Social identity, natural resources, and peacebuilding

This paper has been prepared for presentation at the CAPRi Workshop on Collective Action, Property Rights, and Conflict in Natural Resources Management. The present version has not undergone review. A central challenge of managing natural resources in post-conflict settings is identifying if and how resources are linked to social identities or relations involved in violent conflict. While much literature has focused on how economically valuable resources can positively or negatively impact peacebuilding, less attention has been placed on how culturally and politically valuable resources are linked to relapses of or rebuilding after violent conflict. When group identities are closely linked to natural resources, economic ‘wars of interest ’ may become intractable ‘wars of value’. Natural resources often have strategic economic importance, but they also may play potent symbolic roles in ethnonational discourses, be deeply embedded in local social relations, or serve strategic political interests. Post-conflict resource management strategies that do not consider these cultural and political values may ignore important criteria for successful peacebuilding and resource management. Drawing from case studies of post-conflict property administration in Indonesia (Aceh), Sudan (Abyei), and Mexico (Chiapas), this paper examines (1) the particular challenges that linkages between social identities and natural resources create for post-conflict natural resource management and (2) policy and strategies used to confront these challenges. In summary, I overview the possible contribution of innovative approaches to property administration (i.e. Social Tenure Domain Model) and propose policy guidelines for managing the complexities between social identity, natural resource management, and peacebuilding. 1.