Decolonising Peacebuilding

Exploring the conflict management trajectories of Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka, this book engages in a discussion that highlights the importance of ‘decolonising’ approaches to peacebuilding and conflict management in deeply divided societies. Existing knowledge on the topic is largely produced in the Western academy, using global North-centric approaches. This book, written by a researcher from the global South who navigates the political life of a deeply divided society in Western Europe, begins a conversation on a new, 21st century re-conceptualization of ethno-national conflict in deeply divided societies, based on a paradigm of decolonising. This book will appeal to policymakers and practitioners in peacebuilding and related areas worldwide, and students of peace and conflict studies, as well as a general readership with an interest in decolonial approaches to world politics.

This book focuses on how Indigenous knowledge and methodologies can contribute towards the decolonisation of peace and conflict studies (PACS). It shows how Indigenous knowledge is essential to ensure that PACS research is relevant, respectful, accurate, and non-exploitative of Indigenous Peoples, in an effort to reposition Indigenous perspectives and contexts through Indigenous experiences, voices, and research processes, to provide balance to the power structures within this discipline. It includes critiques of ethnocentrism within PACS scholarship, and how both research areas can be brought together to challenge the violence of colonialism, and the colonialism of the institutions and structures within which decolonising researchers are working. Contributions in the book cover Indigenous research in Aotearoa, Australia, The Caribbean, Hawai'i, Israel, Mexico, Nigeria, Palestine, Philippines, Samoa, USA, and West Papua.

In this book 25 authors from the Global South (19) and the Global North (6) address conflicts, security, peace, gender, environment and development. Four parts cover I) peace research epistemology; II) conflicts, families and vulnerable people; III) peacekeeping, peacebuilding and transitional justice; and IV) peace and education. Part I deals with peace ecology, transformative peace, peaceful societies, Gandhi’s non-violent policy and disobedient peace. Part II discusses urban climate change, climate rituals, conflicts in Kenya, the sexual abuse of girls, farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria, wartime sexual violence facing refugees, the traditional conflict and peacemakingprocess of Kurdish tribes, Hindustani family shame, and communication with Roma. Part III analyses norms of peacekeeping, violent non-state actors in Brazil, the art of peace in Mexico, grass-roots post-conflict peacebuilding in Sulawesi, hydrodiplomacyin the Indus River Basin, the Rohingya refugee crisis, and transitional justice. Part IV assesses SDGs and peace in India, peace education in Nepal, and infrastructure-based development and peace in West Papua. • Peer-reviewed texts prepared for the 27th Conference of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) in 2018 in Ahmedabad in India.• Contributions from two pioneers of global peace research:a foreword by Johan Galtung from Norway and a preface by Betty Reardon from the United States.• Innovative case studies by peace researchers on decolonising conflicts, security, peace, gender, environment and development in the Anthropocene, the new epoch of earth and human history.• New theoretical perspectives by senior and junior scholars from Europe and Latin America on peace ecology, transformative peace, peaceful societies, and Gandhi’s non-violence policy.• Case studies on climate change, SDGs and peace in India; conflicts in Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico; Roma in Hungary;the refugee crisis in Bangladesh; peace action in Indonesia and India/Pakistan; and peace education in Nepal.

This is a thought provoking study, which through a blend of theory, activism, and detailed empiricism, exposes a paradox at the heart of peace thinking: the tension between colonial and universalist epistemology and liberation or self determination. It is a much needed contribution. Prof. Oliver Richmond Univ. of Manchester Author of "The Transformation of Peace" (2007) In this book, Victoria Fontan questions the pre-established assumptions that exist in peace and conflict studies, and brings forward an alternative epistemology that relates to non-conventional initiatives for peace that exist in various parts of the world. She argues that the first step toward decolonizing peace and conflict studies must be our realization that we are powerless in facing the destruction and injustices that we invariably bring with our peace. Victoria Fontan is Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies and Head, Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. She conducted field research in Lebanon, post-Saddam Iraq, DR Congo, Somaliland and Kashmir. Recently, she has been exploring post-liberal dimensions of Peace and Conflict Studies.

Building, or re-building, states after war or crisis is a contentious process. But why? Sabaratnam argues that to best answer the question, we need to engage with the people who are supposedly benefiting from international ‘expertise’. This book challenges and enhances standard ‘critical’ narratives of statebuilding by exploring the historical experiences and interpretive frameworks of the people targeted by intervention. Drawing on face-to-face interviews, archival research, policy reviews and in-country participant-observations carried out over several years, the author challenges assumptions underpinning external interventions, such as the incapacity of ‘local’ agents to govern and the necessity of ‘liberal’ values in demanding better governance. The analysis focuses on Mozambique, long hailed as one of international donors’ great success stories, but whose peaceful, prosperous, democratic future now hangs in the balance. The conclusions underscore the significance of thinking with rather than for the targets of state-building assistance, and appreciating the historical and material conditions which underpin these reform efforts. Click on the Features Tab for Open Access to this title.

In this book 25 authors from the Global South (19) and the Global North (6) address conflicts, security, peace, gender, environment and development. Four parts cover I) peace research epistemology; II) conflicts, families and vulnerable people; III) peacekeeping, peacebuilding and transitional justice; and IV) peace and education. Part I deals with peace ecology, transformative peace, peaceful societies, Gandhi's non-violent policy and disobedient peace. Part II discusses urban climate change, climate rituals, conflicts in Kenya, the sexual abuse of girls, farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria, wartime sexual violence facing refugees, the traditional conflict and peacemakingprocess of Kurdish tribes, Hindustani family shame, and communication with Roma. Part III analyses norms of peacekeeping, violent non-state actors in Brazil, the art of peace in Mexico, grass-roots post-conflict peacebuilding in Sulawesi, hydrodiplomacyin the Indus River Basin, the Rohingya refugee crisis, and transitional justice. Part IV assesses SDGs and peace in India, peace education in Nepal, and infrastructure-based development and peace in West Papua. • Peer-reviewed texts prepared for the 27th Conference of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) in 2018 in Ahmedabad in India. • Contributions from two pioneers of global peace research:a foreword by Johan Galtung from Norway and a preface by Betty Reardon from the United States. • Innovative case studies by peace researchers on decolonising conflicts, security, peace, gender, environment and development in the Anthropocene, the new epoch of earth and human history. • New theoretical perspectives by senior and junior scholars from Europe and Latin America on peace ecology, transformative peace, peaceful societies, and Gandhi's non-violence policy. • Case studies on climate change, SDGs and peace in India; conflicts in Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico; Roma in Hungary;the refugee crisis in Bangladesh; peace action in Indonesia and India/Pakistan; and peace education in Nepal.

An investigation of what consolidating religion as a technology of peacebuilding and development does to people's accounts of their religious and cultural traditions and why interreligious peacebuilding entrenches colonial legacies in the present. Throughout the global south, local and international organizations are frequent participants in peacebuilding projects that focus on interreligious dialogue. Yet as Atalia Omer argues in Decolonizing Religion and Peacebuilding, the effects of their efforts are often perverse, reinforcing neocolonial practices and disempowering local religious actors. Based on empirical research of inter and intra-religious peacebuilding practices in Kenya and the Philippines, Omer identifies two paradoxical findings: first, religious peacebuilding practices are both empowering and depoliticizing and, second, more doing of religion does not necessarily denote deeper or more critical religious literacy. Further, she shows that these religious actors generate decolonial openings regardless of how closed or open their religious communities are. Hence, religion's occasional usefulness in peacebuilding does not necessarily mean justice-oriented outcomes. The book not only uses decolonial and intersectional prisms to expose the entrenched and ongoing colonial dynamics operative in religion and the practices of peacebuilding and development in the global South, but it also speaks to decolonial theory through stories of transformation and survival.

This book analyses efforts to advance the rights of Indigenous People within peace-building frameworks: Section I critically explores key issues concerning Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (struggles for land, human, cultural, civil, legal and constitutional rights) in connection with key approaches in peace-building (such as nonviolence, non-violent strategic action, peace education, sustainability, gender equality, cultures of peace, and environmental protection). Section II examines indigenous leaders and movements using peace and non-violent strategies, while Section III presents case studies on the successes and failures of peace perspectives regarding contributions to/ developments in/ advancement of/ barriers to the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Lastly, Section IV investigates what advances have been achieved in Universal Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the 21st century within the context of sustainable peace.