Challenges in Post-Conflict Governance: from Power-Sharing to Representation

• In Event: What Comes Next?: Analyzing Post-Conflict Societies

Abstract

In the conflict settlement environment and peace-building process, parties face inherent tradeoffs between installing peace and allowing for full, representative democracy. Previous research demonstrates that increases power-sharing mechanisms reduce conflict resurgence. However, as many peace accords have aged, challenges to governance have arisen in countries or regions that stem, at least in part, from these power-sharing mechanisms. Once in place, these institutional designs are difficult to change to shift from previously necessary peace protections even if it would mean a more representative or responsive government. This paper brings clarity to the moderate-term implications for power-sharing, consociational democratic systems, and other conflict settlement agreement terms implemented in legislative bodies. This paper examines the current legislative efficiency and governance of regions that saw civil conflict resolved between 1946-2005 through peace accords that include terms for legislative-based power-sharing in order to quantify the moderate-term impact democratic impact of power-sharing conflict settlement. Such findings have implications for our understanding of democracy, governance, and reconciliation in post-conflict societies.

Author

• Marcella Morris, Emory University