The purpose of this study was to explore what strategy the U.S. Department of Defense should use and how its forces may/should be arrayed in future peace building and post-conflict reconstruction operations. The nature of the research for this study was analytical and qualitative. It considers U.S. Army as well as joint doctrine, and explores the recent scholarly literature on military efforts at peace building and post-conflict reconstruction. Based on this study, the author recommends the following as necessary implementations to U.S. doctrine and policy: 1) Revise NSPD-44, 2) Require a direct habitual relationship for training, planning, and operations between CRC and DOD, 3) Expand applicable training for CA personnel as well as other military officers, and 4) Revamp deployment cycle for civil-military peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction operations. / Master of Arts

On a daily basis we hear or read about new atrocious and violent conflicts that are emerging in countless countries around the world. At the same time, some of the previous conflicts are winding down and leading to negotiations and peaceful resolutions. In either of the cases, peacebuilding initiatives are put into place to establish relationships between the divided population which is and/or was at war. There are countless reconciliation methods which are used to reconcile the adult population which is and/or was in conflict with each other. Nonetheless, how and which reconciliation approaches are used when it comes to reconciling the children that have been directly or indirectly affected by the conflict in their country is not discussed to the same extend.  Thus the objective of this study is to analyse the available literature in order to gain a greater understanding of the methods which children partake in in order to foster reconciliation in a post-conflict environment. In total, 18 cases which pertain to children and reconciliation were analysed in order to find patterns, gaps and commonalities in the texts through the textual content analysis method. Furthermore, the findings were analysed in accordance to Galtung´s 12 reconciliation approaches.     Based on the analysis, it became clear how limited and scarce the literature is on reporting on the ways in which children reconcile. Furthermore, all of the texts present children as innocent victims who are not to blame for what had occurred. Despite the fact that children were victims as well as perpetrators in the conflict. Additionally, there is a clear distinction in the methods which are used to reconcile child soldiers versus children that were not directly involved in the conflict. In other words, many of the findings can aid in branching out the research to explore further the differences between child soldiers and non-child soldiers, as well as the general perception of children as victims. In addition, the concept of childhood and when one is considered a child should be explored, especially in non-western cultures, where an individual is considered a child under the age of 18, yet in other cultures “children” under 18 are married, have their own children, are responsible for their parents and very much live “adult” lives.

Peacebuilding has become increasing important as a means of preventing continuing hostilities among previously warring factions. Traditional peacebuilding strategies to date have included activities that strive to address challenges related to security, governance, relief, development, and reconciliation with the goal of curbing potential volatile situations from once again becoming full-fledged conflicts. However, peacebuilding strategies or designs have not fully recognized the particular needs of women and have not acknowledged the significance of womens contributions to peacebuilding in war torn communities. In Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala women responded to this marginalization by initiating unique peacebuilding mechanisms and making space for themselves during the process of rebuilding.<p> This analysis therefore begins with an analysis of traditional peacebuilding, introducing four areas that have been identified as important during peacebuilding, and outlining some of the concerns, problems and limitations that plague the peacebuilding process in the post-war setting. It then turns to an examination of womens role in peacebuilding in three case studies, namely Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.<p> This study is significant because it demonstrates that women have played an integral role in the peacebuilding process in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. While marginalized from traditional peacebuilding processes, womens experiences and knowledge building peace post-conflict have the potential to contribute to an improve and more inclusive peacebuilding design that may result in increased effectiveness for future operations.

Peacebuilding has become increasing important as a means of preventing continuing hostilities among previously warring factions. Traditional peacebuilding strategies to date have included activities that strive to address challenges related to security, governance, relief, development, and reconciliation with the goal of curbing potential volatile situations from once again becoming full-fledged conflicts. However, peacebuilding strategies or designs have not fully recognized the particular needs of women and have not acknowledged the significance of womens contributions to peacebuilding in war torn communities. In Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala women responded to this marginalization by initiating unique peacebuilding mechanisms and making space for themselves during the process of rebuilding.<p> This analysis therefore begins with an analysis of traditional peacebuilding, introducing four areas that have been identified as important during peacebuilding, and outlining some of the concerns, problems and limitations that plague the peacebuilding process in the post-war setting. It then turns to an examination of womens role in peacebuilding in three case studies, namely Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.<p> This study is significant because it demonstrates that women have played an integral role in the peacebuilding process in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. While marginalized from traditional peacebuilding processes, womens experiences and knowledge building peace post-conflict have the potential to contribute to an improve and more inclusive peacebuilding design that may result in increased effectiveness for future operations.

Using Northern Ireland this study seeks to establish what conditions on the ground must be cultivated in order for this ripe moment to come to pass. This thesis argued that five conditions in particular were necessary, though not necessarily sufficient, for the success of the Belfast Agreement. These five conditions (1) the inclusivity of the negotiation process, (2) efforts to foster positive cross community contact, (3) the positive involvement of external ethno-guarantors(EEGs), (4) the involvement of formal international primary mediators, and (5) the use of targeted economic aid. What emerged was that when taken together, these conditions created the pillars upon which a more stable agreement was reached. What is also important is that none of these conditions are short term investments; they all involved a long term commitment to peacebuilding that began long before the official negotiations of the BA.

Using Northern Ireland this study seeks to establish what conditions on the ground must be cultivated in order for this ripe moment to come to pass. This thesis argued that five conditions in particular were necessary, though not necessarily sufficient, for the success of the Belfast Agreement. These five conditions (1) the inclusivity of the negotiation process, (2) efforts to foster positive cross community contact, (3) the positive involvement of external ethno-guarantors(EEGs), (4) the involvement of formal international primary mediators, and (5) the use of targeted economic aid. What emerged was that when taken together, these conditions created the pillars upon which a more stable agreement was reached. What is also important is that none of these conditions are short term investments; they all involved a long term commitment to peacebuilding that began long before the official negotiations of the BA.

Scholars of peacebuilding have identified a link between peacebuilding and internal displacement, but internally displaced persons are yet to be regarded as impactful peacebuilders. This thesis explores the role of internally displaced persons in peacebuilding processes, particularly the bottom-up strategies IDPs employ in conflict settings that contribute to the achievement of a peaceful society and in the long run to sustainable peace. This research looks at the documented IDP everyday peacebuilding activities identified in Georgia and Azerbaijan, and thereafter a structured focused comparison of the two selected cases is undertaken. The theoretical underpinning of this study identifies internally displaced persons as part of the ‘local agency’ with the potential to positively contribute to peacebuilding. The empirical findings suggest that indeed IDPs in Azerbaijan and Georgia spearhead peacebuilding at the local level aside from being victims of conflict. However, the empirical assessment also highlights that the influence IDPs have on peacebuilding is limited by the challenges they face in displacement.

There is an increasing interest in international relations to engage with religious actors for peacebuilding purposes. This development is an example of what is referred to as a restorative narrative, which responds to a current 'resurgence' of religion in the political sphere by prescribing the restoration of benevolent forms religion in international politics, to counteract 'dangerous' religion. This narrative reinforces secularist dichotomies of 'good' and 'bad religion', or what Elizabeth Shakman Hurd calls 'The Two Faces of Faith' (Hurd 2017, 100). As many peacebuilding efforts take place in the MENA-region, where western secularism and liberalism are often met with suspicion, this thesis aims to investigate how secularist narratives are reproduced and challenged within religious peacebuilding in the region. It does so through discourse analysis of three international and transnational organizations of 'secular' and faith-based character. The result indicates that secularist narratives still set the frames for what role religion is allowed to play in peacebuilding, but also that faith-based actors can challenge secularist narratives in several ways. Furthermore, the result shows that in international discourses, secularist or non-secularist categories are not always clear-cut, and even narratives that challenge secularism might not challenge the liberal peace paradigm at large.

The image of a kufiyah-clad Palestinian teenage boy brandishing a stone laden slingshot, facing-off against an Israeli tank, has long pervaded images of Palestinian resistance around the globe. Notwithstanding the disparity in might, and the legitimate discussion around whether wielding a slingshot when faced by a tank should indeed be considered armed resistance in the first place, this dissertation explores the Orientalist shaping of Palestinian resistance and its repercussions for Palestinian men engaged in resistance. In the aftermath of the Oslo Accords, at an unprecedented rate, international aid flowed into Palestine under the pretexts of peacebuilding and statebuilding. Deeply embedded within the liberal peace paradigm, some of this funding went towards interventions targeting Palestinian civil society and the promotion of 'nonviolence'. We know from other examples around the world, donor interventions targeting the political, economic, and social spheres of recipient countries have profound impacts outside of their stated goals. And while this has been noted by scholars in Palestine and beyond, what remains underexplored is the way that these interventions, and the embedded frameworks, discourses, and ideologies, have shaped both the unarmed resistance movement within Palestine, and more specifically, the individual social and cultural lives of those engaged in resistance. There is no way to explore, debate, or even talk about armed and unarmed resistance without first asking how the terms are defined and positioned within a particular framework. Here I find Orientalism, critical feminist theory, and critical peacebuilding literature useful perspectives from which to survey the shifting terrain of Palestinian unarmed resistance in the post-Oslo era and the subsequent shaping of male identity within the resistance movement. This dissertation answers the calls of post-colonial academics for the need to engage in resistance research that aims to understand resistance from the perspective of those who are resisting. At the same time, this dissertation challenges straightjacketed links between representation and domination by expanding our understanding of the role of Orientalist narratives in the Palestinian resistance movement. It argues that Palestinian men engaged in resistance are not just screens on which donors and CSOs/NGOs project their narratives of violent Arabs in need of civilizing (through the adoption of nonviolence). Rather, Palestinians too represent themselves in different ways, conceiving a gendered sense of self in social, public and political spaces. Such contested practices of representation produce cracks and dislocations in understandings of identity, agency, structure, and power in conflict contexts.

This book is a timely study of peacebuilding in war-torn societies. Its purpose is to encourage policy makers and practitioners (in government, intergovernmental organizations, and international and local NGOs) to understand and reflect on processes designed to promote social stability and peace. Through an examination of themes and case studies, it offers conceptual analysis of interest to theorists and practitioners alike.