Building on what's already there

• Published in: International journal (Toronto) Vol. 67; no. 2; p. 391
• Main Author: Funk, Nathan C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Toronto Sage Publications Ltd 01.04.2012
• Subjects: Conflict resolution; Diplomacy; International relations; Peace; Peacekeeping forces
• ISSN: 0020-7020; 2052-465X

Peacebuilding is a subject and activity that predates the work of the United Nations' sixth secretary-general, but that was nonetheless substantially influenced by his contributions. In its early uses, the term "peacebuilding" held currency almost exclusively among academic specialists in the enterprise known as peace research. Though the peace research tradition is seldom credited for its impact on [Boutros Boutros-Ghali]' s formulation, the intellectual fingerprints of peace scholars are readily apparent. An early usage of the term peacebuilding can be found in the writings of Johan Gaining, who conceptualized it as one of three approaches to peace, alongside peacekeeping and peacemaking. Like Boutros-Ghali, Galtung contrasts peacebuilding with both peacekeeping and peacemaking. He describes peacekeeping as a "dissociative" path to peace: "the antagonists are ktipt away from each other under mutual threats of considerable punishment if they transgress, particularly if they transgress into each other's territory."1 In contrast, Galtung designates peacemaking as "the conflict resolution approach" and peacebuilding as "the associative approach."2 Critical of traditional approaches to keeping the peace through threat and coercion, Galtung offers a qualified endorsement of the conflict resolution approach - provided it is not merely an effort to paper over deep inequalities and divisions - and presents a case for peacebuilding as a process of change that seeks to redress global as well as intra-national structural violence by building nonexploitative structures and infrastructures of peace. This taxonomy of peace practices overlaps in significant ways with the framework Boutros-Ghali proposed in 1992. Working in response to a request by the UN security council to develop prescriptions for enhancing the UN's capacity in the areas of preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, and peacekeeping, Boutros-Ghali consulted widely and ultimately saw fit to add "peacebuilding" to the list of options presented in his agenda. In contrast to preventive diplomacy, which sought "to prevent disputes from arising between parties, to prevent existing disputes from escalating into conflicts and to limit the spread of the latter when they occur," peacebuilding would endeavour to address underlying structural conditions and prevent the recurrence of armed strife after a settlement had been reached. BoutrosGhali therefore defined postconflict peacebuilding as "action to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict."3 Localizing peace also requires considerable forethought about how international peacebuilding personnel are trained for service. Working effectively requires not just familiarity with models of cultural competence or incentives for learning local language and history, but also forms of training that use suitable case study materials. Organizations will also need to develop guidelines for work in the field that enumerate principles for localizing peace - e.g., exploring local cultural and religious traditions with interest and respect; applying cultural empathy as a tool of analysis; using culture as a bridge, by asking about how things would "normally" or "ideally" be done; linking localized needs assessments to elicitive exercises intended to access implicit cultural knowledge and promote empowerment; initiating a "cultural inventory" of resources for peacebuilding; fostering discussion about how to strengthen a local culture of peace by adapting and updating past practices; and so forth.