Governance Mechanisms in Divided Societies: Learning From and Using Global Experiences

• Author: Naresh C. Singh
• Pages: 3-15

Naresh Singh 33

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Governance Mechanisms in Divided Societies:

Learning From and Using Global Experiences

N A R E S H C. S I N G H

Canadian International Development Agency

Introduction

This paper provides a global perspective

of the concepts, definitions and practices in

the domain of governance, conflict resolution

and conflict management from the standpoint

of international development co-operation

agencies and draws from their experience to

illustrate the difficulties in defining the field

for the purposes of learning and using lessons

from a given context to one different in terms

of time, social and political reality, history,

culture, et cetera. The problem definition

seems to be how to accommodate the interests

and identities of different individuals, groups

and individuals within groups in a manner that

promotes prosperity, equity and justice. The

commonplace global prescription for this

problem, after the dominant neo-liberal

paradigm in vogue as expressed in the

Washington consensus and elsewhere, is the

promotion of democracy and open markets.

Both the problem definition offered here and

the common prescription are laden with

complexities, even though they might appear

intuitively sensible and practical.

The challenges of economic prosperity,

social equity and justice for all, even when

countries or groups are considered uniform,

are formidable and are the subject of libraries

of research. However, what is often

overlooked in a lot of this work is the nature

of the diversity and pluralism in these societies

and how assumptions of uniformity ignore the

root causes of governance and conflict

management challenges on the one hand; and

on the other, how linear, deterministic,

hierarchical models evade the complex

adaptive reality with which they seek to

grapple. For instance hierarchical multi-level

conflict resolution models often fail to

recognize that societies do not function in the

same fashion as do the hierarchies of private

sector organizations or the military in which

orders are given and obeyed or else sanctions

follow. In societies in which there are even

basic democratic freedoms, individuals act as

autonomous agents within groups which can

also act as autonomous agents at the same

time. These groups could be members of

larger groups which are themselves

autonomous. Yet, the individuals and the

smaller groups are a subset of and

interdependent on the others at the same time.

This results in a different type of hierarchy

with layers that are both autonomous and

interdependent at the same time. This

structure has been called a ‘holarchy’ by some

systems theorists. It is to deal with this reality

that the paper will propose a systems approach

in which global lessons learned can be

incorporated in inside-out local processes.

The promotion, almost enforcement of

overnight democracy and free markets in