Hybrid Forms of Peace and Order on a South Sea Island

Abstract

For almost 10 years (1989–1998) the South Pacific island of Bougainville was the theatre of a large-scale violent conflict, and over the last 12 years Bougainville has undergone a comprehensive process of largely successful post-conflict peacebuilding and (re-)construction of political order. In the process, international liberal notions of peace and state-building colluded with local understandings of shaping a peaceful and orderly community, which resulted in a hybridization of peacebuilding and in a distinct Bougainvillean variety of ‘peace’ and ‘state’. Although some international engagement was – and continues to be – instrumental for peacebuilding and state formation, these processes are mainly steered through local agency.