The Future of Peace-Making Today

The UN Agenda for Democratization and Agenda for Peace presumes that because democratic governance is freely chosen by the citizen and held accountable through periodic and genuine elections and other mechanisms, democratic societies are more likely to promote and respect the rule of law, individual and minority rights and therefore are an important source of peace-building. This seminar comes at a critical time when liberal peacebuilding is currently threatened by the emergence of illiberalism and populist authoritarian regimes (age of the strongman) all over the world. The latter pokes holes into Fukuyama’s “The End of History Idea” that claimed that western liberal democracy is the final form of human governance, relying on the Democratic Peace Theory which states that most democratic countries are reluctant to engage in armed conflict with another republic or democratic country motivated by keeping the peace. This notion was largely sustained by the United Nations paradigm that lasted for over seventy years but later changed due to growing pessimism of a peaceful world brought about by events such as the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States making the US more rigid and absolute in its foreign policy and domestic affairs. Today, liberal democracy is being challenged in all fronts by strongmen who seek a more controlled nationalistic governance from Europe, North America and Africa.

Against this backdrop, this course begins with a reversal of perspective. It looks at the changing world from a (pan-)African perspective. And this can bring a breath of fresh air to the question of what the future of peace might look like. For example, African scholars of peacebuilding have called for more contextualized and localized approaches to peacebuilding, with some highlighting the need to amplify and mainstream indigenous African approaches to peacebuilding, such as open assembly, oath or covenant making. The event will take the form of an interactive workshop, allowing participants to question and reorient their own ideas about peace work from the perspective mentioned above.

Please note that this course, including the examinations, will be taught entirely in English.