lauren-norway

							                                                                           Holly, Lauren      1


                                 Norway: The Peace-Maker


A country with no colonial past and a strategic position in Northern Europe, Norway has
become increasingly involved in both high-profile roles and cooperative roles in the
resolution of conflict and peace processes in internal conflicts around the world.
Norway’s strategic and confidential negotiation of the Oslo Accords in 1993 in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Norway’s subsequent role in the successful peace process
in Guatemala ending a civil war spanning more than half a century in 1996 have
established Norway as a household name in conflict resolution.


Norway’s involvement in conflicts around the world, where they have no stake in the
resolution or continuation of the conflict, is based partially on the realization that conflict
anywhere is a global threat everywhere. But, perhaps more importantly, it sees its role in
conflict resolution, development, and humanitarian aid, as a moral imperative. In a
speech in May 1999, State Secretary Mr. Live Lunde stated,
       Caring about the suffering of others should be a moral imperative for
       all of us. Every human being has the same worth and the same
       inherent human rights…From a human security perspective, we have a
       moral duty not only to do our part to resolve conflicts and ensure that
       those in power are held accountable for their actions. We must also
       help the victims, those whose lives are affected. This is a matter of
       human dignity, solidarity and the struggle against injustice and
       poverty. This is a humanitarian imperative.

From this realization, he continues, that this caused a shift in perspective from state-
centered security concerns and resolutions to people-centered perspective that keeps in
mind the importance of human security. By human security, Lunde is referring to
freedom from “living under constant threats to their rights, their safety and even their
lives.” This focus on people and human security gives even more reason to a foreign
policy geared toward peace and reconciliation.


Norway sees that responsibility for conflict resolution rests largely on the parties
involved, but that the international community (as Norway has demonstrated in
Guatemala, among other conflicts) can assist in the process. In addition, Norway has laid
                                                                         Holly, Lauren       2


out a framework for peace-building in the government document titled Peacebuilding: a
Development Perspective, identifying that “peace-building has three mutually reinforcing
dimensions: 1. Security, 2. Political Development, 3. Social and economic development.”
Peace-building, as an essential part of conflict resolution, addresses the structural and
relational changes that need to occur in order to resolve conflict (Miall et al, 1999). By
including peace-building within their plan for conflict resolution, this comprehensive
approach allows for the root causes of a conflict to be resolved.


Norway has become known for its involvement in development and conflict resolution
since the latter half of the twentieth century. Norway’s development cooperation began
in 1952 with the Storting (in cooperation with the United Nations) passing legislation
granting bilateral economic assistance to a country in what was considered the
“underdeveloped” world. Norway first began working with India in development
cooperation, allocating NOK 10 million to the India Fund and proposing to double the
amount through fundraising via institutions and the general public. Norway and India
negotiated the terms of the development cooperation and settled on developing fisheries
in the Southwest of India. These projects ran through the early 1970s. Concurrently,
Norwegian development aid was slowly finding its way to other developing, colonial
countries in need of economic assistance. As the age of colonialism began to come to a
close, an explosion of need caused Norwegian development aid to spread across the globe
from newly independent states in Africa (Kenya, Tanzania) to Southeast Asia (Pakistan,
Bangladesh), and Latin America (Nicaragua). From the NOK 10 million allocated to
development in 1952, Norwegian development allocation jumped over eight-fold in less
than two decades. By 1965 Norway allocated NOK 85 million to development aid. The
1970s saw a huge jump in both budget allocations for development aid as well as an
increase in development cooperation agreements. The ability for Norway to increase its
role in the developing world was due to its stable economy and the discovery of oil in
1969. Since 1983 Norway’s contribution to development efforts has remained at an
average of 1% of Norway’s Gross Domestic Product, one of the highest in the world.
                                                                          Holly, Lauren      3


In the 1990s it became clear to Norway that development cannot occur in a vacuum; as
many of their development projects occurred in countries with internal conflicts, conflict
resolution increasingly became part of the focus of development projects. It has been
noted that development cannot come about successfully without peaceful resolution of
conflicts, and conflicts, in the same manner, cannot truly be resolved without
development. In 1998 Norwegian foreign policy was revised to utilize development as a
tool to defuse and resolve internal conflicts around the world. Norway recognizes that
poverty reduction will help to resolve conflict as there lies a distinct and close
relationship between poverty and conflict. As stated in the Ministry of Foreign Affair’s
Evaluation Report on “Norwegian Peace-building Policies: Lessons Learnt and
Challenges Ahead”, White Paper number 19 titled A Changing World (1995-96) and a
March 2002 government document titled Fighting Poverty: The Norwegian
Government’s Action Plan for Combating Poverty in the South towards 2015 illustrate
the Norwegian government’s approach to conflict resolution and development as working
hand-in-hand. “White Paper number 19 reports that a large share of Norwegian
development assistance is now used for peace and democratization processes than earlier.
Norway wants to continue this policy,” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2004). In a draft
Norwegian policy paper titled Peace-building and Developing Cooperation, as of 2004
still pending political approval, it “emphasizes that the formulation of the peace-building
objective is based on the recognition that peace and security are basic preconditions for
any positive development, and that poverty reduction and development often work as
investments in preventing conflict and building peace,” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
2004).


Norway’s development focus is on helping the poorest of the poor first, a good example
of this would be Norway’s involvement in the conflict in Sri Lanka. In a press release in
2004 from the Norway: The Official Site in Sri Lanka it states, “The Norwegian
Government contributes Rs. 3000 million in development assistance to Sri Lanka per
year. The aim is help those who need it most.” The reasoning behind this focus is linked
back to their efforts in conflict resolution. In the Evaluative Report of February 2004,
Norwegian Peacebuilding Policies: Lessons Learnt and Challenges Ahead, the
                                                                         Holly, Lauren         4


Norwegian Government’s Action plan for Combating Poverty in the South towards 2015
is quoted as stating, “the effective reduction of poverty will have a positive effect on the
underlying causes on conflict and terrorism. Peace and stability are in turn essential
framework conditions for economic development.” Although, this focus on the poorest
of the poor may take away from the focus on other conflicts in more well-off places of
the world, such as the Balkan region, Norway has certainly made an effort to put
resources in conflict areas.


Norway’s approach to development focuses not only on the poorest in the world, but also
focuses on a bottom up strategy, allowing the recipient country to direct the funds to fit
local needs.
       Norway bases its development cooperation on its partner countries’ own
       priorities. Norwegian efforts are intended to help achieve the MDGs and
       implement the countries’ own development plans and poverty reduction
       strategies. Norway requires the individual recipient country to take full
       responsibility for the use of Norwegian funds. Recipient responsibility is a
       guiding principle in Norwegian development policy and calls for a close
       dialogue between the recipient country and the Norwegian development
       assistance administration (Norway: Mission to the EU, 2004).

Although the funds are not distributed to a local level, the distribution of funds to
the government of the recipient country and the granting of full responsibility for
the use of the funds provides for increased attention to local needs. In addition to
providing direct funds to recipient countries’ governments, Norway also provides
funds to different NGOs on the ground in the development cooperation countries,
including Sri Lanka.
       In the latter half of the twentieth century, and leading into the twenty-first
century, Norway has become known as the peace-maker. Its involvement can be seen all
over the world, from top-level peace talks in Sri Lanka to the bottom-level work it does
through monetarily supporting NGOs such as the Nansen Dialogue Project in the
Balkans. The idea that development and conflict resolution go hand-in-hand is an
important realization for peace works in the twenty-first century; multi-dimensional
approaches to peace that include addressing the basic needs of the poor in places of
                                                                      Holly, Lauren        5


conflict (as well as in developing countries) distinguishes Norway’s approach to finding
the peace.
                                                                  Holly, Lauren      6




Lunde, L. (1999). Humanitarian Assistance, Conflict Resolution and Development.
       Retrieved Oct. 20, 2006, from
       http://odin.dep.no/odinarkiv/norsk/ud/1999/taler/032005-090036/dok-bn.html

Utenriksdepartmentet. (2004). Norwegian Peacebuilding Policies: Lessons Learnt and
       Challenges Ahead. Retrieved Oct. 18, 2006, from
       http://odin.dep.no/filarkiv/210674/rapp204.pdf

Utenriksdepartmentet. (2004). Peacebuilding- A Development Perspective. Retrieved
       Oct. 18, 2006, from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/57/4/33889167.pdf