ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the interface of various types of providers of peace, security and justice in Ghana and Liberia in West Africa, and in Vanuatu and Solomon Islands in Oceania. Liberia and Solomon Islands represent fragile post-conflict situations with far-reaching international peacebuilding interventions. Ghana and Vanuatu, by comparison, represent relatively stable situations. In all four countries, ‘illiberal’ local actors, such as chiefs, elders and religious leaders, play important roles in conflict resolution and peace formation. Their interactions with state institutions lead to the emergence of context-specific, hybrid forms of peace and order in these diverse countries from two far-apart regions of the Global South.