Challenges of Constructing Legitimacy in Peacebuilding

Challenges of Constructing Legitimacy in Peacebuilding
Author: Daisaku Higashi
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2015-02-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317531787

Peacebuilding is a critical issue in world politics. Surprisingly, however, there has not been a full examination of concrete policies and implementation strategies to generate legitimacy in "host states" by either international relations (IR) theorists or practitioners. The objective of this book is to develop an understanding of the mechanisms for constructing—or eroding—the legitimacy of newly created governments in post-conflict peacebuilding environments. The book argues that although existing accounts in the literature contend that compliance with key political programs, and constructing legitimacy in peacebuilding, largely depend on the levels of force (guns) and resource distribution (money) aimed at people who are governed, there are other significant factors, such as inclusive governments reconciling with old enemies, and the substantial role of international organizations (IOs) as credible third parties to establish fairness and impartiality within the political process. Highashi focuses on an in-depth analysis of the challenges involved in creating a legitimate government in Afghanistan, focusing on disarmament programs with powerful warlords, and the reconciliation efforts with the insurgency, especially the Taliban. In the conclusion the book also examines three complimentary cases—Iraq, East Timor, and Sierra Leone—which consistently support the argument presented earlier This work will be of interest to students and scholars of peacebuilding and conflict resolution as well as international relations more broadly.

Inclusivity in Mediation and Peacebuilding

Inclusivity in Mediation and Peacebuilding
Author: Higashi, Daisaku
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2022-01-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1800880529

This cutting-edge book illuminates the key characteristics of inclusivity in mediation during armed conflicts and post-conflict peacebuilding. Daisaku Higashi illustrates the importance of mediators taking flexible approaches to inclusivity in arbitration during armed conflicts, highlighting the crucial balance between the need to select conflicting parties to make an agreement feasible and the need to include a multiplicity of parties to make the peace sustainable. Higashi also emphasizes the importance of inclusive processes in the phase of post-conflict peacebuilding.

Local Legitimacy and International Peace Intervention

Local Legitimacy and International Peace Intervention
Author: Oliver P. Richmond
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-07-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1474466281

This edited volume focuses on disentangling the interplay of local peacebuilding processes and international policy, via comparative theoretical and empirical work on the question of legitimacy and authority.

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Approaches to Peace

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Approaches to Peace
Author: Aigul Kulnazarova
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 779
Release: 2018-12-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319789058

With existing literature focusing largely on Western perspectives of peace and their applications, a global understanding of peace is much needed. Spurred by more recent debates and discourses that criticize the dominant realist and liberal approaches for crises in contemporary state- and peace-building, the contributors to this handbook emphasize not only the need to solve this eternal conundrum of humanity, but also demand—with the rise of increasingly more violent conflicts in international relations—the development of a global interpretive framework for peace and security. To this end, the present handbook examines conceptual, institutional and normative interpretive approaches for making, building and promoting peace in the context of roles played by state and non-state actors within local, national, regional, and global units of analysis.

Legitimacy in Peacebuilding

Legitimacy in Peacebuilding
Author: Franzisca Zanker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2017-09-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134861303

The book offers a critical analysis of legitimacy in peacebuilding, with a focus on peace negotiations and civil society participation in particular. The aim of this book is to unpack the meaning of legitimacy for the population in peacebuilding processes and the relationship this has with civil society involvement. There is a growing consensus for addressing local concerns in peacebuilding, with the aim of ensuring local ownership. Moreover, scholars have noted a relationship between civil society inclusion in peace negotiations and legitimacy. Yet, the very idea of legitimacy remains a black box. Using data from original empirical fieldwork – including over 100 semi-structured interviews and 12 focus group discussions – the book focuses on two case studies of negotiations that, respectively, ended a long civil war in Liberia in 2003 and ended the post-election violence in Kenya in 2008. It argues that civil society involvement is conceptually insufficient to show a multidimensional understanding of legitimacy. Instead, the book shows a complex picture of legitimate peace negotiations, based on outcome and participation-based characteristics with the involvement of both ‘guarantors’ of legitimacy and a more general civic agency which includes the general population. Through forms of participative communication, the passive audience become active stakeholders in the construction of legitimacy. This has repercussions for how we think about civil society and peacebuilding more generally. This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, conflict resolution, security studies and IR in general.

Obstacles to Peacebuilding

Obstacles to Peacebuilding
Author: Graciana del Castillo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2017-03-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1315466392

Combining the insights of a seasoned practitioner with the academic rigor of a meticulous policy and risk analyst, del Castillo discusses the major obstacles to peacebuilding that need to be removed before war-torn countries can move towards peace, stability, and prosperity. As Secretary-General António Guterres assumes leadership in January 2017, a top priority must be to address the bleak peacebuilding record where over half of the countries under UN watch relapse back into conflict within a decade. While policy debate and the academic literature have focused on the security, political, and social aspects of the war-to-peace transition, this book focuses on "the economic transition"—that is, "economic reconstruction" or "the political economy of peace"—which, in the author’s view, is the much-neglected aspect of peacebuilding. The book argues that rebuilding war-torn states effectively has acquired a new sense of urgency since extremist groups increasingly recruit people by providing jobs and services to those deprived of them due to government and economic failures. Based on past lessons and best practices of the last quarter of a century, the author makes recommendations to move forward and improve the record. It will be of great use to students and scholars of peacebuilding, as well as policymakers in national governments, donor countries and international organizations involved in peacebuilding, statebuilding, and development.

Everyday Resistance, Peacebuilding and State-making

Everyday Resistance, Peacebuilding and State-making
Author: Marta Iñiguez de Heredia
Publisher:
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2017
Genre: Congo (Democratic Republic)
ISBN: 9781526108760

'Everyday resistance, peacebuilding and state-making' addresses debates on the liberal peace and the policies of peacebuilding through a theoretical and empirical study of resistance in peacebuilding contexts. Examining the case of 'Africa's World War' in the DRC, it locates resistance in the experiences of war, peacebuilding and state-making by exploring discourses, violence and everyday forms of survival as quotidian acts that attempt to challenge or mitigate such experiences. The analysis of resistance offers a possibility to bring the historical and sociological aspects of both peacebuilding and the case of the DRC, providing new nuanced understanding on these processes and the particular case. The book also makes a significant contribution to the theorisation of resistance in International Relations.--Publisher's website.

Historical Dictionary of Human Rights

Historical Dictionary of Human Rights
Author: Jacques Fomerand
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 973
Release: 2021-03-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1538123061

The second edition of Historical Dictionary of Human Rights explores both the theory and the practice of international human rights with a focus on the norms and institutions that make up the “architecture” of the global human rights regime and the tools, processes and procedures through which such norms are realized and “enforced.” Particular attention is given to the contextual political and sociological factors that shape and constrain the operation and functioning of international human rights institutions and their state and non-state actors. This is done through a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 1.000 cross-referenced entries on terminology, conventions, treaties, intergovernmental organizations in the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations, as well as some of the pioneers and defenders. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about human rights.

War, Human Dignity and Nation Building

War, Human Dignity and Nation Building
Author: Gary D. Badcock
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2010-08-11
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1443824348

Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan is the longest martial conflict in its history precipitated literally overnight by a world changing event in the 2001 9/11 attack in New York City. In 2010, the Afghan “Mission” remains front page news for Canadians, even threatening to undermine the Federal Government due to the so-called “Detainee Scandal.” The human cost (Canadian and Afghan), financial burdens and impact on the self-perception of Canadians as a peace keeping “Middle-Power” are immense and likely will form a watershed in Canadian history. And yet, the “Mission” remains little scrutinized by faith communities, and further, left as a non-conversation for many and the domain of a nebulous foreign policy and largely toothless Manley Report. This volume is the first such major attempt by the Centre for Public Theology to bring together theologians, philosophers, faith leaders, NGOs, politicians and other academics from sociology, politics and peace-keeping in order to dialogue about the impact of the Afghan “Mission.” These papers form much of the conversation of a conference held in May 2009 at the Centre for Public Theology. The papers offer reflections on the Manley Report, investigations on the theological and philosophical issues at play in Canada’s response, interaction with Canada’s shift from “peace-keeping” to “war-fighting” and the new NATO mandate, thoughts on the role of Islamic nations and analysis of the role of the Abrahamic faith communities in this wider Canadian conversation. The Centre for Public Theology is a federally funded research centre housed at Huron University College whose mandate is to bring into conversation academics, NGOs, media, Government and the public on issues of public policy and life with a particular attention to the role of religion in Canadian life. Its founding motto is “intelligence, not advocacy.” It is not an advocacy or lobbying centre, instead seeking only to facilitate dialogue across boundaries. Its webpage can be found at www.publictheology.org.

The Peacebuilding Puzzle

The Peacebuilding Puzzle
Author: Naazneen Barma
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2017
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1107169313

Demonstrates how post-conflict elites interact with international peacebuilding interventions to construct hybrid political orders over time. This title is also available as Open Access.