The ‘local turn’ saving liberal peacebuilding? Unpacking virtual peace in Cambodia

Joakim Öjendal and Sivhouch Ou

Third World Quarterly, 2015, vol. 36, issue 5, 929-949

Abstract: The trajectory of the liberal peacebuilding project has encountered a fundamental critique of its failure to deliver the expected sustainable peace. This paper questions the approach with which it has been, and largely still is, pursued. We reflect on a more communicative, nuanced, contextual and time-bound approach. In particular, we identify the failure of the liberal peace to localise peace and to make it a part of everyday life in Cambodia. Nevertheless, we claim that liberal peace has unintentionally created space for progress, while a ‘local turn’ has proved significant. We demonstrate empirically that certain forms of local and everyday peace have emerged for the ‘wrong’ reason, and may evolve further. Hence, a local peace has gradually sunk in, although its liberal foundations remain virtual.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2015.1030387

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