Conclusion

Summary

The conundrum surrounding what determines the success or failure of a peace process persists. Why do some peace efforts fail while others succeed? Is there a ‘luck’ element, or can the success of some peace efforts be traced to certain present or missing elements? Can peace process success be attributed to the choice of mediator, the parties’ desire to embrace a peaceful resolution of conflict as a result of a ‘mutually hurting stalemate’ (Zartman, 1980, sudden changes in the conflict dynamics, or the existence of a post-conflict guarantor or overseer of the implementation of the peace agreement (Walter, 2002)? Could the magic be found in the almost complete annihilation of one belligerent by another, prompting the losing side to seek a peaceful way out of conflict to ‘save face’? Is success guaranteed by the absence or containment of spoilers? The issue begs more questions than could be answered even if a lifetime were to be dedicated to the subject.

While a number of the factors highlighted above, such as the personality of the mediator, the change in conflict dynamics and a willingness of the conflict parties to embrace peace (for one reason or the other), could contribute to a successful peace process, what delivers success is likely to be a combination of several factors, some of which I have already identified.

This book has highlighted the importance of the active involvement of non-state, non-armed stakeholders in the peace efforts of conflict societies. There has been particular focus on the politics of the involvement of religious and diaspora actors in the Liberian peace process. At the beginning of this book, I had reason to suspect that the likely main rationale for engaging the Liberian peace process for both religious and diaspora actors was altruism. After all, both actors constitute what we know to be ‘good civil society’. My findings, however, reveal that while altruistic intentions were a factor, especially for religious actors, it was not exactly the case for the Liberian diaspora. While both groups had elements of altruism influencing their decision to engage in the peace process, especially in the case of organized religion, there were other motivating factors for the organized diaspora, under the aegis of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA), the USA-based umbrella body for diaspora Liberians in North America.