From constructivist to critical engagements with peacebuilding: implications for hybrid peace

Abstract

From a critical perspective, what might we learn from applying constructivism to peacebuilding? We analyse a common clash that arises in the context of peacebuilding: between ontological assumptions based on liberal individualism and those based on local relatedness. We find that this clash has both epistemological and methodological consequences for critical research on peacebuilding, which highlights why the shift to more reflexive understandings of hybrid peacebuilding provides space for making more complex and less certain ontological assumptions in conflict-affected societies. While this raises ethical considerations, this processual position offers an advance on older, static ‘enlightenment’ approaches to peacebuilding debates.