Towards a Locally Owned Inclusive Peace Process

Abstract

The normative principles of local ownership and inclusivity of peace processes have been part of peacebuilding rhetoric from the very beginning, but it has only been after the harsh criticism towards intrusive and elite-based forms of liberal peacebuilding that these principles have been revisited and taken as a true normative basis of peace processes—at least by an increasing proportion of peacebuilders as well peace mediators. These principles that were first adopted only within the peacebuilding and development context have recently been attached to mediation in particular by private peacemakers but cherished also by official actors. It is noteworthy that although calls for inclusive and locally owned peace processes are intertwined in a complex way, they do not necessarily mean the same thing. Inclusivity primarily refers to participation, whereas ownership points more to agency in the peace process.