Editorial



01/2003 		 

A fresh start

The history of this magazine goes back to November 1960, when the German Foundation for International Development (DSE) first issued a newsletter in mimeographed form under the title “DSE Mitteilungen” (DSE Reports). In December 1964, the title was changed to “Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit” (E+Z, Development and Cooperation), now heading a properly printed magazine, and in January 1966 a first attempt was made to issue an English language version. For reasons now forgotten, only one issue was printed. It was not before 1974 that DSE definitely decided to run an English version. Soon after, in 1976, Dieter Brauer took over as Editor. He developed D+C into a magazine in its own right, not merely a translation of the German parent magazine. Most readers will agree with me that he did an excellent job over so many years. Only two days before writing this, I received a letter from Felix Ryan, of Chennai, India, a former UNIDO adviser, who states: “I get several journals from several countries and many UN journals. I must say truthfully the quality of D+C is far superior to any other.” Dieter Brauer has now retired, as he announced in the November/December issue of D+C last year. We, the editors of the German edition, extend our sincere thanks to him for so many years of close and amicable cooperation, and for the rich experiences that he allowed us to share with him.

DSE, the longtime publisher of E+Z and D+C, merged in October last year (see p. 34) with the CDG (Carl Duisberg Society) to form InWEnt (International Advanced Training and Development), and the new organisation decided on a new policy for its publications. In future, D+C will again be closer to E+Z, in fact it will be its direct translation. E+Z has for many years been the forum for discussion in Germany on concepts and strategies of development policy, located in the triangle between practice, academia and politics. From all three corners of this triangle came contributions which were printed in E+Z. Though the magazine was (and is) financed by government funds, it was not a mouthpiece of government; our aim has been to stimulate an open discussion, to invite critique and counter-critique, and thus to assist in developing new ideas and concepts. In a democratic society, political debate must leave the narrow circles of the politicians and open itself to all responsible citizens; and more necessarily so, if the subject is sustainable and peaceful development for all.

Our shortcoming in the past was, however, that we led this discussion in German, and D+C, being published only bimonthly, did not have the space to reflect it in full. When in the World Bank or UN organisations an international conference was planned, German speakers were not often considered because they were not well enough known internationally. So, the idea of the new concept of a monthly D+C is to enter into a closer dialogue with the international development community: to convey German ideas into the international discussion, and to bring back ideas from there that are apt for fertilising the discussion here in Germany.

The focus of this issue is on civil peace work and conflict resolution. Development policy has changed radically in recent years – at any rate in its concepts, if not already in practice. Whereas earlier we spoke of framework conditions that influenced our work, but over which we had no influence, we now know that the most important thing to do is to change them. Development policy must be structural policy, at both global and national levels. Moreover, in a growing number of countries, development is impossible due to armed conflicts. A reaction to this is solicited not only from development policy, but also from actors and decision- makers in other political fields. That includes the North helping the countries affected to resolve the social problems which in many cases trigger the conflicts; but it also encompasses the direct resolving of conflicts. The answer to this challenge is the concept of civil conflict resolution.

Since 1998 international conflictprevention has been one of the German Federal government’s priorities; it was stipulated in the first coalition agreement between the Social Democrats and the Greens. The BMZ founded the Civil Peace Service (ZFD) and has now, after three years, had the initial practical experiences evaluated, on which Christine Freitag reports. For the time being, the problems predominate: Where to actually find people who have the skill to mediate in conflicts, how to prepare them for such tasks, and what should be the shape of the concepts for this work? Civilian peace workers themselves can also be traumatised by the conflicts amid which they seek to help others – do they need care, too? Petra Wünsche and Karin Döhne, of the German Protestant Church Development Service, examine this question. In the USA, representatives of more than 100 international peace organisations have come together under the aegis of Mary B. Anderson to exchange experiences in a collaborative learning project titled Reflecting on Peace Practice; Wolfgang Heinrich reports on it. In Germany in the meantime, the Foreign Office also now promotes an initiative for concrete peace work; not in competition with the BMZ’s activities, but complementing them at different levels. The Foreign Office asked peace and conflict researcher Winrich Kühne to appraise the potential for and then establish a Centre for International Peace Operations; his assistant Monika Benkler reports on the new institution. Is all that development policy, or do we need a new word for it? Or are we only just beginning to understand what development policy means?


Von Reinold E. Thiel