How do natural disasters affect political settlements? A week is a long time in politics. It is a particularly long time in conflict-affected states, where violent acts can wreck peace processes, or magnanimous gestures can make them. But what happens when external factors intervene that have nothing to do with the political process? In two of the states the PSRP has research projects planned in – Sierra Leone and Nepal – either before or just after we had planned to start, major natural emergencies had radically re-shaped the political and social landscape: the Ebola crises in Sierra Leone and the earthquake in Nepal. Clearly the disruption of our research was the least of matters. However, the impact of external matters such as natural disasters which cannot be anticipated, is something that can affect political settlement processes. While the focus on political settlements analysis has been to question how actors and institutions interact, clearly natural disasters affect more than just the physical landscape: they become responded to. Political responses can operate to create new forms of collaboration in divided societies that are positive for peace processes. Conversely, the natural disaster may re-align power and access to areas in ways that are used opportunistically to de-reail a process and consolidate power in favour of one side in the conflict.
Conciliation Resources have addressed these issues and the differential impact of natural disasters in Nepal, Acheh and Sri Lanka. Read what they have to say here: Peace Insights for Nepal from Acheh and Sri Lanka.
Photo: Sian Aggett
