Bargaining for Peace: South Africa and the National Peace Accord

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1995. Hardcover. Very good. No dust jacket.. 160 pages. Figures. Notes. Index. Cover has slight wear and soiling. Agreed to by all the major political and labor leaders in 1991, the National Peace Accord--a countrywide network of peace committees at the local, regional, and national levels--served as an extraordinary and daring experiment in conflict resolution. Gastrow describes the initiatives and events that led to the signing of the accord, exploring in particular the important roles played by religious groups and the business community. Noting that the NPA is without precedent internationally, he examines its impact on political violence, the democratization process, and socio-economic reconstruction and development in South Africa. From an on-line posting: "Peter Gastrow joined IPI as Senior Fellow in April 2009. His research and policy work focuses on transnational organized crime and related threats and involves a review of the current international framework for countering organized crime. He forms part of the Coping with Crisis program and focuses on multilateral responses to new transnational security threats. Peter joined IPI [International Peace Institute] from South Africa, where he was Cape Town Director of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). His work there related to organized crime, money laundering, corruption, and governance issues in sub-Saharan Africa. He has served as expert adviser to the South African government and as a member of various expert groups and panels of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). After obtaining degrees in economics and law from the University of Natal, Peter worked in the office of the Attorney-General in Durban, before establishing his own legal practice as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of South Africa. He served as a member of the South African parliament where he concentrated on justice, policing, and constitutional matters. He was involved in initiatives to address political violence in South Africa during the 1980s and participated in the establishment of the National Peace Accord in 1991. He thereafter served as a member of the National Peace Committee and of the National Peace Secretariat, which was charged with the implementation of the Accord and the establishment of Peace Committees. In December 1993 he was appointed Chairperson of the Law and Order Sub-Council, which formed part of South Africa s transitional government structures. After the April 1994 election, Peter was appointed as Special Adviser to South Africa s Minister for Safety and Security with the main focus on police transformation. He was Chairperson of the Minister s Interim Advisory Team with the task of providing strategic advice on the amalgamation and transformation of the different police agencies whilst simultaneously retaining the capacity and morale of the police to combat crime effectively. Peter has been published widely and has been a frequent commentator in the South African media on matters relating to organized crime, corruption, and criminal justice."