Overview
- Offers a groundbreaking study of Peacebuilding from the foremost authority in this area
- Argues that the era of Peacebuilding - always an ambiguous and contradictory project – is now over
- Excites and informs the reader with an accessible and lively survey of Peacebuilding and its components
Part of the book series: Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies (RCS)
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Introduction
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The Rise of Peacebuilding
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The Peacebuilding Impasse
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Beyond Peacebuilding
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Conclusion
Keywords
About this book
This book is the first to chart the rise and fall of peacebuilding. Charting its beginnings, as an ad-hoc extension of peacekeeping responsibilities, and formalisation, as a UN-supported international project of building liberal states. Twenty years later, the grounding policy assumptions of peacebuilding - that democracy, the rule of law and free markets were a universal solution to conflict-prone states and societies - have been revealed as naïve at best, and at worst, hubristic and Eurocentric.
Here, Chandler traces the disillusionment with international peacebuilding, and the discursive shifts in the self-understanding of the peacebuilding project in policy and academic debate. He charts the transformation from peacebuilding as an international project based on universalist assumptions, to the understanding of peace as a necessarily indigenous process based on plural and non-linear understandings of difference. Is the end of peacebuilding necessarily a cause for celebration? Does this shift result in a realist resignation to the world as it appears? Is it necessary to “marry idealism with realism” – as E.H. Carr once argued - if we wish to keep open the possibilities for social change? This book seeks to answer these questions, making an invaluable reference both for students and practitioners of peacebuilding and for those interested in the broader shifts in the social and political grounding of policy-making today.
Reviews
“An impressive synthesis of the trajectory of peacebuilding over the past two decades. Chandler's sustained critique of peacebuilding philosophies and practices highlights the perils of good intentions in the absence of critical politics and analysis.” (Keith Krause, Director, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva)
“For more than two decades, peacebuilder policymakers and scholars in the international community have considered at length the question “How do we build peace after war?” The simple answer, as David Chandler’s masterful review of the evolution of peacebuilding ontology penetratingly demonstrates, is, “We can’t.” In this incisive volume, Chandler shows exactly why this is the case and how peacebuilding – if it is to occur – is at the end of the day a primarily internal or endogenous process. Policymakers and scholars will to well to shelve their off-the-shelf solutionist toolkits, logframes, and task matrices after reading this important book.” (Timothy D. Sisk, Professor of International and Comparative Politics, University of Denver)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
David Chandler is Professor of International Relations, University of Westminster. He is the founding editor of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding and Resilience: International Policies, Practices and Discourses and author or editor of around 20 books and many journal articles and book chapters in the area of peacebuilding and international intervention.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Peacebuilding
Book Subtitle: The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1997-2017
Authors: David Chandler
Series Title: Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50322-6
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-50321-9Published: 05 April 2017
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-50322-6Published: 29 March 2017
Series ISSN: 1759-3735
Series E-ISSN: 2752-857X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VIII, 243
Topics: Political History, Peace Studies, Conflict Studies