Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

getting it done 277The assessments at this point are very tentative. Furthermore, manyof the instruments are recent or are still in the design phase. Given theapparent weakness of current enforcement instruments to date andthe emergence of new ones, the assessment of enforcement is a criticalissue for future research.Drawing on this discussion, specific areas for additional researchinclude the following:• Information on resource businesses operating in conflict-affectedcountries. Much of the information currently available results fromadvocacy campaigns, limited investigative journalism, and UN expertpanel reports. There is no global picture allowing a “profiling” ofactivities, the businesses involved, and regulatory efforts. Such informationcould assist not only in the design of policy tools but also intheir enforcement.• Mapping of the business intermediaries, authorities, and enforcementagencies intervening along the commodity chains. This couldprovide a clearer picture of areas where enforcement mechanisms canintervene, where loopholes are located, and in which collaborationsand policies may be needed.• Detailed examination of the decisionmaking and implementationprocesses involved, as well as the effect on the conflict and broad resourcegovernance of enforcement mechanisms. Field-based investigation andabroad stakeholder consultation on a number of cases involving, forexample, UN sanctions, the use of expert panels, advocacy campaigns,and company divestment could provide valuable information for thedesign of policy tools.• Assessment of legal and political opportunities and constraintslikely to shape a process of international agreement on resourcegovernance. This could include the identification of applicable internationalnorms as well as of design and implementing agencies; thedefinition of conflict resources, relevant offenses, and degree of complicityon the part of economic intermediaries and authorities; and theenforcement mechanisms and range of incentives and penalties.Notes1. Cited in interview of John Peleman, www.pbs.org.2. An overview of these various means of financing conflict is provided inLe Billon, Sherman, and Hartwell (2002).3. No correlation is found by Collier, Hoeffler, and Söderbom (2001), butmost of the case study literature argues the contrary; see Ross (forthcoming).