Building States to Build Peace? A Critical Analysis

Abstract

Agencies throughout the development, humanitarian, political and defence fields have recently endorsed the centrality of state institutions in post-war peacebuilding. But how can external actors go about peacebuilding in a way that reinforces effective and legitimate states without doing harm? Drawing on an International Peace Institute project, this article calls into question the assumption that peacebuilding can be boiled down to building state institutions. The article argues that the process of building states can actually undermine peace, postulating five tensions between peacebuilding and statebuilding even as it asserts that strong state institutions remain crucial for consolidating peace. Identifying three crucial state functions for peacebuilding, the article emphasises the complex interrelationships among legitimacy, state capacity and security in post-conflict societies.

Reclaiming the local in EU peacebuilding: Effectiveness, ownership, and resistance

“…Consequently, there is also little agreement on what factors contribute to the effectiveness of peacebuilding interventions. Most studies have evaluated peacebuilding interventions by looking at macro-level dynamics and its impact on national and international causes of conflict (Call & Wyeth, 2008;Doyle & Sambanis, 2006;Fortna, 2008). However, an increasing number of works have shown that peacebuilding at this macro level, even when successful, does not necessarily trickle down to the local level (see Autesserre, 2017).…”

Infraestructuras de paz y estatalidad en Colombia

“…El Estado, en tanto conjunto de instituciones que reivindican -haciendo eco de la definición weberiana-el monopolio de la autoridad legítima 16 y el uso de la fuerza sobre un territorio, es necesario en un contexto de "posconflicto" porque alguna autoridad debe hacerse responsable de mantener el orden, proveer servicios y arbitrar conflictos (Call, 2008 (2001) condujo a un proceso gradual de consultas con representantes regionales y señores de la guerra opuestos a los talibanes, lo que contribuyó a hacer viable a la administración de Hamid Karzai.…”

“…No obstante, como advierte Call (2008), la existencia de tensiones entre ambas agendas (las cuales se plantean en la sección "Construcción de paz y construcción de Estado"), impide considerar ambos términos como intercambiables o reducir la construcción de paz a la construcción de Estado. No siempre esa complementariedad se ha tomado en cuenta.…”

Creating Frankenstein States: The Persistent Quest for the Ideal Modern Polity

“…However, by identifying weak and failed states it assumes that there are "normal" or "successful" states. As Charles Call (2008bCall ( , p. 1494 Considering that a state embodies the exercise of power by imposing order on a specific territory (CALL, 2008a;SPRUYT, 2007), the liberal state provides a template for what the international community aspires to accomplish. More precisely, the modern liberal state reveals several characteristic features (PIERSON, 2004).…”