Justice, Durability and Peacebuilding

Since the end of the Cold War there has been a rapid transformation and expansion of peacebuilding operations with new actors and roles. This workshop aims to address three challenges in the field of peacebuilding: <br><br> (1) The quest for justice in contemporary peace processes has acquired greater saliency as several violent conflicts and wars have been distinguished by gross human rights violations, ethnic cleansing and extensive suffering among civilians. The use of transitional justice mechanisms, e.g., democratic reforms, protection of human rights and the (re)installation of the rule of law, have thus come to the fore on the agenda. <br><br> (2) The quest for durable peace is a pressing concern in several contemporary conflicts, since they tend to resist negotiated settlement. The ones that do reach a peace agreement still have a poor track record on implementation. (3) The quest for effective strategies of external actors is central in the management and promotion of just and durable peace in failed states and conflict-torn societies. Why, when and how peace support operations should be conducted are questions that still lack convincing and credible answers. <br><br> The workshop invites papers that: advance innovative and critical theoretical and methodological conceptualisations of the interconnectedness of justice, durability and peacebuilding; analyse the legal and democratic accountability of peacebuilding; and examine and compare the effectiveness of peacebuilding strategies from the perspective of their durability and their ability to promote justice.