Peacebuilding Efforts Research Articles

Violent Communal Conflicts as a Form of Terrorism in Taraba State, Nigeria

This study is a socio-legal investigation of the violent communal conflicts in Taraba State, North East Nigeria. Applying a legal research method through doctrinal analysis of literature, anchored on the concept of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism (Prohibition and Prevention) Act 2022, and framed on the human security theory, the study collected data from a sample of 12,663 respondents selected from the seventeen Local Government Areas in the State. The main instrument used to collect the data was structured questionnaire and the data was analyzed using descriptive statistical tools. Data was also sourced through field surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. Findings revealed that violent conflicts are often complex and deeply rooted in historical, social, economic, and political factors. The study finds that this situation results from differences between ethnic or religious groups within the society, fueled by grievances, perceived injustices, competition over resources, and political manipulations. The study further finds that the conflicts usually escalate to widespread loss of lives, destruction of properties, disruption of economic activities, displacement of communities, and long-term societal disaggregation. The study establishes that efforts towards mitigating the conflicts have yielded little results due to several challenges including lack of implementation of the reports of various committees of inquiry into the conflicts, lack of adherence to peace agreements by warring parties, and political interests of elites. Consequently, the study recommends that the government should be proactive and responsive towards security intelligence reports on perceived outbreaks of violent conflicts, should show greater commitment to guaranteeing the security of the people by implementing recommendations from commissions of inquiry, while civil society organizations and traditional institutions working with the government, should continually employ dialogue mechanisms to foster understanding between the belligerents. The paper concludes with the position that addressing these issues is crucial for effective conflict prevention, peacebuilding efforts, and promoting reconciliation in the State.

The Role of International Law and Diplomacy in Inter-State Relations: Implications for Afghanistan and American War Relations

This study examines the role of international law and diplomacy in interstate relations, with implications for American-Afghanistan relations. Specifically, the study sets out to interrogate whether US war relations on terror in Afghanistan has reduced terrorism in the country; ascertain how US counter-terrorism strategic relations in Afghanistan undermined jus in bello principles of proportionality and discrimination; and determine how US strategy failure in its Afghanistan’s relations undermined its reconstruction and peace-building efforts. By adopting the Just War Theory (JWT), the paper analysed the dynamic nature of US-Afghanistan relations, following the 9/11 attacks, with findings revealing that the US had an incoherent strategy in its war relations in Afghanistan, which ultimately led to its failure to restore peace, promote democracy and human rights.

Kenya’s Peace Diplomacy in Eastern Africa: Regional Hegemon?

Kenya’s Peace Diplomacy in Eastern Africa: Regional Hegemon?

ПРИНЦИПИ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНОГО УПРАВЛІННЯ СОЦІАЛЬНИМ МАРКЕТИНГОМ МАЛОГО ПІДПРИЄМСТВА ПІД ЧАС ВІЙНИ

In the article the authors outlined the principles of information management in social marketing for small businesses during wartime, emphasizing the necessity of adapting marketing strategies and marketing information system to maintain customer trust and loyalty amidst market instability and resource limitations. The purpose of the article is to develop and systematize a set of information management principles that optimize social marketing strategies for small businesses in wartime conditions. The article provided statistical data on the functioning of entrepreneurs during the martial law in Ukraine. The authors proposed a systematic approach to integrate social and ethical principles into marketing activities, highlighting the role of marketing information systems in collecting and analyzing data to make informed decisions. The article extended to the challenges small businesses face during the wartime, such as decreased demand, supply chain disruptions, and financial losses, and suggests leveraging social marketing tools for visibility of the activities of the entrepreneurs and community engagement. The importance of sensitive, accurate information dissemination during conflict times is underscored, along with strategies for supporting affected communities, ensuring service accessibility, and promoting humanitarian initiatives. In the article the authors argued for the effectiveness of social marketing in addressing societal issues, enhancing reputation, and fostering sustainable development, concluding that strategic information management is crucial for small businesses' resilience and growth during crises. In total, the article further emphasized the role of social marketing as a bridge between small businesses and their communities, promoting not only economic activities but also societal well-being and cohesion. By aligning business operations with social goals, entrepreneurs can contribute to peace building efforts and create a positive social impact, underscoring the integral connection between business resilience, social responsibility, and community support in times of conflict.

Can China’s Developmental Peace Be an Alternative to Liberal Peace? A Critical Feminist Interrogation

A growing body of literature within international relations (IR) has attempted to understand China’s approach to peacebuilding, so-called developmental peace, mostly in relation to critiques of liberal peace. The literature shares an assumption that developmental peace is distinct from liberal peace and discusses whether Chinese peacebuilding efforts might function as an alternative to the liberal approach. The discussion largely draws on conventional IR perspectives involving only limited engagement with critical scholars. It therefore lacks analysis of hierarchies related to gender and local power relations. By contrast, this article critically interrogates existing arguments to examine the extent to which developmental peace differs from liberal peace and in what sense it can be seen as an alternative. Informed by feminist IR, the article explores three core elements of developmental peace: developmentalism, the absence of the political and South-South cooperation. It shows that developmental peace largely replicates and reinforces the limitations of liberal peace by marginalising women and minority groups, and failing to prioritise local needs. Based on these findings, it argues that China might be an emerging actor that, in a nominal sense, can diversify the field, but that developmental peace does not constitute an alternative perspective in any substantive sense.

The future of peace in Africa: complexities of local conflict(s) and liberal peace interventions.

This paper argues that a systematic understanding of local populations and their worldviews of what constitute peace – as expressed in their norms of relations holds promise for the future of peace in Africa. Africa continues to be the centre of international efforts at peacebuilding. These efforts at best have achieved mixed results, while barely addressing the root causes of violent conflicts by transforming state-society relations that breeds inclusivity and assures the progress of the collective regardless of geographic, social, economic, and political differentiations. To achieve this, it is important for actors in the peacebuilding industry to emphasise the local as fundamental to building durable peace. This stems from the knowledge that all societies embody the idea of peace with different connotations. Such worldviews are important starting points for post-conflict peacebuilding efforts that portends for the collective good. In this article, the Bimbilla case shows how local spaces that have suffered violent conflicts have inbuilt ideational and normative structures that can be used to address the anomaly of state-society relations. This is indicative of the many conflict and post-conflict spots in Africa. Emphasising the norms of the locale as a critically anchor to effective contemporary peacebuilding, and the future of durable peace in Africa.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Hiroshima +75: building peace in Japan and beyond

The use of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been extensively studied in war and peace literature. Research abounds on the ethical debates surrounding the bombing, the legal and political ramifications of the use of nuclear weapons, the socio-cultural underpinnings of the peace movements, and the somatic and psychological consequences of the bombing. However, Hiroshima’s reconstruction has rarely been studied from the scholarly lens of peacebuilding approaches that cover various aspects of post-war reconstruction. The city and prefectural governments of Hiroshima published several reports on Hiroshima’s history of reconstruction over the years, and as of 2014, with an aim to support peacebuilding efforts elsewhere and contribute to achieving a peaceful world. Using policy analysis, new empirical data, updated historical accounts, and interdisciplinary lenses, the contributions in this Special Issue respond to this objective by bridging the past war experience and the present peace aspirations from Hiroshima to bring new insights into post-war reconstruction and peacebuilding research and practice.

Peace education in a time of war: the Museum of Peace in Rivne, Ukraine as a space of memory making and hope

ABSTRACT Peace museums play an important role in peace education by offering visitors informal and non-formal education. As sites of remembrance, peace museums are rich pedagogical spaces for experiential learning and reflection. Educating children in the spirit of peace, tolerance and harmony between nations has been central to the work of the Museum of Peace in Rivne in Ukraine. Whilst peace museums usually engage in peacebuilding and memory making in times of peace, post conflict, this article reports on the work of the Museum in Rivne in a time of war. Wartime brings difficult questions about engaging in peacebuilding in the face of military aggression and about sustaining memory-making work when violent conflict makes memories too immediate and painful. As explained in the article, the reinvigorated peacebuilding effort at the Museum in Rivne demonstrates that, in a time of war, it is even more important to promote peace, in opposition to war. Through the annual event ‘I Vote for Peace’, the Museum has sought to create a network of schools committed to global tolerance and peacekeeping, as well as offer Ukrainian children a space for talking about their experiences and their hope for a peaceful future.

Association between air raids and reported incidence of cholera in Yemen, 2016–19: an ecological modelling study

Yemen continues to endure cholera outbreaks during ongoing conflict and destructive environmental events. Air raids have been used throughout the conflict to target military and civilian infrastructure. We aimed to assess the association between air raids and cholera incidence while taking into account geographical, environmental, economic, and demographic factors that drive outbreaks. In this ecological modelling study, we used data from Sept 12, 2016, to Dec 29, 2019, for the number of air raids, vegetation coverage, surface water, precipitation, temperature, economic variables, and cholera case and population data to model the association between conflict and the weekly incidence of cholera (per 100 000 people) in Yemen. Data were transformed into weekly intervals and governorates were categorised according to air raid severity (the number of raids in the previous 3 months). We used a negative binomial generalised additive model that accounted for geographical location and environmental, temporal, economic, and demographic variables to estimate incidence rate ratios for the association between air raid severity and cases of cholera. During the study period, 2 107 912 cases of cholera were reported in Yemen, and a minimum of 11 366 air raids were recorded. After controlling for relevant factors, compared with no air raids, all other levels of air raid severity were significantly associated with cholera incidence. The largest effect was noted in governorates with severe air raid levels (ie, ≥76 during the previous 3 months), which had an incidence rate ratio of 2·06 (95% CI 1·59-2·69; p<0·0001) for cholera compared with governorates with no air raids in the previous 3 months. Economic factors were also significantly associated with increased cholera incidence. Air raids were significantly associated with the burden of cholera in Yemen, even after controlling for other relevant factors. Quantification of this relationship further shows that the cholera outbreak is largely a result of human action rather than a natural occurrence, and demonstrates the conflict's devastating effects on health. Our findings highlight the need for ceasefire and peacebuilding efforts, as well as infrastructure and economic restoration, to reduce Yemen's cholera burden. None. For the Arabic translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

Minority Rights in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: An Analysis of Legislative Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges

Post-conflict peacebuilding is a complex and multifaceted process that seeks to restore peace and stability in societies that have been ravaged by violent conflicts. Minority rights are an integral part of this process, as they play a crucial role in promoting social cohesion, reconciliation, and sustainable development in the post-conflict context. Unfortunately, minority rights are often marginalized and underrepresented in postconflict peacebuilding efforts, leaving minority groups at risk of continued discrimination and exclusion. The neglect of these rights hampers the prospects for lasting peace and hinders the contributions of minority populations to post-conflict societies. This paper examines or analyses the significance of minority rights in postconflict societies. It provides an in-depth examination of issues such as (a) the impact of religion on the formation of majority and minority dynamics in diverse societies, (b) the transformative potential of information technology and its role in fostering inclusive communication, (c) the interplay between primordialism and constructivism in understanding ethnic identities and their implications for the practice of consociational democracy; (d) the inclusivity of peacebuilding approaches and their integration of reconciliation across various facets of post-conflict development. To achieve this, the paper employs a multidisciplinary and non-empirical approach to desk research, including an extensive literature review, qualitative analysis of case studies from conflict-ridden regions, and a critical examination of consociational democracies. This methodological diversity enables a comprehensive exploration of minority rights' complex dynamics in peacebuilding contexts. Finally, the paper argues that achieving sustainable peace requires acknowledging the pivotal role of minority rights and fostering inclusive approaches that empower diverse community members to contribute actively. Despite its limitations, the consociational model offers an adaptable framework for balancing the preservation and reconstruction of ethnic identities in post-conflict settings. Moreover, involving historically marginalized groups, such as women and youth, is essential for building more equitable and peaceful societies.

Building Peace in Indonesia Through the Tradition of Eating Nasi Tumpeng

This article describes the importance of peacebuilding efforts in post-conflict Indonesia. In addition to unraveling the cause of conflict, peacebuilding is an effort to avoid new or continued conflict. Peacebuilding theoretical approaches, especially positive peace and nonviolence, help Indonesian communities and societies find the necessary path to peace. One such approach is using local tradition in the form of eating Nasi Tumpeng. This tradition provides a space for interfaith dialogues at the grassroots level to discuss conflicts using the values contained in this eating tradition: strong relational values between humans and God, fellow humans, and the environment.

Agencies, temporalities, and spatialities in Hiroshima’s post-war reconstruction: a case of reflexive peacebuilding in the Anthropocene?

This article revisits the case of Hiroshima’s post-war reconstruction using the lens of reflexive peacebuilding. Reflexive peacebuilding is a set of practices that align peacebuilding efforts with the notions of agency, time, and space, as problematised within the critical discourse on the Anthropocene. For this study, a review of relevant policies and initiatives following the bombing reveals how agencies, temporalities, and spatialities in Hiroshima’s post-war reconstruction generate interweaving and sometimes contesting peace narratives. Hiroshima’s experience in responding to the needs of the survivors, accommodating future generations, and using spaces for peace promotion offer insights into the blurred agency, uncertain times, and porous spaces of Anthropocene imaginaries.

An Illusion of Empowerment? A Twenty-Year Review of United Nations Reports on Localization in Iraq

ABSTRACT Localization has emerged as a dominant reform paradigm guiding humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding efforts on a global scale. It signals a commitment to shift power to local actors by recognizing, valuing, and strengthening their role in humanitarian or peacebuilding interventions. Despite this commitment, a noticeable reorientation of power to local actors has not occurred. This article contributes to the critical scholarship on localization by analysing 22 United Nations reports to examine their understanding of local actors and their envisaged contributions to missions in Iraq since 2003. The study engages with the UN's perspectives on localization across its key mission areas: development, stabilization, and humanitarianism. The findings show a lack of consistency in the Unites Nations’ perception of local actors and their contributions, with different sub-sectors presenting disparate views. The reports predominantly emphasize the instrumental use of local actors to achieve pre-defined mission objectives. Consequently, this article shows that the case of Iraq exposes a disconnect between the progressive and normative scholarly framing of localization as a political project aimed at restructuring power dynamics, and its on-ground implementation, which often simplifies localization as mere involvement of local actors.

CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS ROLE ON CONFLICT RESOLUTIONS AND PEACEKEEPING MISSION ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEST POKOT AND TURKANA IN KENYA

There are conflicts in many pastoral communities around the globe, while the Sahel region and East Africa demonstrate sustained levels of inter-pastoral violent conflicts with associated potential impacts on their livelihoods. Turkana-Pokot Violence across borders, conflict is now the norm. A number of efforts have been made by various bodies to bring peace to the region. Despite the Kenya Police Reservists disarmament and arming of communities, peace initiative meetings, prosecuting perpetrators, declaringof illicit firearms surrender, amnesties, and setting up of peace committees continue to prevail in the region, insecurity and violent conflicts. It is in this regard that the researcher examines the role of civil society organizations in peacebuilding and reconstruction, which has gained significant attention over the last fifty years. Today, the main question is whether civil society organizations have an impact on peacebuilding efforts in the world, especially in third world countries or not. This study has primarily utilized the Protracted Social Conflicts (PSC) theory of Edward Azar. The study adopted descriptive research design. The study was conducted in Turkana and West Pokot Counties of Kenya. A total of 434 respondents were targeted in Pokot North and Turkana South. The sample size of 130 respondents was selected from each of the two Sub Counties. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules, and document analysis and focus group discussions. Pilot study was conducted in Wajir County to establish reliability and validity of research instruments using content analysis and Cronbach alpha respectively. Quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS to obtain descriptive statistics and chi-square. Qualitative data was analyzed by use of themes and presented in narrative form. Quantitative data was presented in form of tables, charts and graphs. Qualitative data was presented in form of narratives and verbatim quotations. The findings of the study revealed that, the proximity of Turkana County to three international borders, namely Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia had contributed to the proliferation of small arms through the porous borders that are not governed by the respective governments. This contributed to the availability and cheapness of small arms in Turkana County as a whole, hence the sustenance of the conflict between the two communities. Therefore, this theoretical framework was useful in anchoring the study. The study findings therefore suggested that Politics, governance, peace-building strategies, commercialization of raided animals and proliferation of small arms are the sustainers of conflict among the pastoral communities of Turkana and West Pokot Counties of Kenya. The study established that CSOs play a crucial role in conflict resolution in West Pokot. The study found out that CSOs provides food, clothing, water and tents in case of calamity. This was attributed to the fact that basic needs and health services are basic for the survival of every community. It was also established that NGOs settling conflict affected persons leads to conflict resolution. When natural resources are,well-managed conflicts are minimized. The CSOs provided for meetings during which residents were given awareness concerning peace and conflict resolution. The study revealed that CSOs organized social functions once per year.

Peacebuilding Accountability: The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund and Community‐Based Monitoring and Evaluation

International peacebuilding as a discourse and practice has expanded rapidly in the nearly three decades since the publication of Boutros Boutros‐Ghali's Agenda for Peace. Alongside the growth of peacebuilding efforts has come the realization that many peacebuilding projects conceived of and sponsored by the international community have failed to meet their own objectives or, more importantly, have failed to be embraced fully by those whom they were supposed to help: the individuals and communities attempting to rebuild their lives in post‐conflict countries. One area that has been under‐examined and—in particular—under‐theorized is the role and impact of funder accountability mechanisms on local ownership, community agency, and peacebuilding success. However, in the development field some work has been done to examine accountability models and to try to develop new ones. As part of a project funded by the Council on Foreign Relations, the author served as a local peacebuilding advisor to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund's monitoring and evaluation team, where he led an effort to develop a more collaborative evaluation method designed to close accountability loops by including a broader range of actors than that normally considered by current evaluation methodologies. This article offers a scoping analysis of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the interactions between large international donor agencies and local peacebuilding efforts. It also presents a preview of one agency's determined efforts to bridge those gaps and implement programs and processes designed to promote local agency while supporting transparent accountability.

‘In exile but not at peace’1: Rwandan army deserters in South Africa

ABSTRACT This paper explores the post-military experiences of junior rank Rwandan army deserters living as exiles in South Africa. It attends to the constructions, practices and subjective understandings of their peacebuilding efforts. It examines how, under circumstances of real and or perceived threat, these deserters navigate Rwandan state surveillance and violence in South Africa where they have become potential political and military disciplinary targets. These erstwhile soldiers are labelled traitors and therefore a threat to Rwanda’s national security and they live like people who are ‘on the run’. I argue that the real or perceived presence of the Rwandan state, in the form of an opaque network of state agents and informers, abductors and cyber spyware strips the exile context of its capacity to afford peaceful after-army lives to Rwandan army deserters. The paper draws from an ethnographic study that was conducted among Rwandan army deserters whereby deep hangouts, life histories and in-depth interviews were used to gather data. It is mainly underpinned by theoretical insights from Bourdieu’s theory of practice and Vigh’s notion of social navigation. This paper centers army desertion in analyses of militarism, peacebuilding and transition in African contexts.

Post-reconstruction enclosures: an infrastructural perspective on the post-conflict landscape of the Old City (Mostar)

This article looks at the landscape of the Old City of Mostar eighteen years after the reconstruction of its famous Old Bridge. The reconstruction project took place within broader international peace-building efforts, foregrounding the bridge as a symbol of multicultural reconciliation and initiating the development of tourism. We explore a landscape perspective to reflect on the aftermath of this neoliberal peacebuilding project which created a commodified landscape image, endangering the site as a public space. By disallowing the local community to engage with the reconstruction process, the project limited participatory ways of dealing with the past, but also public arenas for negotiating a shared future. To unpack this, we look at the heritage-landscape as a process and focus on its infrastructural aspects. We aim to outline an infrastructural perspective which helps understand how the future of public space and participation were conditioned by the process of neoliberal peacebuilding through heritage.

How Mutually Hurting Stalemates Become Essential in Peace-building Efforts. The Case of Liberia

"The paper focuses on two concepts developed by William Zartman, namely “ripe moments” and “mutually hurting stalemates”. Basically, the concepts tackle the idea of certain proper moments for the beginning of peace talks when the parties to the conflict believe that they are trapped in a painful impasse which no longer brings them victory. Our paper aims to show that hurting stalemates are sometimes the adequate starting point for peace-building efforts as well, not only for starting negotiations, and to apply this on the case of Liberia. The paper is organized around the following research questions: Is the hurting stalemate a military deadlock? Is a similar painful deadlock a good starting point for building sustainable peace in post-conflict societies? Keywords: peace studies, ripeness, mutually hurting stalemates, peace-building, post-conflict development"

Learning to Shift Power and Center Community Voices in International Development Work

International development has long been dominated by primarily white-led, Global North organizations. These organizations are raising money in the Global North and doing work in the Global South, with the intended benefit to less economically developed communities. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in activism and calls by organizations in both the Global North and South for localization of development, humanitarian aid, and peacebuilding efforts in an attempt to address unequal North-South power dynamics. Since 2006, OneVillage Partners has worked to address multidimensional poverty in Sierra Leone by investing in individuals and communities to help them address their own challenges, providing targeted project facilitation and monetary support for communities to lead their own development, and connecting individuals and leaders with one another across communities to amplify their collective voices and actions for broader impact. Beginning in 2020, OneVillage Partners increased its commitment to “decolonize” their work and more fully shift power to local people in Sierra Leone. This article will provide context on the changing nature of the international development industry and outline steps OneVillage Partners has taken to operationalize the localization narrative, challenges they have encountered, and ideas for the future.

Interview with Christophe Hodder, the United Nations Climate Security and Environmental Advisor to Somalia, United Nations Environment Programme

This is an interview with Christophe Hodder, the United Nations Climate Security and Environmental Advisor to Somalia, United Nations Environment Programme. In the interview, Hodder explains why it is so important for conventional security practitioners to build environmental considerations into peacebuilding. He explains how natural resource conflicts between groups are key sites of contestation in Somalia, more salient as the country experiences climate change. He talks about how militant groups use resource and resource conflicts to their advantage. Resolving natural resource conflicts is also important entry points for action, for addressing sources of conflict and building a foundation for peace. In the current moment, even as Somalia is beset by a difficult drought, it is important to work on long-run peacebuilding efforts through environmental restoration. Hodder provides examples of river bank protection programs and water catchment as areas ripe for cooperation.