Peacebuilding in Practice by Adam D Moore

Peacebuilding in Practice by Adam D Moore

In November 2007 Adam Moore was conducting fieldwork in Mostar when the southern Bosnian city was rocked by two days of violent clashes between Croat and Bosniak youth. It was not the city’s only experience of ethnic conflict in recent years. Indeed, Mostar’s problems are often cited as emblematic of the failure of international efforts to overcome deep divisions that continue to stymie the postwar peace process in Bosnia. Yet not all of Bosnia has been plagued by such troubles. Mostar remains mired in distrust and division, but the Brčko District in the northeast corner of the country has become a model of what Bosnia could be. Its multiethnic institutions operate well compared to other municipalities, and are broadly supported by those who live there; it also boasts the only fully integrated school system in the country. What accounts for the striking divergence in postwar peacebuilding in these two towns? Moore argues that a conjunction of four factors explains the contrast in peacebuilding outcomes in Mostar and Brčko: The design of political institutions, the sequencing of political and economic reforms, local and regional legacies from the war, and the practice and organization of international peacebuilding efforts in the two towns. Differences in the latter, in particular, have profoundly shaped relations between local political elites and international officials. Through a grounded analysis of localized peacebuilding dynamics in these two cities Moore generates a powerful argument concerning the need to rethink how peacebuilding is done—that is, a shift in the habitus or culture that governs international peacebuilding activities and priorities today.

By comparing two cases in Bosnia—Mostarwhere ethnic conflict still flares intermittentlyand Brckowhere public institutions are models of effective multiethnic functioning—Moore (geographyUnivof CaliforniaLos Angeles) identifies an interrelated set of four factors that explain the success and failure of peace building.... The book is strongly recommended for those interested in peace building in the wake of international interventionas well as those interested in applicable research methodology.

-- R.P. Peters * Choice *

Methodologically, Peacebuilding in Practice is an exemplary study of postwar Bosnia. Moore engaged in eighteen months of fieldwork between 2004 and 2012, gaining competence in Bosnian and combining three methodological approaches: formal interviews (more than 120), archival research, and ethnography. The interviews were with local political and administrative personnel in the two towns who had been active during the war or afterward and with international officials working in the towns and in Sarajevo. Thus, the study is based on rich data compiled by a researcher very well-grounded in the localities studied.

-- Robert M. Hayden * Slavic Review *

Adam Moore is Assistant Professor of Geography at UCLA.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9780801451997
ISBN 10	080145199X
Titel	Peacebuilding in Practice
Autor	Adam D Moore
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Verlag	Cornell University Press
Erscheinungsjahr	2013-08-13
Seitenanzahl	240
Preise	Winner of Winner of the 2014 Julian Minghi Outstanding Resea.
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis	Nicht verfügbar