Suchergebnisse

The complex problems of peace, security, and development in societies affected by conflict increasingly demand innovative ideas, and comprehensive strategies to tackle the diverse, simultaneous, and daunting challenges faced in trying to rebuild states and communities after war. This comprehensive collection sets out a 'Whole-of-Society' (WoS) approach which focuses on the social contexts within which conflict resolution and prevention take place. The aim of WoS is to grasp the complexity both within local society and in the relations between external peacebuilders and the people they set out to help. The book argues that, by understanding multiple actors, their relationships, and the conditions in which they operate, complexity becomes an opportunity to be grasped, not simply an impediment to building peace.

This volume offers a novel perspective to advance and enrich debates on ownership of peace processes, resilience, hybridity, and liberal peacebuilding, and how these are influenced by local agency and social dynamics. Drawing on examples of conflicts in Ukraine, Mali, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Kosovo, and Georgia, the authors seek to address the operational gaps between interventions designed by outsiders, and outcomes on the ground, suggesting how policymakers and civil society activists can achieve better configurations of external and local resources, delegate initiatives, and empower conflicted societies.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Peacebuilding. Chapter 6 is available Open Access at https://www.routledge.com/products/9780367236885.

Abstract
Beginning on 21 September 2011 in Guangdong Province, the Wukan Incident was, as an incident of a collective nature at the grassroots of Chinese society, in many respects something extremely rare. This can be said of the length of time for which the incident continued; the number of people who took part; the extent to which the incident was organized; the unmistakably clear interest-related and political demands involved; the thoroughly contentious nature of the incident, and its far-reaching impact. The roots of the conflict lie in disputes over collective land belonging to the village, which had already been going on for as long as 20 years, and problems with corruption involving the long-term manipulation of grassroots democratic elections by a group with common political and economic interests presided over by former Village Party Branch Secretary Xue Chang. Following the violent clash on 21 and 22 September, the self-nominated temporary villagers' representatives formerly put their three main demands to the government: a thorough investigation of the situation pertaining to the sale and purchase of land in Wukan since the Reform and Opening; a thorough investigation into the elections for the Village Committee; transparency apropos of both village affairs and finances. After almost six months of contention between the government and the public, under the leadership of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, the government eventually directly acknowledged the demands of the villagers to be 'reasonable' and 'legally legitimate'. Within all of this, the intervention of the Provincial Party Committee's Task Force on 20 December 2011 was a watershed moment in transforming the Wukan Incident, exchanging contention for dialogue. At present, Wukan is facing both unprecedented and positive opportunities for development. The village is gaining a remarkable amount of political and economic resources, yet at the same time it is facing grave challenges.