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Rethinking peacebuilding: the quest for just peace in the Middle East and the Western Balkans

Rethinking Peacebuilding sets out to explore the relationship between justice and peace in the context of contemporary peace operations. This edited volume brings together contributions which theoretically and empirically interrogate what the authors find to be the under-theorised, though often invoked notion of a just peace. This collection adopts a multidisciplinary, cross-theoretical and methodologically diverse approach which illustrates the highly contested and disputed nature of both justice and peace. Theoretically, the notion of a just peace is interrogated using approaches ranging from realism, to constructivism, to critical, to problem-solving approaches, to international law, and conflict resolution. Empirically, the justice–peace nexus is examined qualitatively and quantitatively, emphasising the tension at play in the Middle East and the Balkans in relation to EU peacebuilding policy. This collection sets itself the goal of being an original contribution to the peace and conflict studies literature while presenting policy-relevant insights. To this end, Rethinking Peacebuilding succeeds. Individually, these chapters approach the notion of a just peace from normative and epistemological positions which are often at loggerheads; however, when assembled together these chapters constitute a critique of the formal, procedural, retributive-centric justice practices commonly associated with ‘the liberal peace’. The chapters in this edited book can be loosely grouped into three sections: those which emphasise policy changes with regard to (a) international justice practices, (b) international–local hybrid justice practices and (c) locally led justice practices. Taken together, this volume effectively draws on theoretical and empirical research in a way which reveals an important shift in both theory and practice: the just peace advanced through international peacebuilding practices must be adapted to reflect the complexities of local justice practices. The relationship between justice and peace at the level of international policy is examined by Bar-Siman-Tov through the lens of conflict resolution rooted in rational choice theory. He argues that competing justice claims can upset peace processes. Justice, he concludes, should be ‘deferred’ to a second, reconciliation phase which would include more locally relevant justice practices such as recognition and understanding (p. 32). Using a similar theoretical approach, Persson critically reviews the EU’s policy regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and finds that the EU has bolstered the Palestinians’ position and positively contributed to the emerging contours of a just peace under a two-state solution (p. 167). Drawing on statistical analyses, the contribution by Wallensteen et al. cross-tabulates the relationships between peace agreements which