ABSTRACT

Armed conflict is experienced differently according to context and circumstances, and similarly, once it is achieved, the experience of peace is likely to be different for different communities and individuals. A wide range of factors from demographics to the socio-political and economic characteristics of population mean that peace not only is a context-based phenomenon but also very much depends on how it is lived, enacted, and embodied in everyday lives. The level of engagement and supportiveness by the international community was a significant factor in many peace processes because of neighbourhood effects, and the possibility of proxy war and peace waged by powerful regional or international actors. With the variable of how third-party engagement played a successful role in peace processes, the assessment shows that the cases of Aceh, Basque, Colombia, El Salvador, and Northern Ireland were particularly fortunate.