From Blood Diamonds to the Kimberley Process

Book excerpt: In the late 1990s, several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) focused world attention on the issue of conflict diamonds which funded wars, massive death, and refugee crises across Central and West Africa. Several governments, NGOs, and key industry players engaged in negotiations under the so-called Kimberley Process (KP). A voluntary global agreement came into effect leading to a substantial decline in illicit diamond trade. Despite its importance in international affairs, the KP remains understudied in academia. Franziska Bieri's book provides the first comprehensive account of the KP and is the first to reveal how NGOs have become critical actors in their own right, possessing the ability to directly influence policies and to participate in the decision making and the implementation of global agreements. In developing this argument, Bieri explains: why the NGO campaign to raise awareness was successful; why a rapid and comprehensive resolution on such a complex global problem was possible; how the tripartite negotiations between states, NGOs, and industry developed during the implementation of the agreement, which is an on-going process. Based on extensive personal interviews with prominent campaigners, leading bureaucrats, and industry officials, hundreds of KP publications, official UN documents, industry news, and NGO reports, this timely book allows for a much needed engagement in contemporary debates about the campaign against conflict diamonds, the Kimberley Process, and the themes defining today's global governance arena.