Lexington Books Local Ownership of Peacebuilding in Afghanistan: Shouldering Responsibility for Sustainable Peace and Development

The international community has followed up its 2001 invasion of Afghanistan with a complex, multi-faceted peacebuilding project. However, informed observers believe that this Western-led mission in Afghanistan has failed to address the inherent peacebuilding needs of Afghanistan and has hindered the formation of a locally experienced sustainable peace. In response, emerging peacebuilding theories and rhetoric have pointed to an urgent need for revised peacebuilding paradigms and strategies that hold local, Afghan ownership of peacebuilding activities as a central concern. This book responds to this need for revised peacebuilding paradigms and: (1) introduces the topic of local ownership of peacebuilding in Afghanistan; (2) surveys current shifts in peacebuilding theory and practice that are only starting to be realized on the ground; (3) sets the context for a discussion of local ownership of peacebuilding; (4) reports on the perceptions of foreign and Afghan peacebuilding leaders working in Afghanistan in regards to the journey towards local ownership of peacebuilding; and (5) suggests the creation of a locally designed and led conflict transformation system that might help restructure local-foreign relations and advance the journey towards Afghan ownership of peacebuilding. Review Chuck Thiessen outlines the complexity and tension between the international community's ownership of local peacebuilding efforts and local Afghans striving to shape peacebuilding efforts on the ground. This pathbreaking study is a must-read for policy makers, peacebuilders, and international donors.--Sean Byrne, University of Manitoba Local Ownership of Peacebuilding in Afghanistan is a convincing and empathetic investigation into one of the often-mentioned but little-understood phrases in international intervention: ownership. Chuck Thiessen has professional experience in Afghanistan and so the book rests on more than a short stint of fieldwork. It brings new insights to light on a subject that is of great interest to students and practitioners.--Roger MacGinty, Professor in Defence, Development and Diplomacy, University of Durham, UK In almost all conflict-affected environments, the issue of local ownership is central to any prospect of success in peacebuilding. Yet there seems to be a huge lack of clarity about how local ownership of peacebuilding programs could actually be enabled in post-conflict reconstruction processes. This insightful book does just that--addresses that lack of clarity! It sets two challenging questions to respond: first, why does the international community often struggle to ensure local control over peacebuilding prioritisation, project design, and evaluation; and equally importantly, second, what can be done about it? The book takes us through the local ownership journey of Afghanistan since the international military intervention of 2001, which has so far, been a very bumpy ride and now, seems to be facing a cul-de-sac! This path-breaking book should be a key reading for practitioners and scholars alike.--Alpaslan Özerdem, Coventry University In Local Ownership of Peacebuilding in Afghanistan: Shouldering Responsibility for Sustainable Peace and Development, Chuck Thiessen takes discussion of local ownership of the peacebuilding process to the next level through his analysis of (neo)conservative and emancipatory approaches to sustainable peace processes. This text makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how local ownership is key to all peacebuilding activities. Personal narratives of government, NGO, and Afghan civilians are used to communicate the need for local ownership of peace development. Changing definitions of local ownership are also investigated. A strength of the text is how the author integrates his many years of experience on the ground in Afghanistan to illuminate his recommendations. All-in-all, Local Ownership of Peacebuilding in Afghanistan: Shouldering R