PEACEptions

Colombia’s history is shaped by structural conflicts on land and participation producing armed violence most of all in peripheral and border regions. A comprehensive peace agreement was signed in 2016 with peacebuilding at the local level contingent upon the presence and combinations of structural factors (e.g. illegal economies, armed actors).
Notions of peace highlight the importance of peace as respect, justice, and tranquillity.  But peacebuilding cannot be reduced to the Peace Agreement and its implementation. The Agreement provides a significant window of opportunity to make meaningful changes whose implementation depends on the political will and the agreement of political actors in Colombia and their international allies.

Venezuela provides evidence that a peacebuilding perspective on multiple crises outside of war is fruitful and helps us to understand the main dynamics and political economy driving violence and civil resistance. Venezuela’s conflicts are shaped by the interaction and intermingling of several long-standing and deeply rooted historical crises of social and political participation and the dependence on an oil economy. Notions of peace revolve mostly around tranquillity, respect, and personal safety. Peacebuilding needs to include three axes: access to the basic necessities, reduction of violence by state and non-state actors, and justice for the victims, recovery of spaces for social organisation and civic action.

Cameroon experiences a variety of armed conflicts, in a highly centralised and authoritarian political system with a government downplaying violence and conflicts. Armed conflict is related to the specific patterns of state formation such as porous borders in the North and the denial of minority rights to the anglophone population. Notions of peace are related to personal security, tranquillity, and respect. Context sensitive peacebuilding strategies should include religious and traditional authorities, women groups, and civil society organisations as important entry points.  However, the context of an authoritarian regime either coopting or repressing these actors, limits and threatens these possibilities.

Recognized as an independent state in 2011, South Sudan is the world’s youngest and poorest state. After secession another civil war started in 2013 and ended with a peace agreement in 2018. Some armed actors still operate, and the related insecurity prevents the return of the internally displaced people and refugees. Conflicts are intertwined and have pitted elites against each other competing for power and national resources. Perceptions of peace reflect the experienced surroundings: Safety and justice stand out as the most mentioned elements nationally. Peacebuilding needs institutional diversity of peace actors to cope with complexity, and national peace processes remain fragile in a fragmented context.

Violence and armed conflicts in the Philippines are shaped by the social and economic exclusion of specific populations in different territories. The remnants of the communist guerrilla are active across the over 7,000 islands, the Mindanao secessionist at least partially signed a peace agreement, and private armies and warlords thrive where the state is not present. Notions of peace are highly divers the three most mentioned are personal safety, tranquillity, and reconciliation. Filipinos articulate confidence in local government units, but low trust in institutions such as the Catholic church and civil society. Increasing civic spaces and including civil society might provide opportunities to strengthen peacebuilding.