Peace Infrastructures – Assessing Concept and Practice. Berghof Handbook Dialogue No. 10

The Dialogue Series is an offshoot of the Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation. Each topic in the series is chosen because it is particularly relevant to societies in conflict and the practice of conflict transformation, and because it raises important issues at the present time. In each Dialogue, practitioners and scholars critically engage and debate in light of their experience. Typically, a Dialogue includes one lead article from key experts, and several commentaries from practitioners and others. Rather than presenting a single analysis, these practitioner-scholar encounters stimulate debate, integrating different perspectives, challenging prevailing views and comparing research findings with experiences and insights on the ground. Importantly, Dialogues, as works of broad relevance, are distributed in print version as well as online. We invite readers to respond to the papers (as to all articles). Interesting and original contributions can be added to the web version of the Dialogue. Peacebuilding practitioners, strategists and analysts are grappling with the question of where exactly decisions about building peace and dealing with violent conflict are made. Who, for example, can citizens call on when ethnic tensions threaten to escalate into violence? Where are decisions regarding early warning or ad-hoc mediation taken? Who is putting into action the state's responsibility for memorial sites or post-conflict reconstruction? In many conflict and post-conflict countries there are institutionalised units, committees, councils, secretariats and ministries under different names mandated with these tasks at different levels and during different phases of conflict. These structures are sometimes linked with each other, forming a part of a country's " peace infrastructure " in the same way that a country's transport infrastructure is formed of its transport ministry, public transport providers, road and rail networks, private businesses and motorists. The growing number of concrete experiences and practical examples of peace infrastructure over the last few years has generated calls for more systematic thinking about what peace infrastructure means to both academics and practitioners. The terms " peace infrastructure " , " infrastructure for peace " , " peace and dialogue structures " , and " peace support structures " have become buzzwords in the field, steering our attention to organisation and structure after the long-standing concentration on peace processes. Common examples of peace infrastructure include: the Kenyan and Ghanaian peace committees (initiated by civil society and later formalized by governments); ministries tasked with building peace such as the Ministry for Peace and Reconstruction in …