Grassroots Peacebuilding Research Articles

The Challenge of Attaining Resilient Local Structures in Grassroots Peacebuilding: A Study of Post-1994/95 Peacebuilding in Northern Ghana

ABSTRACT This article explores the nexus between grassroots peacebuilding and resilient local structures for sustainable peace in the Global South. The burgeoning critical peace scholarship has broadly established a positive link between bottom-up approaches to peacebuilding and the effective mobilisation of local actors and procedures, to promote participation and ownership, enabling the resilience of local structures for sustained peace. Yet, the related debates have yielded inadequate knowledge on the connection between the countless cases of grassroots peacebuilding and the potential for resilience in some of the most notorious conflict-affected and grassroots peacebuilding contexts. This article relies on resilience as a theoretical framework to examine semi-structured interviews and relevant literature on how grassroots peacebuilding processes in northern Ghana affect local institutions for peace. The central finding is that while the post-1994/1995 initiative of grassroots peacebuilding in northern Ghana laid a promising foundation of local infrastructure for peace, the potential link between bottom-up approaches and resilience is impeded because the civil society-led peacebuilding processes failed to establish a sustained local peace infrastructure beyond the negotiations and cessation of the conflict, which is understood within the prevailing complex local structures coupled with NGOs’ technical impediments. The article contributes theoretical and empirical understanding of the limited success of the decades of bottom-up peacebuilding efforts in northern Ghana. This provides a vital nuance to the growing discourses on grassroots peacebuilding in the area, while offering important lessons for similar Global South contexts.

‘Which’ Women Matter in Peacebuilding? Exploring Women’s Grassroots Peacebuilding as Mobilised through Compassion in Northern Ireland

This article explores the grassroots peacebuilding approaches of women in Northern Ireland (NI), focusing on their compassionate and transversal strategies within a deeply patriarchal and conflict-ridden context. Drawing from fifteen semi-structured interviews with women involved in Peace People and other organisations, the study highlights how these women navigated ethnic identity politics and militarism to promote inclusive peace initiatives. Using Elisabeth Porter’s concept of the Politics of Compassion as a framework, the research illustrates how solidarity and empathy served as powerful political tools for these peacebuilders, enabling them to transcend gendered divisions and challenge prevailing power structures. Additionally, the article examines Transversal Politics, demonstrating how grassroots women skilfully navigated conflicting identities and differences to foster diversity and inclusion. The research further explicates how these efforts not only questioned gender-based sectarianism but also illuminated the role of non-violent activism rooted in compassion and justice.

Context of Denial in the Practice of Local Knowledge during Grassroots Peacebuilding: An Analysis of Grassroots Activists’ Experiences in North and East Sri Lanka

Context of Denial in the Practice of Local Knowledge during Grassroots Peacebuilding: An Analysis of Grassroots Activists’ Experiences in North and East Sri Lanka

Title: Intergenerational gaps in women’s grassroots peacebuilding in Ghana: a critique of “inclusive peacebuilding”

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the idea of inclusion in women’s bottom-up peacebuilding in Ghana. Inspired by the growing importance of “inclusion” and “local empowerment” in the discourse and practice of local ownership in peacebuilding, this paper seeks to investigate the scope and degree of inclusion of key actors such as women and youth, and how that affects peacebuilding and sustainable peace in some conflict-affected zones.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a cross-sectional case study design and qualitative strategy. It is based on semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions conducted with actors who have been engaged in grassroots peacebuilding in Ghana and West Africa. The analysis was largely inductive, identifying emerging themes and patterns in the research data.FindingsThe findings indicate that young women are usually absent or not engaged meaningfully in the mobilization of women and youth in the “inclusive” grassroots peacebuilding in Ghana. This is due to the prevalence of deep-seated cultural and political prejudices or stereotypes about women in the areas studied. As these local constructs and thus practices are difficult to change or challenge, peacebuilding non-governmental organizations (NGOs) usually deploy innovative ways by mobilizing socially constructed women’s positionalities – as “whistleblowers,” “cross-ethnic/cross-cultural actors” and “socially networked actors” – in ways that promote women in contemporary peacebuilding discourses and practices. Through mobilizing these stereotypes (to forestall possible provocation, especially from dominant actors or gatekeepers), peacebuilding NGOs have subtly positioned women centrally within a vibrant peace infrastructure in Ghana. Yet, due to the dominance of some patriarchal sociopolitical structures, only older women and young men occupy the spaces for women and youth’s peacebuilding.Originality/valueTo the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the first research papers to question not only the scope but also the degree of inclusion and participation of women in peacebuilding in sub-Sahara Africa. This has nuanced scholarly debates on the subject and encouraged the development of innovative programmes targeted at a more comprehensive gendered and youth-ed inclusion to address the inequality gap in peacebuilding discourses and practices.

Silent peacemakers: grass-roots transitional justice and peacebuilding by women in Kenya�s North Rift conflicts

African Union�s Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP) acknowledges that conflicts affect women and girls disproportionately. Implied in this is the need for transitional processes that take into account the gendered nature of conflicts as well as the role of women in contributing to peacebuilding processes and transitional mechanisms. The article contextualises transitional justice within the framework of gender and grass-roots peacebuilding. From both theoretical and empirical perspectives, the article discusses snippets that depict women as contributors to peacebuilding and transitional justice mechanisms in Kenya�s North Rift conflicts. The study shows that women have used responsibility in burdens; advocacy; membership in village peace committees; negotiation with patriarchy; sensitisation and memorialisation; and socio-economic empowerment, as approaches to build peace and transition communities at the grass-roots level. These efforts feed into transitional justice�s tenets of peace processes, reconciliation, social cohesion, memorialisation, and local ownership. The paper illustrates the need for peacebuilders to focus more on integrating women�s voices in local and mainstream peacebuilding mechanisms.

Comparative consultation: The theory and practice of ‘sharing lessons’ between peace processes

Exchanges of expertise and experience between personnel involved in different peace processes are now a common feature of peacemaking worldwide. However, the goals, methods and impact of such interactions have been subject to little research. This article is the first scholarly analysis of what is here called ‘comparative consultation’. The article begins by conceptualising this work as a unique form of Track Two unofficial diplomacy, sharing the practical format and theoretical grounding of other Track Two approaches but differing in content. The empirical section is based on semi-structured interviews with 16 practitioners – primarily conflict resolution non-governmental organisation personnel and academics – who have facilitated dialogues on peace process topics (such as negotiation, transitional justice, grassroots peacebuilding) between peace process actors at various levels and from many contexts. It also draws on the author’s participation in a series of comparative consultation events. The findings focus on aspects of the organisation, purpose and potential, and limitations and possible risks of the practice. The conclusion sets out a model of the dimensions and potential impacts of comparative consultation and argues for its recognition as a distinct peace methodology. Avenues for further research and practice are outlined.

Peace Connector Projects: Bishop Korir's Strategy for Grassroots Peacebuilding

Peace Connector Projects: Bishop Korir's Strategy for Grassroots Peacebuilding

Memorializing the Work of Bishop Cornelius Korir in Advancing Grassroots Peacebuilding in Kenya: Perspectives on Amani Mashinani

Memorializing the Work of Bishop Cornelius Korir in Advancing Grassroots Peacebuilding in Kenya: Perspectives on Amani Mashinani

Identity and war: comparisons and connections between the Balkans and the Middle East

ABSTRACTWhile comparisons and connections between the Balkans and the Middle East are often invoked, the authors in this symposium are putting them at the heart of their analysis. In seeking new insights into the relationship between identity and war they engage in “comparative area studies.” The comparisons, connections, and lessons that emerge from these contributions challenge our understandings of the so-called “war on terror”, the dynamics of grassroots peacebuilding, and the language of sexualised violence in war. The symposium contributes to the debate about how comparative area studies can bridge the gap between area studies and comparative politics and international relations.

Scaling‐Up Peacebuilding and Social Justice Work: A Conceptual Model

This article presents the concept of scaling up in relation to the work of peacebuilding and social justice initiatives. We propose a holistic conception of scaling up that emphasizes the need to look at the impact of peacebuilding and nonviolent movements along the processes that those actions involve. Our model proposes broadening scholars’ understanding of the success of nonviolent movements not only by analyzing the size or territorial span of the movements but also by discussing societal changes that the very actions of social movement facilitate, regardless of whether the movement fails or succeeds in achieving its goals. In other words, we propose viewing scaling up as a holistic process where change is inevitable. In addition, our model shifts away from thinking about scaling up as a linear or chronological sequence of steps. Instead, the model views scaling up as impact‐oriented and as an iterative process of social learning, where actions are shaped by reactions (by the government and/or other actors) to previous moves. We suggest that this model can be used to better understand how grassroots peacebuilding and conflict transformation initiatives can broaden impact.

‘Toys for Reconciliation’: A Grassroots Peacebuilding Initiative in Bucaramanga, Colombia

In a grassroots effort to counter the institutional and state-centred narratives on disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) processes conceptualised by the Integrated DDR Standards of the United Nations, the NGO Corporación Descontamina has organised local projects around what it has identified as significant problems in previous work carried out in a Bucaramanga men's jail where ex-paramilitaries and ex-guerrilleros live together. In fact, two main problems have been observed: the socioeconomic and emotional situation of the ex-combatants, preventing their reintegration, and the social stigmatisation surrounding their return to civil society. As such, drawing upon decolonial theory, the objective of this article is to present the peacebuilding project ‘Toys for Reconciliation’ that was developed by Corporación Descontamina with the aim of advancing reconciliation in the context of the Colombian armed conflict.

The Local Church\u2019s Defence of Human and Ethnic Rights in Choc\xf3, Colombia

The article analyses the role of the local church in the construction of ethnic organisations in the 1970s–80s and later in the defence of human rights in the 1990s–2010s in Chocó, Colombia. It studies the transformation of their peacebuilding and humanitarian strategies influenced by liberation theology and the culture of indigenous and Afro-Colombian people. The construction of social memory through workshops has been one of the preferred tools analysed in this article due to their significance in the creation of ethnic organisations and in grassroots peacebuilding. The black social movement accompanied by the local church in Chocó has not only supported the defence of their territory as collective property in an attempt to strengthen their welfare and autonomy but as a form to resisting the violence of the conflict, particularly in the form of forced displacement. This article uses interviews, archive and participant observation in the study of this important transformation that traces one of the most important periods of the conflict in Colombia.

Grassroots Peacebuilding and Vertical Integration: A Case Study of the Peace-Rings Approach

This article examines the practicalities of grassroots peacebuilding and discusses challenges they present to vertical integration through a case study of the Northern Uganda Early Recovery Project and its Peace Rings approach. Exploring both direct and indirect vertical integration, the article examines factors that both facilitated and undermined vertical integration, the impact that accrued, as well as the potential for bottom-up approaches to enhance vertical integration. A key conclusion is that in assessing the character and quality of vertical integration, the linkages among various local-level actors are just as important as linkages across international, national, and local divides.

Evidence from an Alternative Path to Reconciliation: The Case of Somaliland

The International Community’s work in conflict management and peace-building in Africa has usually been associated with a double regime of responsibility: protecting humanitarian rights and enforcing democracy. However, existing research suggests that these attempts have rarely improved the humanitarian conditions of conflictual societies, or either encouraged their democratic aspirations. Following the pitfalls met by traditional conflict management, alternative approaches have been advanced and scholars have explored to what extent the transformative power of conflict (Vayrynen, 1991; Azar and Burton, 1986) can actively reduce the level of violence in ongoing conflicts. Hence, this paper presents the case-study of the grassroots peace-building in Somaliland, where an alternative approach to conflict management has achieved more interesting and sustainable results than those pursued by the traditional diplomacy in Somalia. The empirical part of this paper introduces first the failures of the international intervention in Somalia and afterwards it describes the Somaliland alternative route to reconciliation, focusing on three aspects: the resort to traditional methods of conflict management; the gradual and preparatory nature of this peace process; the codification of traditional peace-building into a process of institution-building. This paper argues that the community-based approach adopted in Somaliland has been most productive then the traditional mechanisms adopted by the International Community in Somalia, given the ability of the ‘community’ to bypass two fundamental dilemmas that affect the top-down methodology: the ownership and the legitimacy dilemma.

Why Women’s Contribution to Peacebuilding Matters

Women Building Peace: What They Do, Why it Matters. By Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007. 257 pp., cloth (ISBN-13: 978-1-58826-536-4), paper (ISBN-13: 978-1-58826-512-8). While typically women remain absent or marginalized from formal peace processes, they are conspicuously active in informal, grassroots peacebuilding activities. Invisibility and activity, victimhood and agency run parallel. The 1995 UN Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing mobilized global networks of women working to further peace and security. The momentum led to the 2000 UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on “Women, Peace, and Security.” The resolution is historic in recognizing women's rights to protection from violence and participation in all forms of decision-making to prevent, manage, and resolve conflict. There are many ways to write about women's peace initiatives. One way is to combine scholarship on emerging debates on human security with feminist international relations (IR) theory. This book does not follow this pattern. Its bibliography includes mainly NGO reports, UN reports, and Internet sources, combined with some familiar academic books. However, what might be lacking in overall conceptual framework is amply compensated by the richness of experiences the author draws on. Sanam Naraghi Anderlini is uniquely qualified to write about women, peace, and security. She has wide fieldwork experience in conflict zones and has been active in high-level international policy-making institutions in London, Washington, New York, Brussels, and elsewhere. This is an excellent book. I was curious, wondering how it compares with Peacebuilding, Women in International Perspective (Porter 2007) . There are overlaps in content, theme, and emphases, but Anderlini's book is rich with first-hand stories of women striving to engage in formal processes whilst Peacebuilding highlights examples of women in informal peacebuilding in the context of orthodox IR literature and …

No Justice, No Peace? National Reconciliation and Local Conflict Resolution in Cambodia

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal is expected by many in the international community to bring a sense of reconciliation to a nation still grappling with the aftermath of more than thirty years of civil war. Yet the gap between national and local reconciliation initiatives tests post-conflict reconstruction efforts to meet the needs of Cambodian citizens who feel unconnected to the tribunal. This article inquires into the interrelationship between national reconciliation processes and grassroots peacebuilding in the form of conflict resolution trainings. Noting that retributive justice processes cannot take the place of restorative justice, genuine reconciliation in Cambodia will need to incorporate culturally-based ritual derived from Buddhism in order to be relevant to local people. The Khmer Institute of Democracy (KID), a Cambodian NGO, serves as a case study for the successes and obstacles to local peacebuilding initiatives. Key words: conflict resolution, Cambodia, NGO programs, human rights - East Asia Introduction Cambodia today stands at a historic crossroad. The Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), commonly referred to as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT), opened in 2007 after many years of accumulated expectations. While the KRT is poised to deliver retributive justice at the national level, it may leave the majority of Cambodians bereft of an experience of restorative justice, namely reconciliation in their local communities. This article explores the gap between national and local healing by asking the question: What is the relationship between national reconciliation and local, grassroots-level peacebuilding efforts in the form of conflict resolution trainings? Through a case study of the Khmer Institute of Democracy (KID) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I examine nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that are providing civil society with conflict-focused capacity building to complement the elite, retributive justice mechanism of the KRT. I describe my quest to identify tools and techniques to culturally integrate democratic practice and conflict resolution techniques that honor indigenous knowledge and stress the possibility that these trainings could enhance reconciliation efforts nationally. I address the question by first unpacking the dynamic between former victims, perpetrators, and alienated community members in a brief historical review of the Cambodian conflict. I then present barriers to reconciliation in the post-conflict political environment. The example of KID is next drawn upon to highlight the role of NGOs in civil society capacity building, with specific attention to the potential for conflict resolution training to facilitate reconciliation. I present Buddhism and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as tools to move local communities toward their own healing processes and thereby contribute to genuine national reconciliation. The article concludes with a positive assessment of the ability for localized capacity building to contribute to national reconciliation. Fostering local cultures of peace with increased awareness and utilization of the power of communication may be the path to Cambodia's psychosocial rehabilitation. Contextualizing Violence: The Legacy of the Khmer Rouge Cambodia does not have a gentle past. In the last half century its people have experienced violence from the U.S. bombings during the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1973, followed by two epochs of civil war, most notably from 1975 to 1979, when more than a million Cambodians, at least one of every eight citizens, died from starvation, overwork, or execution under the Khmer Rouge regime.1 The idealistic teenagers and former schoolteachers who fueled the Khmer Rouge movement saw forced revolution as the only antidote to U.S. imperialism. Yet their agenda of gender and age-divided collective living and hard labor impacted the country long after their overthrow in 1979 and beyond the subsequent decade of Vietnamese occupation. …

Winning the peace: Youth, identity and peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina

While peacebuilding at a grassroots, non‐governmental level is increasingly expected to play an important role in postwar peace settlements, the effectiveness of such projects can be inhibited by the lack of a sound theoretical basis. Conflict Resolution theory advocates particular theoretical understandings of the relationship between identity and conflict as informing peacebuilding, yet these are shown to be in disjunction with empirical observation: a case study of young people living in wartime Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, analysis of the qualities of experience and identification described by those young people is suggestive of alternative understandings of the identity/conflict relationship: that identifications are negotiated and renegotiated, intersubjectively, as people interact. That interviewees were also involved with a youth and reconciliation project — Mladi Most ‐ was informative of the impact of such a project on identity, in a context of intercommunal conflict. These insights provide an alternative possible theoretical basis for informing the practice of grassroots peacebuilding, or at least strategies for generating appropriate and effective theory.

Grass-Roots Peacebuilding: Neighbourhood Facilitation in Bosnia

Grass-Roots Peacebuilding: Neighbourhood Facilitation in Bosnia