Rethinking Peacebuilding—The Quest for Just Peace in the Middle East and the Western Balkans

This book presents new theoretical and conceptual perspectives on the problematique of building just and durable peace.

Linking peace and justice has sparked lively debates about the dilemmas and trade-offs in several contemporary peace processes. Despite the fact that justice and peace are commonly referred to there is surprisingly little research and few conceptualizations of the interplay between the two.

This edited volume is the result of three years of collaborative research and draws upon insights from such disciplines as peace and conflict, international law, political science and international relations. It contains policy-relevant knowledge about effective peacebuilding strategies, as well as an in-depth analysis of the contemporary peace processes in the Middle East and the Western Balkans. Using a variety of theoretical perspectives and empirical approaches, the work makes an original contribution to the growing literature on peacebuilding.

This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, peace and conflict studies, Middle Eastern Politics, European Politics and IR/Security Studies.

Karin Aggestam is Associate Professor in Political Science and currently the director of Peace and Conflict Studies, Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden.

Annika Bjorkdahl is Associate Professor in Political Science, Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden.