ABSTRACT
In this chapter, it is argued that the relative successes of peace and state formation on the Pacific island of Bougainville are due to constructive interactions between international liberal and local customary approaches. The entanglement of liberal-international peacebuilding and statebuilding with local-indigenous ways of transforming conflict and forming political community have led to the emergence of hybrid forms of peace and governance that differ considerably from western concepts of peace and state, but that, at the same time, can be more efficient and legitimate in maintaining social order in an environment like Bougainville.
