PhD thesis, Manchester: The University of Manchester, 2016
This thesis is a theoretical and empirical inquiry into ‘deliberative peacebuilding’, seeking to ... more This thesis is a theoretical and empirical inquiry into ‘deliberative peacebuilding’, seeking to explain the ‘failures’ and ‘successes’ of peacebuilding in East Timor and Somaliland. While warfare has increased globally since the end of the Cold War, the UN has made efforts to build peace (e.g. Boutros-Ghali 1992). While peacebuilding has become an internationally applied set of ideas and practices, one of the theoretical gaps is deliberation. This research thus conceptualises ‘deliberative peacebuilding’, and associates this with peacebuilding in the non-Western, post-colonial, and (post-)conflict context.
This research identified East Timor and Somaliland as its case studies. Despite similarity in the ‘legitimation problem’ with vertical (state-society) and horizontal (‘modernity’-‘tradition’) inequalities/differences based upon cultural and historical backgrounds, East Timor and Somaliland undertook different approaches in a decade after the end of their civil wars. While East Timor accepted UN peace operations, Somaliland rejected them. Yet both experienced similar transitions to make political order between ‘failure’ (political de-legitimation/societal dissent) and ‘success’ (political legitimation/societal consent).
Accordingly, this thesis poses two questions: 1) what caused the UN to have ‘failed’ (to prevent the ‘crisis’ from recurring in 2006) in East Timor, and 2) what caused East Timor and Somaliland to have experienced ‘equifinality’ (making similar progress along different paths) in building peace (in East Timor from 1999 to 2012 and in Somaliland from 1991 to 2005). Findings, among others, include different paths in transition: a ‘hybrid’ path with external intervention in East Timor and an ‘agonistic’ path without it in Somaliland. Asymmetry in power relations urged deliberative agencies to address the ‘legitimation problem’ differently.
Given a legitimation problem of vertical (state vs. society) and horizontal (modernity vs. tradit... more Given a legitimation problem of vertical (state vs. society) and horizontal (modernity vs. tradition) inequalities/differences as a historical and cultural cause of conflict, deliberation will be instrumental in addressing the legitimation problem and transforming conflict into peace in the post-colonial, post-conflict context. Although deliberation has gained academic attention as a means of addressing the legitimation crisis in Western liberal democracies (Rawls 1971, 1993; Habermas 1976, 1996), its application to contemporary peacebuilding remains under-researched. This paper thus aims to theorise deliberative peacebuilding, highlighting post-colonial history and culture and a critical role of agencies in deliberation to re-legitimise the non-Western polity and transform conflict into peace. It then deduces a hypothetical mechanism of the different paths to peace either with or without the external intervention which signifies how agencies deliberate.
Given the legitimation problem with vertical (state vs. society) and horizontal (modernity vs. tr... more Given the legitimation problem with vertical (state vs. society) and horizontal (modernity vs. tradition) inequalities/differences as historical and cultural causes of conflict, peacebuilding in the post-colonial, post-conflict context requires deliberation to engage in the legitimation problem.
This paper posits a societal model of peacebuilding and examines its empirical applicability in S... more This paper posits a societal model of peacebuilding and examines its empirical applicability in Somaliland from 1991 to 2005. Given the mixed results of international peacebuilding, this paper unpacks the key policy narratives and theoretical models, and highlights the societal model as a critical alternative. The case of Somaliland indicates the critical role of local societal agencies in forming, reforming, and transforming a societal peace, and leads to discussions on various findings, including the empirical plausibility of the societal model, as well as its contradictory relationality with external intervention, remaining challenges, and suggestions of how to address them.
This paper makes a theoretical and empirical inquiry into the failures and successes of peacebuil... more This paper makes a theoretical and empirical inquiry into the failures and successes of peacebuilding in East Timor from 1999 to 2012 and beyond. In doing so, it links the failure and success to deforming and transforming conflict respectively, sets out analytical frameworks to measure the causes, processes, and progress of a justice-based approach to peacebuilding, and applies these frameworks to the case of East Timor, where the UN played an integral role during the period in question. The empirical findings have implications for international peacebuilding, including: 1) the need to address the positions of national/local contestants; 2) the effectiveness of power-sharing and electoral engineering; 3) the feasibility of hybridity between the political/modern and the societal/traditional; and 4) the importance of an interdisciplinary coalition between critical peace and development studies.
Given a legitimation problem of vertical (state vs society) and
horizontal (modernity vs traditio... more Given a legitimation problem of vertical (state vs society) and horizontal (modernity vs tradition) inequalities and differences as a historical and cultural cause of conflict, deliberation is instrumental in addressing this legitimation problem and transforming conflict into peace in the postcolonial, post-conflict context. Although deliberation has gained academic attention as a means of addressing the legitimation crisis in Western liberal democracies, its application to contemporary peacebuilding remains underresearched. This paper thus aims to theorize postcolonial deliberation and deliberative peacebuilding, highlighting postcolonial history and culture and the critical role that agencies have played in deliberation to re-legitimize the non-Western polity and transform conflict into peace. It then deduces a hypothetical mechanism of the different paths to peace either with or without the external intervention that signifies how agencies deliberate.
PhD thesis, Manchester: The University of Manchester, 2016
This thesis is a theoretical and empirical inquiry into ‘deliberative peacebuilding’, seeking to ... more This thesis is a theoretical and empirical inquiry into ‘deliberative peacebuilding’, seeking to explain the ‘failures’ and ‘successes’ of peacebuilding in East Timor and Somaliland. While warfare has increased globally since the end of the Cold War, the UN has made efforts to build peace (e.g. Boutros-Ghali 1992). While peacebuilding has become an internationally applied set of ideas and practices, one of the theoretical gaps is deliberation. This research thus conceptualises ‘deliberative peacebuilding’, and associates this with peacebuilding in the non-Western, post-colonial, and (post-)conflict context.
This research identified East Timor and Somaliland as its case studies. Despite similarity in the ‘legitimation problem’ with vertical (state-society) and horizontal (‘modernity’-‘tradition’) inequalities/differences based upon cultural and historical backgrounds, East Timor and Somaliland undertook different approaches in a decade after the end of their civil wars. While East Timor accepted UN peace operations, Somaliland rejected them. Yet both experienced similar transitions to make political order between ‘failure’ (political de-legitimation/societal dissent) and ‘success’ (political legitimation/societal consent).
Accordingly, this thesis poses two questions: 1) what caused the UN to have ‘failed’ (to prevent the ‘crisis’ from recurring in 2006) in East Timor, and 2) what caused East Timor and Somaliland to have experienced ‘equifinality’ (making similar progress along different paths) in building peace (in East Timor from 1999 to 2012 and in Somaliland from 1991 to 2005). Findings, among others, include different paths in transition: a ‘hybrid’ path with external intervention in East Timor and an ‘agonistic’ path without it in Somaliland. Asymmetry in power relations urged deliberative agencies to address the ‘legitimation problem’ differently.
Given a legitimation problem of vertical (state vs. society) and horizontal (modernity vs. tradit... more Given a legitimation problem of vertical (state vs. society) and horizontal (modernity vs. tradition) inequalities/differences as a historical and cultural cause of conflict, deliberation will be instrumental in addressing the legitimation problem and transforming conflict into peace in the post-colonial, post-conflict context. Although deliberation has gained academic attention as a means of addressing the legitimation crisis in Western liberal democracies (Rawls 1971, 1993; Habermas 1976, 1996), its application to contemporary peacebuilding remains under-researched. This paper thus aims to theorise deliberative peacebuilding, highlighting post-colonial history and culture and a critical role of agencies in deliberation to re-legitimise the non-Western polity and transform conflict into peace. It then deduces a hypothetical mechanism of the different paths to peace either with or without the external intervention which signifies how agencies deliberate.
Given the legitimation problem with vertical (state vs. society) and horizontal (modernity vs. tr... more Given the legitimation problem with vertical (state vs. society) and horizontal (modernity vs. tradition) inequalities/differences as historical and cultural causes of conflict, peacebuilding in the post-colonial, post-conflict context requires deliberation to engage in the legitimation problem.
This paper posits a societal model of peacebuilding and examines its empirical applicability in S... more This paper posits a societal model of peacebuilding and examines its empirical applicability in Somaliland from 1991 to 2005. Given the mixed results of international peacebuilding, this paper unpacks the key policy narratives and theoretical models, and highlights the societal model as a critical alternative. The case of Somaliland indicates the critical role of local societal agencies in forming, reforming, and transforming a societal peace, and leads to discussions on various findings, including the empirical plausibility of the societal model, as well as its contradictory relationality with external intervention, remaining challenges, and suggestions of how to address them.
This paper makes a theoretical and empirical inquiry into the failures and successes of peacebuil... more This paper makes a theoretical and empirical inquiry into the failures and successes of peacebuilding in East Timor from 1999 to 2012 and beyond. In doing so, it links the failure and success to deforming and transforming conflict respectively, sets out analytical frameworks to measure the causes, processes, and progress of a justice-based approach to peacebuilding, and applies these frameworks to the case of East Timor, where the UN played an integral role during the period in question. The empirical findings have implications for international peacebuilding, including: 1) the need to address the positions of national/local contestants; 2) the effectiveness of power-sharing and electoral engineering; 3) the feasibility of hybridity between the political/modern and the societal/traditional; and 4) the importance of an interdisciplinary coalition between critical peace and development studies.
Given a legitimation problem of vertical (state vs society) and
horizontal (modernity vs traditio... more Given a legitimation problem of vertical (state vs society) and horizontal (modernity vs tradition) inequalities and differences as a historical and cultural cause of conflict, deliberation is instrumental in addressing this legitimation problem and transforming conflict into peace in the postcolonial, post-conflict context. Although deliberation has gained academic attention as a means of addressing the legitimation crisis in Western liberal democracies, its application to contemporary peacebuilding remains underresearched. This paper thus aims to theorize postcolonial deliberation and deliberative peacebuilding, highlighting postcolonial history and culture and the critical role that agencies have played in deliberation to re-legitimize the non-Western polity and transform conflict into peace. It then deduces a hypothetical mechanism of the different paths to peace either with or without the external intervention that signifies how agencies deliberate.
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build peace (e.g. Boutros-Ghali 1992). While peacebuilding has become an internationally applied set of ideas and practices, one of the theoretical gaps is deliberation. This research thus conceptualises ‘deliberative peacebuilding’, and associates this with peacebuilding in the
non-Western, post-colonial, and (post-)conflict context.
This research identified East Timor and Somaliland as its case studies. Despite similarity in the ‘legitimation problem’ with vertical (state-society) and horizontal (‘modernity’-‘tradition’) inequalities/differences based upon cultural and historical backgrounds, East Timor and Somaliland undertook different approaches in a decade after the end of their civil wars. While
East Timor accepted UN peace operations, Somaliland rejected them. Yet both experienced similar transitions to make political order between ‘failure’ (political de-legitimation/societal dissent) and ‘success’ (political legitimation/societal consent).
Accordingly, this thesis poses two questions: 1) what caused the UN to have ‘failed’ (to prevent the ‘crisis’ from recurring in 2006) in East Timor, and 2) what caused East Timor and Somaliland to have experienced ‘equifinality’ (making similar progress along different paths)
in building peace (in East Timor from 1999 to 2012 and in Somaliland from 1991 to 2005). Findings, among others, include different paths in transition: a ‘hybrid’ path with external intervention in East Timor and an ‘agonistic’ path without it in Somaliland. Asymmetry in power relations urged deliberative agencies to address the ‘legitimation problem’ differently.
horizontal (modernity vs tradition) inequalities and differences as a
historical and cultural cause of conflict, deliberation is instrumental
in addressing this legitimation problem and transforming
conflict into peace in the postcolonial, post-conflict context.
Although deliberation has gained academic attention as a means of
addressing the legitimation crisis in Western liberal democracies,
its application to contemporary peacebuilding remains underresearched.
This paper thus aims to theorize postcolonial
deliberation and deliberative peacebuilding, highlighting
postcolonial history and culture and the critical role that agencies
have played in deliberation to re-legitimize the non-Western polity
and transform conflict into peace. It then deduces a hypothetical
mechanism of the different paths to peace either with or without
the external intervention that signifies how agencies deliberate.
build peace (e.g. Boutros-Ghali 1992). While peacebuilding has become an internationally applied set of ideas and practices, one of the theoretical gaps is deliberation. This research thus conceptualises ‘deliberative peacebuilding’, and associates this with peacebuilding in the
non-Western, post-colonial, and (post-)conflict context.
This research identified East Timor and Somaliland as its case studies. Despite similarity in the ‘legitimation problem’ with vertical (state-society) and horizontal (‘modernity’-‘tradition’) inequalities/differences based upon cultural and historical backgrounds, East Timor and Somaliland undertook different approaches in a decade after the end of their civil wars. While
East Timor accepted UN peace operations, Somaliland rejected them. Yet both experienced similar transitions to make political order between ‘failure’ (political de-legitimation/societal dissent) and ‘success’ (political legitimation/societal consent).
Accordingly, this thesis poses two questions: 1) what caused the UN to have ‘failed’ (to prevent the ‘crisis’ from recurring in 2006) in East Timor, and 2) what caused East Timor and Somaliland to have experienced ‘equifinality’ (making similar progress along different paths)
in building peace (in East Timor from 1999 to 2012 and in Somaliland from 1991 to 2005). Findings, among others, include different paths in transition: a ‘hybrid’ path with external intervention in East Timor and an ‘agonistic’ path without it in Somaliland. Asymmetry in power relations urged deliberative agencies to address the ‘legitimation problem’ differently.
horizontal (modernity vs tradition) inequalities and differences as a
historical and cultural cause of conflict, deliberation is instrumental
in addressing this legitimation problem and transforming
conflict into peace in the postcolonial, post-conflict context.
Although deliberation has gained academic attention as a means of
addressing the legitimation crisis in Western liberal democracies,
its application to contemporary peacebuilding remains underresearched.
This paper thus aims to theorize postcolonial
deliberation and deliberative peacebuilding, highlighting
postcolonial history and culture and the critical role that agencies
have played in deliberation to re-legitimize the non-Western polity
and transform conflict into peace. It then deduces a hypothetical
mechanism of the different paths to peace either with or without
the external intervention that signifies how agencies deliberate.