Abstract
There is a growing understanding that vertical relationships matter for peacebuilding efforts that respond to local needs. There is little consensus, however, on how to study verticality in peacebuilding empirically. This article asks how we can understand responsiveness to needs through vertical relationships in post-conflict spaces. To answer this question, the article develops an analytical framework of vertical relationships as a peacebuilding function. Arguing that responsiveness to needs is a critical factor in building a legitimate peace, the article applies this framework to the case of municipal waste management during the waste crisis in Lebanon in 2015. Building on 31 interviews in two Lebanese municipalities, the article illustrates the complexity of vertical relationships in a post-conflict space. It concludes that vertical relationships enable responsiveness to needs by drawing on political belonging, thus promoting a fragile peacebuilding dependent on national political divides.
Highlights
In July 2015, the Naameh landfill, which had collected garbage from Beirut and surrounding municipalities for 19 years, was closed
The article asks how we can understand responsiveness to waste challenges through vertical relationships between local governments and national actors and what it means for local peacebuilding
Such an explorative interpretation emphasises that to improve on our understanding of vertical relationships as a peacebuilding function, we need to interrogate how actors perceive and use vertical relationships in empirical settings and what this means for local peacebuilding
Summary
Government accountability and critique of the political elite grew (Azzi, 2017; Beirut Report, 2015a, 2015b; Kraidy, 2016). In a post-conflict country like Lebanon, the government’s inability to accommodate the waste management needs of the population and the discontent with the state that it sparked highlighted that even mundane issues are related to everyday peace (Mac Ginty, 2014). 291), arguing that peacebuilding efforts need to connect to the everyday needs of the people This argument builds on the conception that legitimacy is a cornerstone of peaceful state–society relations (Brinkerhoff et al, 2012) and that service delivery is a means to highlighted that even mundane issues are achieve legitimacy (Mcloughlin, 2015). The article analyses how municipalities respond to local waste management needs through their vertical relationships, furthering our understanding of how and what kind of local peace is built. The article concludes by indicating how analysing vertical relationships furthers our understanding of local peacebuilding in Lebanon and beyond
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