Diplomacy and Negotiation for Humanitarian NGOs by Larry Winter Roeder & Albert Simard

Author:Larry Winter Roeder & Albert Simard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer New York, New York, NY

So, the conclusion is that while the government must have accurate facts and draw on science-based analysis, it must also take into account the people’s will. This doesn’t mean econometrics and politics should be countervailing forces however; the point of life is to pursue one’s own rational self-interest, and rationality requires facts. If the ­policies of a new administration are rational, not simply greed driven, that leads to a morality that respects the rights of others, and if a society can be allowed to move in that direction on its own, then the state can do the same, pursue economic, political, and security policies that are rational and peaceful. Of course, this requires perception, which will be tempered by prejudice and tradition; so NGOs involved in advancing a failed nation-state must also advocate for (which is very hard) education, forgiveness of past sins (as is happening in Rwanda), and intellectual freedom, the kind that comes from the people’s will expressed through a democracy respecting all rights, not only of the majority, not of course should it go to the extremes of philosophers like Ayn Rand.

Since the people’s will is important, the next question usually asked when a failed state like East Timor, Albania, Somalia, or Libya moves to a new period is what form will the fresh government take, e.g., Somaliland, which is gaining increasing ­international support? The trouble is that often places the cart before the horse. The American Architect Louis Sullivan once said, form follows function. The same is true about national economic reconstruction. The decision on a precise new governmental structure in a failed state is less urgent than identifying societal priorities and identifying required structures and resources to achieve them. An economy will be one priority. After all, without a functioning economy, no money will be available to pay for ­governmental services like roads, dams, and schools or a security service; so instead of recommending a specific form of government at the start of the reconstruction phase, e.g., parliamentary democracy or a federal system, NGO advisors should help the country coalesce behind a common national economic vision. Finally, what emerges from that process will be the foundation upon which to erect the architecture, through a separate agreement, of a sustainable and acceptable overall governmental structure to enable the priorities, which absolutely must include civil rights for all.

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