Mats Berdal: Building Peace After War — A Critical Assessment of International Peacebuilding from Cambodia to Afghanistan

The widespread practice of external intervention aimed at building “sustainable peace” within societies ravaged by war and violence has been a striking feature of the post-Cold War era.

In an IDRC public lecture, international security and development expert Mats Berdal drew from his recent book Building Peace After War to explore the record of such interventions, from Cambodia in the early 1990s to ongoing efforts in Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He looked particularly at the nature of the modern peacebuilding environment and asked searching questions about the role of military force in support of peacebuilding, the vital importance of legitimacy to any intervention, and the degree to which “post-conflict peacebuilding” is likely to remain a growth industry.

Published: 24 Feb 2010

Contact details:

Head Office
Mailing address PO Box 8500, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1G 3H9

Asia
208 Jor Bagh, New Delhi 110003, India
Phone: (+91-11) 2461-9411

Latin America and the Caribbean:
Juncal 1385, Piso 14
11000 Montevideo, Uruguay
Phone: (+598) 2915-0492

Middle East and North Africa 
Zahran Gate Complex Suite 302,
25 Ismael Haqqi Abdo Street,
Amman, Jordan

Sub-Saharan Africa
PO Box 62084 00200, Nairobi, Kenya

Street address: Eaton Place, 3rd floor
United Nations Crescent, Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya
Phone: (+254) 709-074000

+1 613 236 6163
Country: 
News topics: 
Content type: