Workshop Abstract-Dr.Moonis

ABSTRCT

RATIONALIZING THE CONCEPT OF CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES

MOONIS AHMAR*

In the last 26 years, the concept of CBMs has contributed substantially to the processes of conflict resolution and peace in different troubled spots of the world. Emerging as a concept focussing on dealing with flash points in the European theater of Cold War, Confidence-Building Measures began to expand in the non-European areas, particularly in the aftermath of the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet disintegration.

No concept in the field of conflict resolution and security studies has assumed so much importance in such a limited period of time as Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs). Precisely, CBMs aims to create a situation in which the warring parties agree to take mutual steps for building trust and starting talks for the diffusion of crisis or the resolution of conflict. When the concept of CBMs was applied for managing East-West crisis during the era of cold war, its scope and dynamics in dealing with various non-Western issues was quite limited. Since 1963 when the US-Soviet hotline was activated, the signing of the Helsinki Final act of 1975 till today, the concept of confidence-building has been debated in both Western and Non-Western circles so as to see how it could serve as a means to diffuse tension and create conditions for unleashing normalization between adversaries.

Rightly, confidence-building measures provide an opportunity to establish trust and take plausible steps for lowering temperature in a particular flash point. But there is substantial "intellectual ignorance" and "misconception" among the policy-makers and different segments of society in the developing world about the ability of CBMs to contribute substantially for the goals of peace and security. While one can figure out the contradictions in CBMs practiced during the cold war and in the post-cold war era, there exists tremendous scope to study following variables:-

The promise of CBMs to build blocks of cooperation and peace and its failure to practically transform some of its ideals into reality.

The gaps in the traditional and non-traditional approaches of confidence building measures.

The perception prevailing in most parts of the developing world about the applicability of CBMs only in the process of conflict resolution in the Western world.

This paper will focus on debating the relevance of CBMs in the post-cold war era with am emphasis on South Asia. Some of the questions, which this paper will respond, are as follows:-

1. How the gaps in the traditional and non-traditional approaches of CBMs could be bridged and what are the obstacles in this regard?

2. How the concept of CBMs be rationalized and what are the problems in the process of implementing the tools of confidence building in a rational manner, particularly in South Asia?

3. What are the challenges in the concept of CBMs and how these could be met in South Asia?

* Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Karachi.

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