18 - A Bottom-Up View at Peacebuilding

Summary

This chapter argues that the increased focus on pragmatic peacebuilding might represent a paradigm shift, a new way we view, conceptualize, and conduct peacebuilding. However, the very inductive nature of pragmatic peacebuilding would make indispensable its exchange with other paradigms, which would have an opportunity to learn from pragmatic trial-and-error practices and employ thus created knowledge in their peacebuilding processes and conceptualization. Therefore, pragmatic peacebuilding finds itself in the unique position of being both a distinct paradigm and a source of knowledge for other peacebuilding paradigms.This chapter continues with an ontologically focused review of the major peacebuilding paradigms. The second section outlines the pragmatic peacebuilding framework as well as its limitations. The third section discusses pragmatic peacebuilding as a paradigm shift. The fourth section tries to frame public opinion in postconflict societies as a pragmatic peacebuilding tool and highlights the need to expand and sharpen its application.