FutureGenerations

The Challenge: Peace agreements do not make peace. Neither does the arrival of international peacekeepers. Transforming the conditions of instability and post-conflict reconstruction into lasting peace requires stable relations within and between the state and society. While peace agreements and international intervention are often necessary stimuli, most essential is the partnership of people and government. The challenge is: how can citizens and communities help create the conditions of peace. What are the most effective approaches to stimulate broad-based, community-driven peacebuilding? 

The Research: With support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Future Generations is conducting a multi-year global study of the role of engaged citizens and communities in building peace. This project will join the collective experience of scholars and practitioners engaged in bottom-up peacebuilding with Future Generations own insights and experience in promoting partnerships between communities, governments, and external actors.

The research phase, beginning with a literature review and research framework, will seek to answer the question of how citizens and communities have been effectively engaged in building peace. Primary data will come from case studies of “positive deviance” – instances where citizens and communities have worked across divisions and achieved a positive impact on peace writ large. Three case examples include:

• Guyana: In advance of the 2006 elections, government, international partners, and civil society mounted extensive peacebuilding efforts that averted violence, resulting in the most peaceful elections of the last 15 years.
• Burundi: In areas scarred by the violent power struggle between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups, local non-government organizations spearheaded two peace initiatives owned by ordinary citizens that led to significant changes in people’s attitude and behaviour.
• Nepal: Communities and citizen groups at multiple levels (local, regional and national)  mobilized across class, caste, ethnic, and religious divides to effectively topple the royal regime and help bring an end to the 10-year Maoist conflict.

The project will be carried out collaboratively by a management team centered at Future Generations, scholar/practitioners from selected countries, and an advisory network. 

Building on Results: New insights and understandings from this project will be disseminated to the academic, policy, and practitioner communities. While the results of the study will be published and disseminated through traditional channels, one of the ways it will be made useful to communities is through further application, research, and scholarship by scholar/practitioners enrolled in the Future Generations Master's Degree program.