This book helps explain how and why there are such diverging outcomes of UN peace negotiations and treaties through a detailed examination of peace processes in the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Does it really matter what's written on page 36, protocol V, section III, point 5 of a UN-endorsed peace treaty? Dr. Miranda Ruwart Melcher shows that seemingly small details - such as who wears suits, who has toothbrushes, and how specific words are translated between French and English - can and have delayed peace or contributed to restarting wars.
Dr. Melcher uses unique primary source data, including interviews with key actors who have participated in peace treaty negotiations, as well as thousands of previously newly opened UN documents. She argues that treaty specificity is an undervalued - but important - factor in researching the success or failure of peace processes. The book offers new insights and policy recommendations for key details whose presence or absence can have a significant impact on how peace processes unfold.
Explaining how and why there are such diverging outcomes of UN peace negotiations and treaties, this book offers a detailed examination of peace processes in order to demonstrate that how treaties are negotiated and written significantly impacts their implementation. Drawing on case studies from the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars, Miranda Melcher demonstrates the critical importance of specificity in peace treaties in understanding implementation outcomes for military integration.
Based on unique primary source data, including interviews with key actors who have participated in peace treaty negotiations, as well as thousands of previously unassessed UN archival documents, the book offers new insights and policy recommendations for key details whose presence or absence can have a significant impact on how peace processes unfold.
This book focuses on the fundamental questions of how to make peace and make sure that it holds. Miranda Ruwart Melcher patiently dissects two peace processes to glean important lessons on the need for specificity in peace process provisions rather than deferring difficult decisions to a later stage. This book represents a great addition to the Peace and Conflict Studies literature. It is highly recommended.
