Abstract

International peacebuilding since the early 1990s faces a dual challenge: how to make sense of the many fragmented (and often contradictory) goals that are now part of international peacebuilding, and how to contribute meaningfully to shaping the re-energized peacebuilding agenda. Necla Tschirgi proposes that the current focus on peacebuilding in conflict-prone or post-conflict countries is a necessary but ultimately insufficient approach in an international system that is deeply divided and increasingly militarized. She argues that it is imperative to take advantage of the renewed interest in peacebuilding to call for international policies and institutions based on peace, social justice and collective security rather than narrowly cast strategies of stabilization, containment and military interventions in 'zones of conflict'. Peacebuilding is a powerful agenda through which deep-seated inequities and vulnerabilities at both the national and international levels can be underscored and addressed.