khalid Malik, "Institutional Innovations for Capacity Development," in Fukuda-Parr, Lopes, and Malik, Capacity for Development, p. 9.
63. Deborah Brautigam, "State Capacity and Effective Governance," in Benno Ndulu and Nicolas van Walle, eds., Agenda for Africa's Economic Renewal (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 1996).
64. World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1989), pp. 54-62. See also Ziya Onis, "The Logic of Developmental State," Comparative Politics 24, no. 1 (1991).
65. World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1989), pp. 54-62. See also Ziya Onis, "The Logic of Developmental State," Comparative Politics 24, no. 1 (1991).
66. World Bank, The African Capacity Building Initiative (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1991).
67. Merilee S. Grindle, "The Good Government Imperative: Human Resources, Organizations and Institutions," in Grindle, ed., Getting Good Government: Capacity Building in the Public Sectors of Developing Countries (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997), p. 5.
68. Mary E. Hilderbrand and M. S. Grindle, "Building Sustainable Capacity in the Public Sector: What Can Be Done?" in Grindle, ed., Getting Good Government, pp. 31-56.
69. Ariel Fiszbein, "The Emergence of Local Capacity: Lessons From Colombia," World Development 25, no. 7 (1997): 103.
70. To Englebert, state legitimacy or the lack thereof is the overriding explanatory factor in Africa's development; see Englebert, State Legitimacy and Development in Africa.
71. This was the UNDP's project, Agenda 2025 - Vision And Strategies of the Nation, project No. MOZ/01/008 (New York and Maputo: UNDP, 2002).
72. SIPRI Year Book: Armaments, Disarmament, and International Security (New York: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2002), p. 179. See also International Peace Academy (IPA), Managing Security Challenges in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, proceedings of a conference held in Toronto, 22-23 June 2001, IPA Working Report (New York: IPA, 2001), pp. 2-3.
73. SIPRI Year Book: Armaments, Disarmament, and International Security (New York: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2002), p. 179. See also International Peace Academy (IPA), Managing Security Challenges in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, proceedings of a conference held in Toronto, 22-23 June 2001, IPA Working Report (New York: IPA, 2001), pp. 2-3.
74. SIPRI Year Book: Armaments, Disarmament, and International Security (New York: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2002), p. 179. See also International Peace Academy (IPA), Managing Security Challenges in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, proceedings of a conference held in Toronto, 22-23 June 2001, IPA Working Report (New York: IPA, 2001), pp. 2-3.
75. Herbert Howe, "Private Security Forces and African Stability: The Case of Executive Outcomes," Journal of Modern African Studies 36, no. 2 (1998): 307-331.
76. UNDP, Sharing New Grounds in Post-Conflict Situations (New York: UNDP Evaluation Office, 2000), p. 16.
77. Buzan, People, States, and Fear, pp. 69-70, 100.
78. UNDP-Government of Mozambique, Country Cooperation Framework for Mozambique (1998-2001), Country Review, New York and Maputo, 25 August-29 September 2001.
79. Brown, "Democratic Governance," p. 144.
80. Mohammed Ayoob, The Third World Security Predicament: State Making, Regional Conflict, and the International System (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1995), pp. 39-41.
81. International Peace Academy, Managing Security Challenges in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding.
82. Alice Hills, Policing in Africa: Internal Security and the Limits of Liberalization (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2000), p. 4.
83. See International Peace Academy, Managing Security Challenges in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, p. 7.
84. The Economist, 12 November 1994, cited by Hills, Policing in Africa, p. 68.
85. The Economist, 12 November 1994, cited by Hills, Policing in Africa, p. 68.
86. Government of Rwanda, National Governance Framework: Strengthening Good Governance for Poverty Reduction in Rwanda, Kigali, December 2001.
87. See Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Ptaff, and Indermohan Virk, eds., Contemporary Sociological Theory (Maiden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2002), pp. 42-43.
88. Jan Oberg, cited by Nat J. Colletta and Taies Nezam, "From Reconstruction to Reconciliation," World Bank Institute Special Report, Development Outreach (fall 1999): 7.
89. See UNDP, Essentials, No. 8 (New York: UNDP Evaluation Office, October 2002), pp. 6-7.
90. International Peace Academy, Managing Security Challenges in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, p. 9.