The paper proposes a two step interplay model to explain why peacebuilding most likely leads to stallled transitions. So far, the mainstream peacebuilding literature reduces domestic agency to "compliance" or "resistance" and only few accounts exist how internationally promoted reforms are negotiated between peacebuilders and domestic actors (for a first approach see Barnett/Zürcher 2008). In the first step, external and domestic actors choose to interact with each other depending on the external leverage and domestic support for reform. In the second step, external actors update their knowledge about the local support for reform plans. In case peacebuilders learn there is only weak support, they adjust by lowering expectations about reform results. This makes stalled transitions more likely. The empirical part offers a detailed account of interaction processes by tracing the interplay at the sub-national level in Kosovo in four selected reform initiatives.
