Introduction

Peacebuilding in an era of pragmatism

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3738540
AutoresLouise Wiuff Moe (0000-0002-3088-7082), Finn Stepputat (0000-0003-3011-989X, Danish Institute for International Studies)
Ano2018
Volume94
Fascículo2
Páginas293-299
Data de publicação2018-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Affairs (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ia/iiy035
OpenAlexW2792007958
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas40

The politics of international peacebuilding are undergoing a pragmatic turn. The era of liberal idealism and interventionism is closing, and while the contours of the emerging global order remain uncertain, a more pragmatic approach to the means and ends of peace appears to be on the rise.1 Considerable academic work has gone into analysing the limitations of the ‘old’ liberal peace model, yet so far there has been only limited research on peace approaches that seek to move beyond the liberal framework. This special section addresses this void. It explores the growing pragmatism of contemporary peacebuilding policies and practices as they manifest themselves in the ‘local turn’ in peacebuilding, the related rise of complexity, hybridity and resilience thinking, as well as in the (re)turn to prevention, stabilization and pacification approaches. In doing so, the special section brings together debates which have been so far largely isolated, in a manner that highlights how distinct trends and approaches are part of a wider continuum of pragmatic responses to contemporary peace challenges. This provides the basis for connecting—and possibly looking beyond—discussions on the primacy of politics, the realpolitik of stabilization and the bottom-up focus on localizing and contextualizing efforts to sustain peace. In mapping this continuum—as well as the related pitfalls, promises and challenges—the contributors to this special section offer new conceptual and empirical insights into the steady pragmatism that increasingly seems to be shaping international interventionism in the so-called post liberal era.

Epistemology · Peacebuilding · Political science · Pragmatism · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Peacebuilding and International Security · Philosophy · Public Administration