Partners in Peace: Discourses and Practices of Civil-Society Peacebuilding

Since the early 1990s, international development organizations and donor agencies increasingly recognize the contributions local civil society can make to peace. Despite their popularity, questions still remain on the actual nature, practices, and roles of local civil society organizations in sustaining peace. So, how do international organizations support local peace building? Do they really understand conflict? Partners in Peace challenges the global perception and assumptions of the role played by civil society peace building operations and offers a radically new perspective on how international organizations can support this effort. Framing the debate using case studies in Africa and Central America, Mathijs van Leeuwen examines different meanings of peace building, the practices and politics of interpreting conflict, and how planned interventions work out. In developing this argument, van Leeuwen explores: