Enlightening the Heart of Darkness: UN perceptions and their relation with local agency in peacebuilding
(2020) FKVA22 20192Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- Perceptions have the capacity of indirectly shaping agendas and affecting behaviours. It is a concept briefly touched upon in peacebuilding research, as a tool of tracing dominant practices of international interveners. This paper aims to contribute to this literature, by analysing how perceptions of the UN relate with lacking local agency in peacebuilding practice. In a case study of MONUC’s intervention in the DRC, this link is supported by Autesserre’s theories of peacebuilding cultures and knowledge hierarchies. The UN perceives peacebuilding as mainly a statebuilding mission; the DRC as inherently violent and dysfunctional; and the conflict as predominantly a consequence of illegal natural resource exploitation. Our findings suggest... (More)
- Perceptions have the capacity of indirectly shaping agendas and affecting behaviours. It is a concept briefly touched upon in peacebuilding research, as a tool of tracing dominant practices of international interveners. This paper aims to contribute to this literature, by analysing how perceptions of the UN relate with lacking local agency in peacebuilding practice. In a case study of MONUC’s intervention in the DRC, this link is supported by Autesserre’s theories of peacebuilding cultures and knowledge hierarchies. The UN perceives peacebuilding as mainly a statebuilding mission; the DRC as inherently violent and dysfunctional; and the conflict as predominantly a consequence of illegal natural resource exploitation. Our findings suggest that these perceptions – reinstated in dominant peacebuilding cultures – reinforce marginalisation of the knowledge and opinions of local actors. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9001042
- author
- Strangert, Viktor LU and Jederlund, John LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- FKVA22 20192
- year
- 2020
- type
- L2 - 2nd term paper (old degree order)
- subject
- keywords
- perceptions, peacebuilding, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), local agency, peacebuilding cultures
- language
- English
- id
- 9001042
- date added to LUP
- 2020-03-03 08:43:33
- date last changed
- 2020-03-03 08:43:40
@misc{9001042, abstract = {{Perceptions have the capacity of indirectly shaping agendas and affecting behaviours. It is a concept briefly touched upon in peacebuilding research, as a tool of tracing dominant practices of international interveners. This paper aims to contribute to this literature, by analysing how perceptions of the UN relate with lacking local agency in peacebuilding practice. In a case study of MONUC’s intervention in the DRC, this link is supported by Autesserre’s theories of peacebuilding cultures and knowledge hierarchies. The UN perceives peacebuilding as mainly a statebuilding mission; the DRC as inherently violent and dysfunctional; and the conflict as predominantly a consequence of illegal natural resource exploitation. Our findings suggest that these perceptions – reinstated in dominant peacebuilding cultures – reinforce marginalisation of the knowledge and opinions of local actors.}}, author = {{Strangert, Viktor and Jederlund, John}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Enlightening the Heart of Darkness: UN perceptions and their relation with local agency in peacebuilding}}, year = {{2020}}, }