Asian Peacebuilding: Theory and Practice

A Brief Sketch of Hybrid Peacebuilding

“…Before diving into the discussion on hybrid peacebuilding, it is crucial to understand the general debates surrounding peacebuilding in order to fully grasp the characteristics and traits of hybrid approaches. Some attempted to summarise the essentials of peacebuilding including Chetail and Jütersonke (2015) who have conducted a comprehensive review of the existing literature on peacebuilding, and Keethaponcalan (2020) who has made a concise review of the literature focusing on the situation in Asia. Rigual (2018), on the other hand, has offered re-thinking of the ontologies of peacebuilding.…”

“…Among them, critical peacebuilding continues to attract the largest audience in academia and the main strand of discussion on hybrid peacebuilding falls into this classification. While this study follows the steps of critical peacebuilding, it also seeks to harness the other peacebuilding approaches, acknowledging their unique contribution to the academic field of peacebuilding (Wallis et al 2018;Keethaponcalan 2020).…”

“…The proponents of hybrid peacebuilding are against the conventional approaches to peacebuilding through which liberal state institutions have been merely imposed upon without paying sufficient attention to the local context. Keethaponcalan (2020), for example, pointed out the mismatch between Western-liberal norms and the Asian context. Since the social structures of the West and those of Asia are not identical, each has been shaped through a unique mix of tradition, culture, religion, family structure and social behaviour.…”

“…It would be beneficial to move away from labelling 'democratic peace' and 'liberal peacebuilding' as Western concepts, and adopt contextually diverse concepts of governance, democracy, market economy, human rights and sovereignty that are decolonised from the restraints of Western domination. Keethaponcalan (2020) argues that democracy, human rights, and good governance should not be disregarded simply as Western values as they are considered 'universal'. By introducing the hybrid lens, anthropological variations of these values are allowed to co-exist, which effectively make them truly 'universal'.…”

Introduction: Operationalisation of Hybrid Peacebuilding in Asia

“…To answer this, functions of mid-space actors are highlighted and investigated in this study. In Asian peacebuilding, outside peacebuilders are often powerless in the face of protected sovereignty as Asian states have sufficient power to exclude or circumvent the external intrusion and usurpation of their national sovereignty (Keethaponcalan 2020). Under such circumstances, outside intervention aiming to bring about changes at the level of grassroots communities seems not feasible.…”