Local peace zones as institutionalized conflict

Abstract

In developing the theme of local “zones of peace” for this issue of Peace Review, we began with a rather narrow conception. We knew about at least two types of peace zones. First, there were those that had been created by local, often grass roots, efforts in the midst of major civil wars in places such as Guatemala, the Philippines, and El Salvador. These were clearly peace zones constructed “from the bottom up.” Second, and even more obvious to those following post‐Cold War world events, there were those peace zones under similar civil war conditions but constructed by outsiders. They included political organizations such as the U.N.—which sought to implement its peacekeeping mission, and relief organizations—which sought safe passage for food and medicines aimed at grass roots populations caught up in the fighting. Cities, towns and regions in the former Yugoslavia or safe relief corridors in Somalia and the southern Sudan illustrated such “outsider in” peace zones. Both “bottom up” and “outsider in” zones seemed worthy of study.