Contributions to the book 'Micro-evidence for Peacebuilding Theories and Policies'

“Micro-evidence for Peacebuilding Theories and Policies,” a book edited by Kubota Yuichi, associate professor, Nihon University, explores theories and policies of post-conflict peacebuilding by relying on micro-evidence on the repercussions of civil conflicts. Rui Saraiva (research fellow) and Muto Ako (executive senior research fellow) of the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development each contributed book chapters.

In the chapter “Micro-evidence from Participatory Conflict Analysis: Toward Context-Specific Adaptive Peacebuilding in Mozambique,” Saraiva analyzes the peacebuilding process in Mozambique that was once considered a successful model but eventually experienced a small-scale conflict recurrence and a violent extremist insurgency in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. Saraiva observes that the conflict recurrence and insurgency revealed that further measures were required to address remaining grievances and achieve national stability in Mozambique. The chapter argues that methods deriving from adaptive peacebuilding approaches, such as participatory conflict analysis, will result in more flexible, pragmatic, and context-specific responses. As conflict analysis is typically externally driven, the strength of participatory approaches lies in the contextualized avenues it provides to address the complexity of the conflict. He argues that the micro-evidence resulting from participatory conflict analysis will enable local, national, and international peacebuilders to develop more effective methods to sustain peace in Mozambique.

In the conclusive chapter of the book, co-written by Kubota and Muto, the authors state that empirical analyses of this volume indicate the importance of locals’ self-evaluation of peacebuilding process and outcomes, highlighting the effect of positive evaluation in providing the locals with an incentive to continue peacebuilding. In addition, they state that local institutions have the potential to sustain communal peace by facilitating collective action. They propose that it is productive and reality-founded policy-making/implementation. Furthermore, they suggest that mutual understanding and interactions between these sectors are still required to better design and implement peacebuilding activities.

The chapters can be accessed from the following links (registration or purchase required).