Post-Abyssal peacebuilding : thinking peace through the epistemologies of the South

摘要

Liberal peacebuilding, based on the ideology of liberal peace, became the hegemonicform of peace construction after the end of the Cold War. As performed by the UnitedNations (UN), liberal peacebuilding does not include endogenously developedanswers to conflict in its formula for peace. The troubled relationship between the UNand the local has long been criticised by peace studies scholars, who have beenexposing its hybrid character by recognising agency in local actors. My intention is totake these critiques further and draw attention to the importance of revealing thelocal understandings of peace that produced resistance to international intervention.For this, I suggest the integration by peace studies, of a new conceptual framework todeal with local epistemologies. The research question guiding this dissertation thusbecomes: how can Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ conceptual framework of theepistemologies of the South further the knowledge and practice of peacebuilding? Theargument set out is that the liberal peace concept, as part of modern westernthinking, constitutes an abyssal line, radically excluding all other forms of social,political and economic organisation found in post-conflict spaces that do not conformto liberal values. The epistemologies of the South are able to confront this hegemonythrough the practice of the sociologies of absences and emergences and the work oftranslation, which reveal local epistemologies. Integrating this framework into peacestudies constitutes a conceptual advancement since it helps to explain differentvisions of peace, thereby contributing to a broader understanding of this concept andenriching peaces that are already known. Thus, the dissertation makes a twofoldcontribution: first, it constitutes an epistemological critique of the liberal peace as associated with modern Western thinking; second, it constitutes a conceptualcontribution, since it explores different tools to investigate endogenous forms ofpeace. Its main goal is to inspire new research into peace and peace construction thatfollow the epistemologies of the South framework and thus help to deepen theunderstanding of these concepts.