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The research study and findings presented in this work underscore the necessity to design and develop effective strategies for inter-paradigm dialogue and discourse for peacebuilding. The study argues that adoption and application of appropriate dialogue strategies impact and engender the nurturing and emergence of a culture of leadership that can foster sustainable peace. Dialogue and discourse processes are considered as being intricately connected to processes of conflict transformation and resolution, and linkages of dialogue, peacebuilding and leadership are mirrored in macro- and micro- spaces of engagement, namely, much contested cultural, political and economic spaces in which myriad and diverse perspectives reside. The potential for peace, it is argued, substantially lies in the formulation and design of contextually-relevant frameworks for equitable and sustainable socio-economic development, and macro-micro intersections play themselves out in the dialogue field within which societies and individuals can seek and strive to anticipate, accommodate, attain and enact their life wisdoms into peaceful systems of co-existence. This view also speaks to the issue of how consensual and sustainable global and regional collaborative enterprise requires the parallel accompaniment of well-configured partnerships in support of cultural responsiveness and social cohesion. Through discussion of appropriate methodologies of dialogue and discourse, the identification and statement of objectives for this study, as well as the design, elaboration and configuration of its research framework, aimed to contribute towards furthering debate surrounding the integration of prevailing theoretical approaches, in order to gain a better understanding of the linkages and dynamics between peacebuilding initiatives, conflict resolution processes, and effective and sustainable leadership. Dialogue is adopted as the key component in the design of an effective model and architecture for peace building. The enquiry underscores emerging gaps that require addressing, and which may then highlight zones of ambiguity, or dialectics between action and practice, and between researcher and practitioner.

Defence date: 30 May 2016 ; Examining Board: Prof. Christian Reus-Smit, University of Queensland; Prof. Karin Aggestam, Lund University; Prof. Michael N. Barnett, George Washington University; Prof. Olivier Roy, European University Institute. ; Since the early 1990s, building peace in war torn societies has emerged as a new field of international practice. Given its ad hoc mode of development, this new field of practice has been characterised by considerable concern with improvement and collective learning. These efforts notwithstanding, the field continues to attract criticisms about its failure to engage with local contexts and to address the political dimensions of peace processes. Such criticisms are particularly important since many peacebuilding actors and observers have repeatedly emphasized the political nature of peace processes. Not only is depoliticization criticized by members and observers of the field alike, but it has also been linked to drawbacks in particular interventions. Why, then, has peacebuilding emerged as a depoliticized and decontextualized practice in the first place, and how can we account for the persistence of depoliticization? The thesis focuses on the agencies tasked with conducting peacebuilding. It argues that the emergence and persistence of depoliticization can only be understood by analysing the mismatch between actors' institutional identities and practices and the particular nature of the challenges they face. Most peacebuilding agencies originate from the peacekeeping, humanitarian, and development communities and are committed to observing neutrality and/or impartiality. They initially became involved in peacebuilding on the premise that their task consisted in 'assisting' the implementation of a peace agreement. However, as peacebuilding often involves a significant degree of ongoing political contestation, most newly minted peacebuilding agencies have been caught between their commitment to neutrality and/or impartiality and the inherently political nature of peacebuilding and peace processes. The thesis combines recent strands of practice theory with a Bourdieusian field perspective to emphasize the dynamic link between actors' identities and practices. The framework I advance not only allows for understanding the reproduction, but in particular the emergence and transformation of international practices. To this end, it analyses the practices of a number of 'key players' within the emerging peacebuilding field across two peacebuilding cases (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Timor Leste). Overall, the thesis argues that the new practice and related thinking on peace and conflict in international organizations continue to be shaped by the 'foundational dilemma' and in particular by the ways in which peacebuilders have tried to resolve it while preserving their institutional identities.

This article reflects the growing interest of governments, international development, peace and interfaith organizations, and academics in the link between religions and conflict, and in the fact that religion often serves as a vehicle and language for protest and conflict. It is often deeply implicated in national, ethnic, cultural, and/or geopolitical considerations. The article also reflects the fact that religious studies as a discipline is increasingly required to demonstrate public relevance and impact in debates concerning the role of religion in conflict and conflict transformation. It grows out of a research project which explores the potentially constructive role of religions in active peacebuilding, postconflict reconciliation and restorative justice while acknowledging that there are multiple interpretations of religious traditions that can relate to militancy, chauvinism and nationalist ideologies. The project is focused on post-conflict Nepal, and works horizontally and vertically with grassroots and local organizations as well as with transnational institutions and international bodies. This article is a preliminary contextualization of one strand of the project, Buddhist contributions to the peace-building and post-conflict recovery. It draws a broad picture of the ways in which Buddhism has been constructed politically as a universalist culture of peace, but is also associated with competing ethnic identities and 'nationalities'. It considers how far Buddhist organizations, communities and leaders have been able to engage with the immediate causes of the civil war (1996–2006), and the deep structural issues, inequalities and injustices which drive grievance and violence.

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.

Many peace agreements fail despite external mediation and intervention, prompting a deconstruction of the predominant conceptions of peace and methods of peacebuilding. Of the weaknesses of these conceptions, the lack of concern for post-conflict structural violence is one of the strongest, and the main focus of this research. Infant mortality rate variations demonstrate the salience of structural violence in post-conflict situations. Further, to look deeper at the weaknesses of the hegemonic ideals on peace and its implementation by external actors, the cases of Rwanda and Cambodia are analyzed using the comparative method, and situated within critical peace literature. The comparison finds that rapid military integration may cause violence to restart, and that non-state entities appear more likely to be disarmed than recognized states during the post-conflict phase. This research also suggests that not disarming rebels in the peace process is an indication of a move towards a more just and inclusive society that will lead to a decrease in both direct and indirect violence, including a decrease in structural violence as indicated by a decline in the infant mortality rate.

While fostering human diversity is a principal goal of peace and development work, plurality has itself become an immense challenge. The practical reality of fragmentation is of concern to the international development community due to the risk of inefficiency and rupture that it implies. Rooted in the conflict transformation approach of Lederach and Dietrich, this article advances a transdisciplinary perspective for fostering an integrated plurality within development work. Grounded in a relational approach, this article explores (1) the conceptual frame of development cooperation and its challenges for integrating plurality; (2) key premises to consider when building structures of development cooperation; and (3) the method of Theme-Centred Interaction as a useful tool of humanistic psychology for addressing the challenge of plurality in development work. This transdisciplinary approach may usefully serve in the critical examination of current development projects and the initiation of new ones.

The acknowledgement that many vulnerable societies relapse into violence in the aftermath of the withdrawal of peacekeeping operations has underscored the imperative of developing sustainable exit strategies. Stabilization has hence emerged as a possible means to promote short-term security while avoiding direct political responsibility over complex crises, but the meaning of the term and its consequences remain disputed. The aim of this contribution is to examine the conceptual, academic and diplomatic debate over the concept of stabilization in peace operations by addressing the case of the United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti (MINUSTAH), and Brazil's multidimensional role in it.