ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the tensions in construction of the 'liberal peace' in the specific context of the sort of grassroots peacebuilding undertaken by non-governmental organisation (NGOs), necessitating their cooperation with local populations, officials, and institutions, as well as with intergovernmental organizations, regional organisations, major agencies and donors. It explores this conditional relationship, inherent in the subcontracting of duties, rights, responsibilities as well as advocacy. The chapter outlines the tensions inherent in these developments from a variety of empirical and theoretical perspectives, and as such, speaks for themselves. The construction of the liberal peace focuses on peace-as-governance, and NGOs are vital actors in this project within the broader context of the globalisation of the norms of the liberal peace, and of global civil society. NGOs linkage seems to imply that their intervention can occur in the context of local normative and cultural frameworks, derived from local and global notions of human security.