ABSTRACT
The objective of this chapter is to critically assess if, how, and under which conditions the involvement of civil society in a peace process contributes to the quality of peace.
The author argues that civil society is successful in supporting the development of quality peace if it contributes to: (1) reducing violence; (2) facilitating an agreement; (3) helping to ensure medium- to long-term sustainability of the peace agreement; and (4) establishing conditions to address the causes of conflict constructively within society at large. The chapter provides an explanation of the concept of civil society, briefly explains the approach to addressing the conceptual, methodological, and normative challenges, and assesses how effectively civil society contributes to the quality of peace in these different roles. In considering the relevance of different civil society roles in various phases of peace processes, the analysis allows for a more distinctive approach to understanding success and gives practitioners and scholars more detailed success factors for civil society involvement. Using 12 case studies as evidence, the results show that civil society’s contribution to quality peace depends on (1) the relevance of a function performed in a specific phase of conflict; (2) the context in which initiatives take place, and (3) the way initiatives are planned and implemented. The chapter concludes with insights on contextual variables, specific actors, and contributions that affect the quality of peace.
