Quand l'aide se mêle de la paix : normes, pratiques et impacts de l'aide en Palestine

This dissertation focuses on the role of development aid as a tool of peacebuilding and its impacts on the dynamics of conflict in Palestine. Since the mid-1990's, development aid has been continuously associated with security, peacebuilding, state-building and conflictprevention and/or mitigation. In Palestine, aid has been directly associated with peacebuilding since the signature of the Oslo accords in 1993. However, the links between aid and peace and/or conflict remain unclear. Aid programs that intend to restore order sometimes end up fostering violence. How can we understand aid-for-peace’s limited and negative impacts? Two major problems are identified: first, the internationally promoted norm on aid-for-peace does not always translate into practices; second, aid practices may negatively structure conflict dynamics. In order to tackle this two-level problem, I build on the practice turn in International Relations in order to investigate both the translation of the norm into practices and the structuring impacts of these practices on conflict dynamics. Building on the literature on the causes of conflict, I develop a theoretical framework linking aid practices to peace and conflict dynamics. I argue that aid programs may affect conflict dynamics through three mechanisms: the political economy of conflict, the existence and depth of horizontal inequalities, and the quality of the social contract. In Palestine, this translates into divisions between Hamas and Fatah as well as between Palestinian society and the Palestinian Authority. In order to capture the diversity of ways in which the norm is implemented and to investigate the influence of actors and sectors of interventions on aid’s impacts, I study different donors and sectors of intervention. Specifically, I compare European and American practices in Security Sector Reform (SSR) and agricultural development in Palestine. I offer a complete re-reading of twenty years of American and European SSR practices in Palestine and highlight how SSR assistance has contributed to the dynamics of conflict in Palestine. I also investigate how European and American practices in the agricultural sector shape the political economy of conflict, horizontal inequalities and the quality of the social contract. In so doing, not only do I give credit to Palestine observers who argue that the international community has contributed to the processes of social and political fragmentation in Palestine; I also, and most importantly, explain how this has been the case. I argue that aid-for-peace’s limited and sometimes problematic impacts stem from both the lack of norm-translation into practices and practices’ impacts on conflict dynamics. I further argue that aid’s impacts on conflict dynamics are neither a function of the type of assistance nor a question of the intervening donor: it is a question of practices structuring impacts. The research contributions are both academic and policy-oriented. I clarify the links between aid, peacebuilding and conflict; investigate the existence of an “aid-for-peace” community of practice; collect information on the way aid-for-peace is implemented; and identify problematic practices.

Keyphrases: Palestine, Fatah, Hamas, Security-development nexus, aid-for-peace, practice turn, international practices, conflict dynamics, political economy of conflict, horizontal inequalities, social contract, security sector reform, agricultural development, Palestinian Authority