ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how hybridity is applied both in Western-centrist and evolutionary thinking and ideas of potentially more emancipatory 'hybrid' and 'post-liberal forms of peace', by reviewing transitology, institutionalist statebuilding and critical peacebuilding literatures. It explores how hybridity is applied in political science, peace and conflict literatures and how the further development of the research agenda on 'hybrid subjectivities' offers a promising avenue to be both mindful of the limits of hybridity and social inquiry more generally. The subsequent exploration of applications of hybridity in analyses of situations of protracted crisis and 'governance without government' highlights how the application of hybrid solutions can lead to violence, marginalisation and other regressive outcomes despite such emancipatory potential. The chapter discusses the importance of an ontological understanding of hybridity, that is, on what is being hybridised or hybrid, in order to argue that it is the realm of ideas that should be given more attention in hybridity research.
