Guide to Citizens’ Rights and Responsibilities
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democratization: a process by which the powers of government are moved to the people of a region or to their elected representatives referendum: a popular vote on legislation, brought before the people by their elected leaders or public initiative sovereignty: autonomy; or, rule over a political entity warlord: a leader, usually over a small region, who governs by military force ■ ■ ■ interim: for a limited time, during a period of transition G O V E R N M E N T S O F T H E W O R L D 267 P e a c e k e e p i n g F o r c e s capacities. In 2000, therefore, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (b. 1938) commissioned a group led by Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi (b. 1934) to write a report on reform. The Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, the so-called Brahimi report, enumerated twenty-one broad recom- mendations, based on a “holistic” approach to conflict emphasizing the links between poverty, development, and war. Key among the recommendations were the need for more integrated responses and related organizational reforms, including better communication between the secretary-general and the Security Council. Echoing one of the oft-cited lessons of the Rwandan crisis, the report stated that “the Secretariat must tell the Security Council what it needs to know, not what it wants to hear, when formulating or changing mission mandates” (United Nations 2000). As the implementation of the Brahimi report began, the international com- munity was shaken by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the after- math U.S.-led military forces ousted the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, seen as a base for international terrorist operations. In December 2001 the process of rebuilding Afghanistan began with the signing of the Bonn Agreement, which established an Interim Afghan Authority. The interim authority in this case, how- ever, in which Afghans would take the leading role, was much more minimal than in either the Kosovo and East Timor models. Under the Agreement, the UN also authorized the deployment of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to maintain security in Kabul. The “light footprint” approach of the UN in Afghanistan also is evident in that peacekeeping forces were not deployed out- side of the capital, even though many observers saw them as necessary to ensure the much-needed delivery of humanitarian assistance. Following U.S.-led military action in Iraq, the UN was again called on, this time to manage the tran- sition to Iraqi self-government, beginning on June 30, 2004. C H A L L E N G E S O F P E A C E K E E P I N G Peacekeeping forces face a variety of challenges. The first is the decision to intervene. Traditionally, peacekeeping operations have been deployed only in situations where the parties to the conflict have signed a cease-fire agreement and requested assistance. This rule was relaxed in the post–Cold War era as more extensive peacemaking and peace-building operations were undertaken under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. One of the lessons of the 1990s, underscored in the Brahimi report, is that peacekeeping operations, while they can be incredi- bly effective in some tasks such as ensuring the provision of humanitarian assistance, cannot be expected to build peace in all conflict situations. There are limits to peacekeeping imposed by the complexities and rigors of war, as well as by the resources available to specific missions. Financing is another key and related problem for peacekeeping, which has become more acute as the mandates of peacekeeping missions become more complex. The budget for UN peacekeeping in 2003 and 2004 reached U.S.$2.17 billion. While refusing to provide adequate funding for peacekeeping missions, some member states blame the organization for resulting failures. In the Afghanistan and Iraq crises, the UN’s response of rec- ommending more minimalist UN involvement reflects these challenges. Yet while it makes sense for the UN to be cautious in undertaking peacekeeping operations for which it has insufficient support, this response is problematic. Imperfect as it is, the UN is a last hope in many conflicts. If it does not act, who will? “Imperfect as it is, the UN is a last hope in many conflicts. If it does not act, who will?” ■ ■ ■ enumerate: to expressly name, as in a list ■ ■ ■ regime: a type of government, or, the government in power in a region A related challenge is the construction of an appropriate mandate, the basis of any peacekeeping operation. A mandate must be both clear and realistic, specifying what the mission is to accomplish and the rules of engagement. It also must some- times be adjusted to respond to the changing nature of a conflict, as the Rwanda crisis illustrates, while at the same time not falling victim to “mission creep.” The configuration and equipping of the peacekeeping force are a further challenge, especially important in missions involving combat. UN peacekeeping forces may be composed of contingents of troops from dozens of different countries with little experience working together. For this reason, regional con- tingents that are more rapidly deployed and better organized may be better placed to respond to crises, either directly or under UN authorization. Finally, one of the most difficult challenges of contemporary peacekeeping is the maintenance of impartiality and legitimacy. The Somali case illustrates this issue well. It is no easy task, especially in weak or failed states such as Afghanistan where basic institutions are nonexistent or lack legitimacy. The importance of impartiality in peacekeeping further underscores why the United States, the occupying power in Iraq, was especially ill-equipped to oversee the transition back to self-government. Given the increasing number and scope of peacekeeping operations since the Cold War, the burden of these challenges has only grown since 1989. If 2001 marked the beginning of a new era of nation building, they will grow further still. See also: Somalia; United Nations. B I B L I O G R A P H Y Bowden, Mark. Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. New York: New American Library, 2001. Fetherson, A. B. Towards a Theory of United Nations Peacekeeping. London: St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Hirsh, Michael. “Calling All Regio-Cops: Peacekeeping’s Hybrid Future.” Foreign Affairs 79 (November/December 2000):6. Kuperman, Alan. The Limits to Intervention: Genocide in Rwanda. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2001. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “The Alliance’s Operational Role in Peacekeeping.” NATO Handbook. Ͻhttp://www.nato.int/docu/handbook/2001Ͼ. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. KFOR Information. Ͻhttp://www.nato.int/kfor/kfor/ about.htm Ͼ. Power, Samantha. “Bystanders to Genocide: Why the United States Let the Rwandan Tragedy Happen.” The Atlantic Monthly (September 2001):84–108. Reno, William. “The Failure of Peacekeeping in Sierra Leone.” Current History 100, no. 646 (2001):219–225. United Nations. Blue Helmets: A Review of United Nations Peace-keeping, 3rd ed. New York: United Nations, 1996. United Nations. Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations. August 2000. Ͻhttp://www.un.org/peace/reports/peace_operationsϾ. United Nations. United Nations Peacekeeping. Ͻhttp://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/ home.shtml Ͼ. U.S. Department of State. Peacekeeping. Ͻhttp://www.state.gov/p/io/pkpg/Ͼ. Rachel M. Gisselquist 268 G O V E R N M E N T S O F T H E W O R L D P e a c e k e e p i n g F o r c e s G O V E R N M E N T S O F T H E W O R L D 269 P e r u Peru Peru is located on the northern Pacific Coast of South America, bordered by Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, and Chile. Its territory of roughly 1.3 million square kilometers (501,934 square miles) is divided into three regions: the more economically developed arid coast, the mountainous highlands (the center of the pre-Columbian civilizations), and the eastern tropical lowlands. The low- lands account for only about 10 percent of the population, but contain roughly two-thirds of the country’s landmass. According to a 2002 estimate, the coun- try’s 26.5 million inhabitants included a mixture of European, Amerindian, Asian, and African ancestries. Amerindians and mestizos (mixed European and Amerindian) constituted 42 and 37 percent, respectively, of the population. In Peru racial classifications are as much cultural as genetic. For much of the nation’s independent history, individuals moved among categories, generally toward the more privileged mestizo or white classes, by improving their eco- nomic positions and adopting the lifestyle and language of the group to which they aspired. Movement in the other direction is less common. It reportedly occurred in the colonial period during times of economic hardship, and since the last decades of the twentieth century some mestizos have reasserted their indigenous identity. H I S T O R Y Peru was colonized by the Spanish in the sixteenth century. Its mineral wealth and ample supply of indigenous labor made it one of Spain’s most val- ued viceroyalties in the New World. It had previously been the center of a series of dynamic and complex Amerindian civilizations. The last of these, the Incas, conquered an empire that extended into what, in modern times, is Ecuador to the north, and to the south, the northern reaches of Chile. Beset by internal conflicts, the Incas quickly fell to the Spaniards who replaced them as the mas- ters of the subjugated peoples. Disease and harsh working conditions rapidly decimated the indigenous population and encouraged the adoption of still harsher policies to ensure access to the native workforce. Individual colonists received legal claim to much of the inhabited territory, thereby enhancing their control over the supply of labor located in the Andean highlands. The principal Spanish settlements, including the new capital, Lima, were in the more hospitable coastal region. This facilitated communication with the outside world, but weakened contacts with the interior, forcing a dependence on intermediaries, indirect controls, and parallel institutions to link the old and new population centers. Thus, although the Spanish brought their formal insti- tutions with them, outside the urban areas, traditional practices and the will of the local cacique ( boss), either the large landowner or his resident manager, were the effective government until well into the twentieth century. Peru achieved independence from Spain in 1824. Until the 1870s, when the first civilian president was elected, civil wars and a series of transitional govern- ments left Peru in a state of turmoil. Periods of constitutional government then alternated with military and civilian dictatorships until the mid-twentieth century. Typically, the military intervened at the request of traditional elites to protect them from popular unrest. Economic growth during these decades followed a boom-and-bust pattern, with the booms based on international trade in single commodities (rubber, nitrates, oil, fishmeal, etc.). This heightened the eco- nomy’s vulnerability to fluctuations in world markets and also contributed to an extremely unequal pattern of income distribution that persisted. As of 2003, viceroy: one who governs a territory as the representative of the monarch subjugate: to force into submission ■ ■ ■ 270 G O V E R N M E N T S O F T H E W O R L D P e r u 50 percent of the population remained under the poverty line. The most severe poverty was concentrated among indigenous groups in the rural highlands and migrants to urban areas. Peru’s political history since the mid-twentieth century has been relatively chaotic. General Manuel Apolinario Odría Amoretti (1897–1974), who seized power in 1948 and was then elected to office, was followed by two civilian pres- idents: Manuel Prado Ugarteche (1889–1967) between 1956 and 1962, and Fernando Belaúnde Terry (1912–2002) from 1963 until 1968. A brief military interregnum between the two set the stage for a major military intervention in 1968. Remaining in power until 1974, the first “revolutionary” phase of gov- ernment broke with the military’s traditional identification with the elite. It attempted to transform the country through the nationalization of major industries and services, a massive land redistribution program, worker participa- tion in industrial management, recognition of Indian rights, and elimination of traditional political structures (political parties, the Congress, all elections). After military leaders drove the country into economic collapse and debt, an internal coup replaced them with a more moderate faction . Under the leader- ship of General Francisco Morales Bermúdez (b. 1921), the second phase of government promised to return the country to civilian control under a new con- stitution (promulgated in 1979). interregnum: the period of time between the reigns of two successive monarchs nationalization: the process of giving control or ownership of an entity to the government coup: a quick seizure of power or a sudden attack factionalism: a separation of people into competing, adversarial, and self-serving groups, usually in government ■ ■ ■ S e c h u r a D e s e r t Mt. Huascarán 22,205 ft. 6768 m. Mt.Coropuna 21,079 ft. 6425 m. Machupicchu Punta Negra Punta Lachay Punta Pejerrey C O R D I L L E R A D E C O N D O R Isla Lobos de Tierra Islas Lobos de Afuera Isla Independencia Lima Iquitos Piura Chiclayo Trujillo Chimbote Callao Huancayo Cusco Arequipa Pucallpa Ica Tumbes Talara Sullana Cajamarca Tarapoto Chachapoyas Benjamin Constant Rodrigues Huacho Mollendo Ocoña Barranca Breu Huánuco Cerro de Pasco Pisco Iberia San Nicolás Huaraz Huancavelica Ayacucho Puerto Maldonado Esperanza Foz do Jordão Juliaca Puno Tacna Guaqui Abancay Moyobamba Andoas Pantoja Puca Urco PACIFIC OCEAN Lago Titicaca Lago Junín Pa st a za Tig re Marañó n U ca y a li Na po Amazon Ya va ri M a ra ñ ó n H u a lla ga M adre de Uru ba m b a C ol ca Ta m bo M an ta ro Tam b o Pu tu m a yo Dio s Paracas Bay San Nicolás Bay B O L I V I A B R A Z I L C O L O M B I A E C U A D O R W S N E Peru PERU 400 Miles 0 0 400 Kilometers 200 300 100 200 300 100 C O R D I L L E R A O C C I D E N T A L C O R D I L L E R A C E N T R A L C O R D I L L E R A O R I E N T A L (MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/ THE GALE GROUP) G O V E R N M E N T S O F T H E W O R L D 271 P e r u Civilian control resumed in 1980, but economic and political problems con- tinued. They were aggravated by an internal terrorist movement, Sendero Luminoso (the Shining Path), the growing importance of drug trafficking, and the collapse of the fishmeal industry. Conditions worsened under the next three elected presidents: the reelected Belaúnde, Alán García Pérez ( b. 1949), and Alberto Fujimori ( b. 1938). In 1992, two years into his constitutional term, Fujimori staged a self-coup. He suspended the Congress, proposing to rule by executive decree until a new constitution could be instituted (which occurred in 1993). Fujimori’s early successes in defeating the terrorist groups, ending hyperinflation, and restarting economic growth resulted in his general popular- ity and re-election in 1995. However, his repressive control, disregard for the constitution and the law, and the increasing evidence of his administration’s corruption, human rights abuses, and financial mismanagement brought about the collapse of his third presidency in late 2000. Fujimori fled into exile in Japan, protected by his dual Japanese-Peruvian citizenship. An interim government, headed by Valentín Paniagua ( b. 1936), was fol- lowed by the election of Alejandro Toledo ( b. 1946) in 2001. Toledo had a rocky first three years. He successfully managed the economy, producing one of the few positive growth rates in the region. Nonetheless, such accomplishments did not reduce the high rate of unemployment or meet the expectations of his supporters among the poor. By mid-2004, his popularity had plummeted to 6 percent, and observers wondered whether he would finish his term. S T R U C T U R E O F G O V E R N M E N T Peru has a constitutional government, based on its fifth constitution in the last century. All governments have concentrated powers in the executive (president). The formerly bicameral Congress became unicameral with the 1993 constitution. The constitutions recognized three principal branches of government, with a series of other entities (Public Ministry, Human Rights ombudsman , Electoral Board, Comptroller) accorded autonomous status. The government is unitary, but since the early 1920s there have been repeated efforts to create elected departmental or regional governments. The reform underway in the early twenty-first century would make the regions cotermi- nous with the nation’s twenty-four departments and one constitutional province, each with an elected assembly and executive. The unresolved point of contention remained how much of the public budget these regions should manage. In 2003 Peru’s public budget was among the most centralized in the region. Despite the dictatorial inclinations of Fujimori, its sponsor, the 1993 consti- tution added some theoretical limitations to the president’s powers. He or she may still declare states of emergency, but there are now strict time limits for their duration, and any extension must be approved by Congress. The Congress can challenge sitting ministers and demand their resignation with a simple majority vote. Congress can also censure and force the resignation of the entire cabinet. After two such actions, the president must suspend the Congress and call for new legislative elections. Congress may delegate legislative powers to the executive, but must specify time limits and areas for their exercise. Once Congress has enacted a law, the president may request reconsideration, but Congress can override his or her objections with a simple majority vote. Although Congress must approve the budget, if it fails to do so, the executive budget goes into effect by default. The 1993 constitution also severely limits congressional ability to create or increase budgetary expenditures. centralize: to move control or power to a single point of authority delegate: to assign power to another, or, one who represents another interim: for a limited time, during a period of transition ■ ■ ■ unicameral: comprised of one chamber, usually a legislative body Download 4.77 Kb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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