Sustainable Peacebuilding Research Articles

Is Custom a Tool for Remedying or Reinforcing Social Inequalities? New Strategies for Dialogue and Peace in Maluku, Indonesia

Maluku experienced one of Indonesia’s most serious conflicts following the fall of Suharto in 1998. The peaceful reconciliation that eventually occurred is reported to be mainly based on tradition (adat) to rebuild bridges between the religious communities. However, emphasis on processes of peacebuilding through inter religious dialogue and lack of support for interethnic or intergenerational dialogue have enhanced forms of social inequality. This article engages with selected village communities in Ambon and West Seram, where, assisted by a few local representatives, I identified three potential fields for creative peacebuilding that also aim to address emerging inequalities: identity building based on local traditions, protection of the environment and interethnic dialogue. Examples of locally rooted measures with potential for sustained peacebuilding include the Pukul Sapu ceremony in Morela (Ambon), the sasi ritual in Niwelehu (Seram) and building relations between diverse ethnic groups based on religion.

Tajik Coaches’ experiences in a sport for development program using systems theory: a longitudinal investigation

ABSTRACT Purpose We used systems theory with the structural, attitudinal, and transactional (SAT) model of peace building to explore coaches’ process and content of change after receiving sport for development and peace (SDP) training in Tajikistan. Research methods Six Tajik grassroots youth coaches from the Sport for Social Change Tajikistan (SSC-T) program participated in data collection over a four-year span. A longitudinal participatory approach utilizing interviews, journals, and guided discussion was analyzed using content analysis. Results and Findings Data indicated that in early stages of the program, micro-attitudinal changes were being made by the participants, with more transactional changes over time with a hint of structural, macro-level changes in the schools and community at the four-year mark. More specifically, we identified five themes across time: (1) girls’ involvement, (2) positive coaching approaches, (3) incorporation of peaceful living skills, (4) cultural awareness, and (5) collaboration and community impact. Implications Results revealed that over time participants moved from micro-level individual change to more structural level change in local Tajik communities; thus, providing evidence for the SAT model of peace building as a framework (Ricigliano, 2012. Making peace last: A toolbox for sustainable peacebuilding. Routledge).

Cooperative for Sustainable Peace-Building and Survival Strategy of Post COVID-19 in Nigeria

This study underscored the avalanche opportunity of range of cooperative principles intrinsic in sustainable peace-building and survival strategy of post covid-19 in Nigeria, which has not been the focus of any study. Data for the study were collected through simple random sampling technique in which 216 cooperatives were randomly selected and questionnaire were filled and returned. Using mean rating of 5-piont Likert scale analysis and a theoretical mean value of 3.0 was taken as a criterion to judge. The One-sample t-test result revealed that avalanche opportunity of rage of cooperative principles assist cooperatives on effective peace-building and survival strategy of post covid-19 in Nigeria. This revealed that cooperative governance is more open and democratic, keeping the capital in the local community, member motivations is a key driver of future participations, there is focusing of fairness for those who are most disadvantaged, desire for reward and self-advancement and equitable distribution of dividends based on patronage. The study recommends that cooperatives required pursuing both economic and social objectives for peace-building and survival strategy of post covid-19 in Nigeria. Cooperatives should provide a pool of funds from which disadvantaged members take loans and ensuring that members receive the lowest prices. Also, cooperative should generate returns that could be shared as dividends based on patronage to members periodically.

When the Peace Generation is a Hundred Years Away… Youth, Citizenship, and Democracy in Times of Transition to Peace in Colombia

Efforts to consolidate a democratic citizenry are salient in societies transitioning to peace. These endeavors have spawned educational approaches to promote democratic skills, behaviors, and values in young citizens. Yet normative civic framings do not always align with students’ lived experiences, nor with their everyday decisions and expectations. Drawing from in-depth interviews with students in Leticia, Colombia, this study discusses youth understandings about citizenship in relation to the current political process. Findings provide a textured view of how young citizens participate in their civic subjectification through negotiated meanings and values they grant to the peace process and the prospects for sustained peacebuilding. Students’ perspectives prompt us to consider more comprehensive civic practices and frameworks that resonate with their everyday lives and the increasingly challenges of disrupting protracted violence and its legacies.

GOVERNMENTAL EXPENDITURE REVIEW OF THE EDUCATION SECTOR IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: 2005-2016

As the education sector is gaining increasing attention in international debates for sustainable peace building, it is important to analyze the conditions under which education is taking place. The provision of education in conflict-affected and fragile countries is challenging. The Congolese education sector is characterized by a gradual retreat of the state in the provision of education and an increasing authority and decision-making power of local actors. The predominance of uncodified practical norms causes constant negotiations between different actors. The main purpose of this study is to identify the DRC’ priorities for education policy and present options in order to assist the government in developing an education strategy. This is necessary for preparing the government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and a program of assistance for the education sector by external donors. Furthermore, this is to explore the “efficiency, effectiveness and equity of public expenditure of the education sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo” i.e. to evaluate the strength of the linkages between different levels and determine how the structure of the DRC’s education activities can guide the choice of development. Qualitative analysis and documentary research method have been used for data collection and desk review. The results of this research showed that on one hand, the country continues to emerge from a prolonged economic crisis, political instability and war which have had serious negative impacts on the education system. On the other hand, the education remains the true alchemy that can bring DRC its next golden age. To cope with this, reform measures continue to be adopted with a view to economic recovery, with special focus on open education for all by improving access, equality and equity, job creation and reducing poverty in order to improve the living conditions of each. Article visualizations:

Peacebuilding Functions of International Environmental Governance

This article seeks to focus on ‘peacebuilding’ as a construct of peace among groups that have previously been in conflict. This calls for moving beyond peacemaking and conflict resolution to consider the longer-term efforts at establishing sustainable peace. Notwithstanding the longstanding efforts of UNEP’s Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch, there has been very limited development of international normative and institutional structures targeting the process of post-conflict sustainable peacebuilding. The article considers how far the current international environmental governance (IEG) regimes are responsive to the specific challenges to post-conflict situations. It seeks to briefly consider four key characteristics of IEG regimes: (i) Ad- hoc and subject specific; (ii) Incremental and facilitative; (iii) Degree of reciprocity; and (iv) Science-based.

Indigenous knowledge of conflict resolution for transformative peace building: Amare of Jama Woreda, Amhara - Ethiopia

The paper focuses on the role of indigenous knowledge system in the quest for conflict resolution and sustainable peace building. The data were collected from key informants, in-depth interview, focus group discussion, and document analysis. To this end, purposive sampling is used to select the participants. The finding has revealed the existence of many local and community based customary practices and indigenous conflict resolution institutions. Among them is the Amare Council of Elders a well-known and formally recognized mediation and reconciliation mechanism to deal with range of conflicts from simple disputes to horrifying murder acts. There are customary practices and ritual cleansing ceremonies used by Amare in blood feud reconciliation and non-homicide. The prominent ways and modes that have been practiced by Amare conciliators in mediation and blood feud reconciliation include Bele (a kind of swearing to do or not to do something), Arami (a payment from murderer’s family to temporarily calm the issue until Guma will pay) and Guma (blood price during reconciliation). Nevertheless, from transformative peace building perspective, as per the finding currently Amare Shimglina is imperceptible due to the challenges emerged from the community, formal justice actors and conciliators themselves. As a result of these, the paper suggests the need to empowerment and up-keeping of indigenous knowledge systems of conflict resolution for developing comprehensive restorative justice mechanism in the study area. Key words: Amare, indigenous, conflict resolution, peace building, Jama Woreda.

Forgiveness, restorative justice and reconciliation in sustainable peacebuilding: contemporary debates and future possibilities

ABSTRACT Since the mid 1990s, growing attention has been given in the scholarly debate and in the public sphere to forgiveness, restorative justice and reconciliation in peacebuilding. These concepts have been reflected upon and highlighted as core components of restoring right relationships and in sustainable peacebuilding: at first focusing mainly on individuals and relations between them and later as well on relations of communities and states in the public sphere. Attempts to better understand forgiveness and reconciliation in relation to peacebuilding have to address also the critical issue of how to safeguard and integrate processes of justice into peace processes. After first clarifying the distinction between retributive and restorative justice, this article considers core findings of Daniel Philpott, John Paul Lederach and Leonel Narvaez in their peacebuilding studies and considers selected, contemporary reconciliation and peace initiatives. The article argues that forgiveness, restorative justice and reconciliation processes should be further mainstreamed and integrated as part of any standard response to major conflicts and wars by national political bodies, religious communities and religious/secular NGOs, international organisations, agencies and institutions: in order to positively and sustainably resolve and transform conflicts, wars and violence between groups, and to build sustainable peace.

Ending impunity for gender crimes: Access to justice for violence against women and its contribution to sustainable peace building in Rwanda.

This paper seeks to establish the contribution of Accessible justice to ending impunity for violence against women. Consequently, it investigates how far availing legal remedies to victims of violence against women leads to sustainable peace building in Rwanda. In doing so, the study adopts a case of Access to Justice Bureaus- a judicial service established by the government of Rwanda to help people have access to free legal remedies. Based on data collected from fifty five in-depth interviews and six focus group discussions in the four provinces and Kigali city, findings reveal that through free legal representation, community mobilization, formation of gender dialogue groups and multi-sectoral collaboration, Access to Justice Bureaus have played an important role in combatting impunity to violence against women. Conversely, findings also point to a number of challenges that need to be addressed if violence against women is to be fully eradicated.

Forging Peace in Damascus: On International Aid, Localized Elite Bargaining, and Insider Mediators

Scholarship identified the present and future of war as increasingly characterized by urbanization and political-economic actors that Western international assistance defines as ‘illicit’, ‘illiberal’ or ‘criminal’. This article asks how Western international assistance could and should shape war-to-peace transitions for contributing to the emergence of lasting non-violent ‘peaces’. It combines scholarly insights from ‘pragmatic peacebuilding’ scholarship and practice with interviews and grey literature on masterplanning projects in two neighborhoods in Damascus, Syria, that are prepared for ‘reconstruction’ or ‘redevelopment’, namely Qaboun and Basateen al-Razi. Thereby, it, on the one hand, challenges current approaches that, as in the case of Syria, presume that macropolitical pressure, diplomacy, and sanctions would forge an enduring outcome. It argues that ‘peace’ must be recognized as an order that is particular to a given time, space, and their inherent relations of political-economic actors (political settlements) and is, thus, changeable and expandable to including more people’s interests and subject matters. On the other hand, it promotes an elongation and bridging of the emerging consensuses across the reviewed literatures that supporting local actors who are recognized and respected as mediators by all relevant conflict parties provide for a fruitful avenue to expanding the inclusivity of peaces and their underlying political settlements. This adds to the repertoire of newly emerging sustainable peacebuilding methods and signposts towards further studies of ‘localized elite bargaining’.

Mutual complicity, state irrelevance, and restorative justice: Dagbon’s future in dire need of reciprocal royal forgiveness

ABSTRACT This article is a phenomenological account of the grievances that the two royal gates openly express as the main issues that have cumulatively shaped the conflict and which may decide the future contours of the conflict. It relies on the findings from the qualitative interviews conducted with the key protagonists of each gate, their sympathizers, and the custodians of the kingdom. Having acknowledged the intractability of the conflict and its complications, it explains the study’s methodology and the colonial roots of the conflict. The article also analyses how the post-colonial state mismanaged the Dagbon crisis with its centralist intrusions. Moreover, it reviews the literature on restorative justice highlighting its conceptualisation, dimensions, relevance, status vis-à-vis the criminal justice system, and its challenges in conflict resolution. Also, it explores the core grievances of the two royal gates in the light of cultural interpretations and the apparent contradictions. Furthermore, while it investigates the prospects of a traditional dispute resolution mechanism in a bid to restore justice and set the kingdom on the path of sustainable peacebuilding, it questions the excitement that accompanied the 2019 instalment of a new Yaa-Naa and warns about the dangers of a politically motivated conflict settlement that may backfire.

Sustainable peacebuilding and development in Nigeria's post‐amnesty programme: The role of corporate social responsibility in oil host communities

The activities and violence of militants in the Niger Delta which saw the capacity for production of oil in Nigeria fall to an all‐time low resulted in federal government of Nigeria announcing the Presidential Amnesty Programme in return for peace in the region. We examine how the multinational oil companies corporate social responsibility impact on entrepreneurship development and job creations to absorb the youths. A total of 1,200 youths were sampled across the nine states of Niger Delta. Results from the use of estimated logit model reveal that general memorandum of understanding interventions are prevalent with communities with greater ownership creating room for better projects, sustainability and improved trust; yet the interventions failed to make significant impact on entrepreneurship development and job creations. Clearly, facilitating how youths get involved in skill acquisition and empowerment programmes would help them become entrepreneurs, improving their self‐assurance that they can prosper outside militancy activities and violence.

Statebuilding in the Peace Agreements of Sudan and South Sudan

ABSTRACT This article presents a retrospective analysis of the principal peace agreements to emanate from the North–South conflict in Sudan and the civil war in South Sudan. In doing so, it argues that statebuilding practices dating back to the inception of the Sudanese state continue to inform and undermine contemporary efforts to resolve the conflicts in both countries. The article makes a unique contribution by linking the legacy of peace agreements in Sudan and South Sudan to the crises of governance that plague both countries today. In doing so, it seeks to further the discussion on statebuilding as part of a broader strategy of sustainable peacebuilding and transitional justice.

Sustainable Peace Building and Development in Nigeria’s Post-Amnesty Programme: The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Oil Host Communities

The activities and violence of militants in the Niger Delta which saw the capacity for production of oil in Nigeria fall to an all-time low resulted in the federal government of Nigeria (FGN) announcing the Presidential Amnesty Programme in return for peace in the region. We examine how multinational oil companies’ (MOCs’) corporate social responsibility (CSR) impact on entrepreneurship development and job creation to absorb the youths. 1200 youths were sampled across the nine states of Niger Delta. Results from the use of estimated logit model reveal that GMoU interventions are prevalent in communities with greater ownership, creating room for better projects, sustainability and improved trust; yet the interventions failed to make significant impact on entrepreneurship development and job creation. Clearly, facilitating how youths get involved in skill acquisition and empowerment programmes would help them become entrepreneurs, improving their self-assurance that they can prosper outside militancy activities and violence.

New wars in North eastern Nigeria: Towards overcoming the challenges of sustainable peacebuilding

New wars in North eastern Nigeria: Towards overcoming the challenges of sustainable peacebuilding

Beyond identity lines: women building peace in Northern Ireland and the Korean peninsula

This article explores the challenges and contributions of women in building and sustaining peace in protracted conflicts by conducting a comparative case study on Northern Ireland and Korea. Similarities in the histories of the conflicts and the concurrences in the peace processes have been attracting policy makers and researchers to share lessons between the Northern Ireland and Korean peace processes. However, the peacebuilding role of women and their transversal perspective have not yet received significant attention compared to the high-level agreements, signed predominantly by male politicians. This article identifies the similarities in the peacebuilding activities of women in Northern Ireland and Korea, in terms of their recognition of the interconnection between identity politics and patriarchy, building relationships across the divide through transversal dialogue, and initiating nonviolent peace movements against the militarism of their societies. The comparative case study also shows dissimilarities between the two cases, with regard to the freedom of women to move beyond boundaries, and being part of the official peace process. This article concludes the role of women in both contexts is a key element in sustainable peacebuilding; however, it appears that women’s peacebuilding would not be able to reach its full potential to break down violent structures in conflict-affected societies, as long as their transversal perspective remains at the level of social movement, not part of peacebuilding at all levels of societies, including high-level negotiations.

The role of school curriculum in sustainable peace-building: The case of Sri Lanka

The civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended in 2009, with total defeat of the LTTE and many thousands of civilian casualties. The country is now engaged in peace-building. Key elements of the secondary school curriculum – truth-seeking, social cohesion and active citizenship – may contribute to this. Six state secondary schools serving different ethnic and religious groups were selected for qualitative research into how far this is the case. Data was collected on the application of knowledge, skills and values in lessons, extra-curricular programmes and whole school culture. The analysis suggests that truth-seeking is weak, with no teaching about the historical roots of the conflict or contemporary issues. There are efforts to build leadership skills and impart democratic values, but the critical thinking and discussion skills necessary for social cohesion and active citizenship are largely absent. The findings are discussed in relation to evidence from Uganda, Cambodia and Northern Ireland.

Wholly local? ownership as philosophy and practice in peacebuilding interventions

ABSTRACTThis paper engages with the theme of local ownership in peacebuilding from a practice-based perspective which suggests that the way in which the external actors reach out and work with local constituencies shows conceptual and practice gaps that limit the applicability of local ownership in day-to-day peacebuilding operations. We examine how, in the case of EU peacebuilding policies, such gaps impair the potential for effective, inclusive and sustainable peacebuilding. Using a whole-of-society (WOS) lens, the paper demonstrates how current modalities of EU engagement fail to embrace the diversity of local society and its authentic forms of mobilisation and action in order to pursue peacebuilding objectives that resonate with locally relevant forms of peace. The paper further reflects on how WOS perspective can provide pointers for enhancing peacebuilding practices in this area.

Old Slogans Ringing Hollow? The Legacy of Social Engineering, Statebuilding and the ‘Dilemma of Difference’ in (Post-) Soviet Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACTThis article illustrates the ‘dilemma of difference’ of post-conflict peacebuilding in the Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia. Following inter-communal clashes in 2010, the country has received significant support in the form of peacebuilding and conflict prevention programmes and aid. Still, national policy makers retained their sovereignty and carried out peacebuilding in line with the country’s historical legacy and cultural specificities. I illustrate the ‘dilemma of difference’ precluding sustainable peacebuilding and conflict transformation in this context because, as Minow argues, difference and the disadvantage and stigma associated with it is either silenced and ignored or over-emphasised, leading to marginalisation through victimisation. I trace the establishment of a territorialised and essentialised understanding of ethnicity through the social transformations of Kyrgyzstan in the early Soviet and the post-Soviet period. I then show how, since the ‘2010 events’, authorities attempted to do peacebuilding and conflict prevention with appeals to multicultural peace and diversity through the Soviet-era idea of ‘people’s friendship’. Such efforts and corresponding peacebuilding initiatives in southern Kyrgyzstani communities face, as I show, inherent contradictions given exclusionary national-level language and cultural policies and a focus on donor satisfaction which serve to brush over reported tensions, exclusion and conflict.

Feminist perspectives on peacebuilding: The case of women’s organisations in South Sudan

abstractIn the past few decades there has been increased feminist scholarship in the area of conflict and peacebuilding, with calls for the inclusion of previously marginalised feminist and women’s perspectives to peacebuilding as well as examination of the processes that have sanctioned these exclusions. Feminists have argued that women’s daily experiences and struggles enable them to articulate different perspectives on peacebuilding that challenges dominant male discourse on conflict and peacebuilding. Black and African feminist scholars have further called for openness to the multiplicity and diversity of women’s experiences, including in situations of conflict and post-conflict. This article builds on feminist theorising in the area of peacebuilding by drawing on an empirical study conducted in South Sudan, a newly formed state after decades of war, on the strategies adopted by women’s organisations in peacebuilding initiatives.After South Sudan came out of decades of war it became imperative for peacebuilding to take place in order to prevent relapses. The findings of the study revealed that peace processes in South Sudan continue to exclude women from the peacebuilding strategic plans. The women, however, in exercising agency adopted a bottom-up approach within which they were largely involved in peacebuilding at grassroots level. Although this grassroots movement is suitable for sustainable peacebuilding, this article calls for the involvement of women at multiple levels. In building on feminist interventions in the area of peacebuilding, it advocates for an integrated approach to peacebuilding which entails bottom-up, horizontal and top-bottom approaches in which women are involved at all levels of decision-making.