The Local Turn in Peace Building: a critical agenda for peace

Peace building and the depoliticisation of civil society: Sierra Leone 2002–13

“…As Sisk explains (2008, p. 18), dilemmas inherent in liberal peace and development -are often interacting, there is seldom one dilemma at a time, and one dilemma may make another dilemma even more critical‖. Furthermore, in this regard, the hype on and around the realm of civil society, or the -local turn‖ (Mac Ginty and Richmond, 2013), in liberal peacebuilding and development frameworks could not escape from challenging new side effects, in practice, as in theory, directly affecting the civil sphere. -The local turn poses a fundamental challenge to the dominant ways of thinking and acting about peace.…”

“…Critical voices usually substantiate their arguments by means of a Foucauldian discourse analysis with particular focus on his concept of gouvernmentalité or biopower, or a Marxistinspired analysis highlighting social justice and equality. These discussions frequently support or rely on a Gramscian notion of civil society (see Chapter 2, Section 2.1); thereby emphasising the emancipatory or transformative potential of the civil sphere in fragile states (e.g., Bendaña, 2003;Featherstone, 2000;Heathershaw, 2008;Mac Ginty, 2006Richmond, 2005Richmond, , 2013. Recently, the alternative discourse school has dominated, or at least, gained significantly more attention in present peacebuilding and development research.…”

Socio-environmental cooperation and conflict? A discursive understanding and its application to the case of Israel and Palestine

“…Scholars increasingly recommend strengthening the local (and the associated values and initiatives) in peace-building efforts (Richmond, 2009). Of course, the question about the "true" nature of the local remains (Mac Ginty and Richmond, 2013), for instance when Palestinian GWN activists report instances of (local) resistance against the project. Asked whether (s)he had encountered any skepticism about the GWN project from local people, an activist from the Palestinian village of Auja responded:…”

Resilience as the new EU foreign policy paradigm: a pragmatist turn?

“…External crises include a deteriorating geopolitical environment in the Southern and Eastern neighbourhoods, the rise of Islamic terrorism and the threat represented by ISIS, hybrid threats and the refugee crisis. To this, one can add a broader crisis affecting the international liberal order, which has questioned the "liberal peace" and Western interventionism (Mac Ginty andRichmond 2013, Mazarr 2014), and in so doing the EU's own global liberal project.…”