THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: A REGIONAL OVERVIEW AND CONFLICT ASSESSMENT
CONFLICT AND SECURITY ASSESSMENT

The Role of Development Assistance in Conflict Management

The prevention of conflict in the South Caucasus can be achieved in three main ways: strengthening democratic governance, development of civil society, and support for private enterprises. These and humanitarian assistance have been the major areas of support by the international development agencies over the past 10 years.

Urging democratic governance is very important to the Caucasian states, because all three are plagued by corruption, lack of transparency and authoritarianism at all levels of government. The democratic experiment is important – especially for regions such as the South Caucasus – because, as international experience has shown, democracies tend not to go to war with one another. Supporting the democratic developments in the region is hence essential to maintaining peace and stability and preventing future conflicts. That said, international agencies should be extremely careful about which elements of western-style democracy should be brought in to the South Caucasus. Supporting and developing free media, free and fair elections, and strengthening the judicial systems are very much needed. In fact, the latter has received the least attention by the international organizations, regardless of the fact that it is an essential part of democracy. At the same time, spreading information on the meaning and advantage of democracy among the general populations needs to be done. The youth can particularly be targeted in an effort to further an understanding of why democracy is important for their country’s prosperity. Many people dislike democracy simply because they do not know much about it and blame it for all the problems that have emerged in the post-Soviet period.

However, some other elements of western democracy are still very premature for the Caucasian countries, and risk being counter-productive if imposed. These are the development of local self-governance and the enrichment of the country’s diversity by strengthening the concept of territorial autonomy, especially for ethnic minorities. The South Caucasian countries have always been under strong central leadership and people are used to living in this system. Development of local self-governance before the statehood of the regional states is fully established and consolidated would not only break up the model of nation-states with strong central authority but also creates conditions for social anarchy in the region and for its fragmentation into several little “fiefdoms”. The South Caucasus realistically only has two options: the creation of three strong states in which market economies and democracy can grow, or the fragmentation of the region into up to a dozen mini-states that are weak, vulnerable to great power bullying, in conflict with one another, and likely authoritarian and corrupt. The development of the concept of “autonomy” for minorities may in the abstract be conceived as strengthening the diversity of the regional countries, however, as the statehood of the regional states is not yet established and representative institutions are extremely weak, the risks are overwhelming that devolution of power to minority regions would lead to separatism and the dissolution of statehood. While cultural and political rights of all individuals of the region, including minorities, should be at par with other citizens of the states, priority must be given to state-building in the immediate future.

In the area of civil society development, it is important not only to increase the number of NGOs and voluntary organizations, but also to pave the way for their inclusion in the decision making process. Channeling funds to the creation and strengthening of the NGO sector alone has led to a situation where a lot of NGOs in the region are grant-dependent and often created for the main or sole purpose of providing employment to the NGO head and his or her relatives. Real civil society in the South Caucasus, as elsewhere, can only develop if these NGOs truly participate in the decision making process and have real influence on the government. Such programs as the participation of NGOs in legislative reform, design and analysis of policy proposals should be encouraged.

At the same time, civil society cannot be developed without proper education. Investments in educational projects, internet resources, conflict prevention training, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence are useful and should be increased. Programs on cross-cultural understanding and information on “enemy” groups and their lifestyle and culture are seriously needed to help the general public break existing stereotypes about ethnic groups with which conflict has occurred, and to create conditions for a mutual dialogue. In the area of human rights, seminars and training on the legal and human rights of citizens are important for the overall democracy in the country, but more practically people need technical skills and professional development more than simply information about human rights.

Finally, one of the most effective ways to prevent conflicts is to develop the private sector, so that people are engaged in daily market operations and do not have a need or desire to fight. All three countries of the South Caucasus have experienced devastation in their economies in the post-Soviet period and therefore the development of the private sector is particularly important. The programs that aim at the reduction of corruption and bureaucratic red tape, at the strengthening of micro-crediting for small and medium enterprises, and at improvements in the area of taxation are essential for the development of these countries.

It should also be noted that humanitarian assistance should not remain outside the general focus, as the assistance to refugees, IDPs and other vulnerable segments of the population are vital for short-term stability in the region, especially in Azerbaijan and Georgia. However, this assistance should gradually shift toward sustainable development and income-generating activities in order to provide “tools” for these groups to take care of themselves in the long term.

One important aspect of the development programs and their role in conflict prevention is that these programs should not be designed and imposed from outside only. This not only alienates the local beneficiaries but also creates conditions for significant errors in program implementation. Often, programs that have succeeded in other countries are brought in and implemented in the South Caucasus with very little contextual changes. These programs all too often turn out to be complete failures as the conditions, mentalities, social structures, and values among Caucasian peoples differ greatly from those areas where these programs have been successful. When designing programs, it is important that local beneficiaries and experts are included in the process. This will ensure capacity building and the empowerment of the local populations as well as increase the likelihood of the success of the programs.

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