Local Rules?! The Practices of Conflict Resolution by the United Nations in Liberia
Titel | Local Rules?! The Practices of Conflict Resolution by the United Nations in Liberia |
Typ der Publikation | Report |
Publikationsjahr | 2017 |
AutorInnen | Neef, M |
Untertitel / Serientitel | KAIPTC Occasional Paper 41 |
Pagination | 22pp. |
Institution | Kof Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre |
Kurztext | To achieve sustainable peace is the overall goal of contemporary United Nations (UN) peace operations. However, peacebuilding by the UN has been heavily criticised by various scholars, inter alia, for imposing a set of universal approaches, for being too statecentric, for being culturally biased, for neglecting the local and for lacking well-grounded concepts (Barnett et al. 2007; Kahane 2003; Lederach 1995; Mac Ginty 2008; Richmond 2009; Sending 2009). As a consequence, they argue, UN peace operations are not only ineffective, unsustainable and lack local legitimacy but have also recreated conditions for violence and counteracted the “do no harm”-principle. (...) The first part of this paper outlines the theoretical framework. Conflict resolution is regarded as culture specifc. In consequence, culture acts as an enabler for local conflict resolution. With culture embedded in a practical approach to conflict resolution, this paper discusses local as well as international concepts for conflict resolution. It will further be shown that UN peace operations have taken a local turn on the policy level. However, this turn is not without limitations. The second part of the paper deals empirically with Liberia’s conflict formation and practices of conflict resolution. It analyses the country’s violent state building history and assesses post-war conflict resolution systems. Following an overview of Liberian |