ABSTRACT
Local business actors have the potential to play a positive role in peacebuilding in different contexts. In the cases of Sri Lanka and El Salvador, it was during the mediated peace processes where local business actors played a relevant role in actively lobbying for a peaceful resolution to conflict. This contribution to the economic ‘peace dividend’ provides insights into how business actors can play a role in mediation processes. However, the long-term impacts of those engagements are rarely assessed. This chapter analyses the role that local business actors have played in peace processes in Sri Lanka and El Salvador, while providing critical reflections into the role of business once a peace process has been successful but also once a peace process has failed. It provides both theoretical and empirical insights into how local businesses face both opportunities and challenges to contributing to peacebuilding.
