Corporations, global governance, and post-conflict reconstruction

"Over the past 20 years, the international community has shown an increased desire to intervene to re-build societies emerging from war. From East Timor to Bosnia; from Azerbaijan to Mozambique, UN agencies and bilateral donors have stepped in to create stable durable societies in the aftermath of conflict. During the same period, there has also been increased attention paid to the developing role on the world stage of multinational companies. Statistics suggesting that 51 of the world's largest economies are corporations, and the acceleration of so-called "globalisation" has led to a considerable focus on how private sector organisations fit into established processes of global governance. This book looks at the impact multinational companies have in post-conflict environments, the role they have and how they are governed. Drawing on detailed fieldwork in three post-conflict countries-- Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Rwanda--Peter Davis considers in each case the impacts that international companies have had on the reconstruction programme in each location, and what governance processes are used by companies and by state agencies to manage these impacts. Based on this evidence, this book then draws hypotheses about how the international corporate sector might better be integrated into post-conflict efforts, and considers the implications of this both for how companies manage themselves, and for how the development community's relationship with the private sector"-- "In the past two decades, the international community has shown an increased proclivity to engage in programmes of post-conflict reconstruction in the aftermath of wars. During the same period, increased globalisation has meant that multinational companies have grown greatly in size and influence and have begun to challenge existing notions of governance at a global level. Yet despite these developments, the role that multinational companies play in post-conflict environments is not well understood. This book seeks to address this gap. It does so by exploring the reconstruction processes that have taken place in three countries: Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Rwanda. Based on extensive field work as well as existing literature, this book plots the recovery of these countries from conflict, and examines in detail the role that international companies have played in that process. The book also explores how companies' impacts on reconstruction are governed, both by the companies themselves, and by the host government and international agencies managing the rebuilding process. It is the clear conclusion of this book that the corporate sector impacts on all aspects of reconstruction. It affects not just, as may be expected, economic development, but also on fostering security and peace-building, on governance, and on the development of infrastructure. Indeed, in some instances, the very absence of foreign investors is a significant reason for ongoing instability in post-conflict environments"--

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.