Building peace through liberal constructs -

Abstract

Peacebuilding activities have been among the most common international actions when contending with conflicts and seeking to establish a durable peace. In this sense, various actors are involved in peacebuilding such as civil society actors, governments, and international organizations. Since peacebuilding activities are held under the patronage of the UN and funded by Western sources, the imposition of liberal values becomes unavoidable in the post-conflict environment. However, imposed liberal principles are not always compatible with the context of the post-conflict environment and, thus, might render civic peace initiatives inefficient. From this point of view, this study explores the peacebuilding activities of the civil society actors with the case studies of Lebanon and Cyprus. How do civil society actors deal with liberal peacebuilding? How are the critical approaches on liberal peacebuilding reflected in the field? Through these questions, this study puts forward how the three associated concepts – violence, civil society, and youth – function as the liberal components of peacebuilding and, thus, make peacebuilding activities incapable to effectively address the causes of conflicts.