Towards a balanced approach to rebuilding war‐torn societies
This article examines the complex challenges facing Canada as it attempts to contribute to the political, economic and social reconstruction of countries emerging from intra and inter‐state conflict. In Canada there has been a tendency to focus myopically on the military and peacekeeping dimensions of international conflict management — to the neglect of the nonmilitary actors and activities that contribute significantly to the peace process. The article argues that Canada risks contributing to the militarization of humanitarian and reconstruction efforts if it accepts uncritically the calls for a greater “civilianization of peacekeeping.” Instead of approaching humanitarian intervention and the rebuilding of war‐tom societies as a process in which civilians are incorporated into a military peacekeeping operation, the article argues the need to view it as a process of incorporating military actors into an essentially “civilian” operation.