Aiding Peace?: The Role of Ngos in Armed Conflict

As nongovernmental organizations play a growing role in the international response to armed conflict - tasked with mitigating the effects of war and helping to end the violence - there is an acute need for information on the impact they are actually having. Addressing this need, "Aiding Peace?" explores just how NGOs interact with conflict and peace dynamics, and with what results. Jonathan Goodhand compares the programs of international and national NGOs in seven conflict arenas: Afghanistan, Armenia-Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Moldova, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. His multilevel approach is well grounded in an analysis of the political-economy context of each conflict. His important and perhaps unexpected results point to essential policy and practice changes in the interest of enhanced NGO peacebuilding efforts. Not least, they also highlight the need for a fundamental adjustment of expectations.