Infrastructure for Peace

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An infrastructure for peace or an I4P refers to multiple social levels of grassroots peacebuilding constituting sociopolitical infrastructure in a country that is a complement to state-level institutional peace processes in that country. [1]

Contents

Definition

In 2010, governments, political parties, civil society and United Nations country representatives from 14 African countries in Kenya agreed upon a working definition of the term infrastructures for peace as a 'dynamic network of interdependent structures, mechanisms, resources, values and skills which, through dialogue and consultation, contribute to conflict prevention and peacebuilding in a society'. [1] The term was motivated by the effectiveness of locally led, participatory peacebuilding practices in several countries undergoing armed conflicts. The term is intended to stress conflict transformation and the combination of grassroots peacebuilding together with top-down political agreements.[ citation needed ]

Examples

Examples of infrastructures considered to qualify as infrastructures to peace include the National Peace Council (Ghana); the Department on Ethnic, Religious Policy and Civil Society Interaction (Kyrgyzstan); [2] economical approaches in Guyana, Bolivia and Kenya[ clarification needed ] and, as of 2012, about 30 infrastructure for peace projects around the globe supported by the United Nations Development Programme. [3]

Criticisms

Critical studies on the infrastructure for peace mainly see this as a fuzzy concept because peacebuilding cannot be guaranteed only by local efforts. Such local infrastructures are prone to suffer from political upheavals, [4] they still rely on external funding and cannot do well under strictly autocratic regimes. [5] New research works, which conflate infrastructures for peace with security sector reform have also suggested such architectures need to rise above local boundaries to negotiate on security issues because (in)security has transnational connections. [6]

Contributions

Academic conferences, special editions of journals, issue-specific books and websites dedicated to this topic have begun to emerge including the UNE Peace Studies Conference (2015) on questioning 'peace formation' and 'peace infrastructure', Berghof Handbook [7] and a Journal of Peacebuilding and Development Special Edition in Vol. 7, No. 3.

Related Research Articles

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The concepts of security sector governance and reform generally refer to a process in Western-based international development and democratization to amend the security sector of a state towards good governance and its principles, such as freedom of information and the rule of law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peacebuilding</span> Nonviolent intervention to prevent conflict

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thania Paffenholz</span>

Thania Paffenholz, born on 2 February 1965 in Cologne, Germany, is an academic and policy advisor working on peace processes. She is currently Director of Inclusive Peace. Thania Paffenholz has led comparative research of peace processes for over two decades and has been an advisor in peace processes in Mozambique, Angola, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Mali, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Yemen, Egypt, El Salvador, Syria and Colombia. She received the Wihuri International Prize in 2015 for her work as a peace researcher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Wairimu Nderitu</span> Kenyan peace and conflict researcher (born 1968)

Alice Wairimu Nderitu is a Kenyan national serving since November 2020 as the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

Peacebuilding in Jammu and Kashmir includes confidence-building measures at a nation-state level between the governments of India and Pakistan, track two diplomacy, as well as initiatives by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), institutes and individuals. The purpose of peacebuilding in Jammu and Kashmir include conflict prevention and reduction of hostilities in the Kashmir Valley. Many countries such as Russia, United States and China have also played a de-escalatory role with regard to tensions in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florian Krampe</span>

Florian Krampe is a German/Swedish political scientist and international relations scholar at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).[2] He is best known for his work on climate-related security risks, Environmental Peacebuilding, and the governance of natural resources after armed conflict. He also serves as Affiliated Researcher at the Research School for International Water Cooperation at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. Between 2020 and 2022 Krampe was cross appointed Specially Appointed Professor at the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability at Hiroshima University, Japan.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Evolving Landscape of Infrastructures for Peace". Journal of Peacebuilding & Development. 7 (3): 1–7. 2012. doi: 10.1080/15423166.2013.774793 .
  2. ↑ Kumar, Chetan; de la Haye, Jos (2012). "Hybrid Peacemaking: Building National "Infrastructures for Peace"" (PDF). Global Governance. 18 (1): 13–20. doi:10.1163/19426720-01801003.
  3. ↑ Ryan, Jordan (December 2012). "Infrastructures for Peace as a Path to Resilient Societies: An Institutional Perspective". Journal of Peacebuilding & Development. 7 (3): 14–24. doi:10.1080/15423166.2013.774806. S2CID   153337459.
  4. ↑ Chuma, Aeneas; Ojielo, Ozonnia (December 2012). "Building a Standing National Capacity for Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Kenya". Journal of Peacebuilding & Development. 7 (3): 25–39. doi:10.1080/15423166.2013.774790. S2CID   153944265.
  5. ↑ Odendaal, Andries (December 2012). "The Political Legitimacy of National Peace Committees". Journal of Peacebuilding & Development. 7 (3): 40–53. doi:10.1080/15423166.2013.767601. S2CID   154106923.
  6. ↑ Ghimire, Safal. 2016. Making Security Sector Reform Organic: Infrastructures for Peace as an Entry Point? In: Peacebuilding, DOI:10.1080/21647259.2016.1156813
  7. ↑ Unger, B; Lundström, S; Austin, B; Planta, K (2013). Peace Infrastructures: Assessing Concept and Practice (Berghof Handbook Dialogue Series, No. 10) (PDF). Berlin: Berghof Foundation.
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