This article appears in the following Refugee Survey Quarterly issue: Displacement, Peace Processes and Post-Conflict Peacebuildiing [View the issue table of contents]
Peacebuilding through the Electoral Participation of Displaced Populations
* Jeremy Grace is a Lecturer of International Relations at the State University of New York at Geneseo and an electoral consultant. Erin D. Mooney is a Senior Protection Officer with United Nations ProCap and, in 2008–9, a Visiting Lecturer of International Relations at Trinity College, University of Toronto. The authors appreciate the research assistance of Meghan Barner, Susanne Coles, Bill Slack, and Akash Toprani.
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Abstract |
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The participation of displaced populations in elections organized as part of a peacebuilding process is increasingly recognized as fundamental to the goal of peacebuilding itself. Guarantees for their electoral participation are important, first and foremost, as a matter of rights. They also are critical for the legitimacy of the election and its results, and thus for national and regional stability. However, translating these provisions into practice can be a complex task, which requires addressing a range of legal, administrative, practical, and political issues. This article explores the relationship between peacebuilding and the electoral participation of displaced populations, arguing that it is not possible to build peace when exclusion is de jure or de facto built into the process.