Vying for legitimacy in post-conflict situations: the Bougainville case

Abstract

This article addresses the co-existence, interface and mutual permeation of different types of legitimacy and the ensuing hybridisation of legitimacy in fragile post-conflict situations, drawing on the case of post-conflict peacebuilding and state formation on the South Pacific island of Bougainville (Papua New Guinea). Taking Max Weber's three ideal types of legitimate authority – rational-legal, traditional and charismatic – as starting points, it is shown how legitimacy is constantly re-negotiated and re-structured, and the legitimacy of all actors – as well as the legitimacy of the overall governance configuration – is hybridised. Accordingly, it is argued that international support for peacebuilding has to transcend the comfort zone of liberal understandings of rational-legal legitimacy and constructively engage with hybridised legitimacy. The article mainly draws on fieldwork conducted on Bougainville in the context of a research project on legitimacy issues in post-conflict fragile situations.