Promoting democratic governance and preventing the recurrence of conflict: the role of the United Nations Development Programme inpost conflict peace-building

This paper assesses the scope and significance of the new development agenda endorsed by UNDP and attempts to gauge the promises and dilemmas of its efforts to consolidate peace by promoting democracy and strengthening good governance, focusing on the experiences of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.The paper first scrutinises the emergence of democracy and good governance in the agenda of the UN in post-conflict situations. It then proceeds to examine the transition from 'first' to 'second generation' involvement in Central America during the 1990s. It subsequently focuses on the contribution of UNDP and delineates the core elements of UNDP strategy in democracy and governance assistance. It finally concludes with some remarks on the inherent tensions between aid effectiveness and national sovereignty.UNDP has assisted Central America in a number of ways at different junctures of the peace processes, at various stages it has: facilitated national reconciliation by providing support to the demobilization and reintegration of former combatants and their resettlement initiating reconciliation and building consensusmobilizing and coordinating external assistance to the peace processes. articulating a coherent strategy to promote democratic governance in post conflict situations and mainstream it in its corporate policies and operational strategiesUNDP democracy and governance assistance can be seen as consisting of four main types of interventions: consolidating democratic governance beyond elections strengthening the institutions of democratic governance enhancing the rule of law supporting civil societyIn exploring the tensions experienced between aid effectiveness and national sovereignty the paper makes the following observations: UN engagement in post-conflict peace-building challenges the traditional paradigm of national sovereignty underpinning the UN system and the principle of non-intervention in internal state affairs before the UN can assist a member state in democratisation, it must receive a formal request from that governmentUNDP interventions are both facilitated and conditioned by the host country's agreement: while this critical dimension can at times hamper the assertiveness of UNDP democracy assistance projects, it also enhances its effectiveness by securing the host country ownership of, or at least commitment to the programmes UNDP has shied away from a direct involvement in the reform of the political system of recipient countries and its democracy assistance has tended to ignore the realities of power and the intricacies of politics, mainly relying on technical solutions to address political problems the increasingly apparent need to address political realities in democracy assistance will require the UN to further rethink its traditional modes of intervention and further erode the paradigm of state sovereignty