Hail the peacebuilders

Why the path to peace may be using trauma differently. We live in an era that demands that we learn how to reconcile with enemies. But the billion-dollar effort to keep peace often ends in a return to conflict, which suggests that the popular technocratic approach needs change. Writer and journalist Tobias Jones argues that conflicts only fully end when the delicate threads of peace have been quietly woven by ordinary, dedicated folk. It starts with listening and involves making peace with oneself. “If it’s true that peacebuilding requires not esoteric learning but sacrifice, sensitivity and artistry, it might be that we’re closer than expected to what Mac Ginty in 2014 called ‘the elixir’ of peacebuilding: ‘local ownership’. Not in the sense that locals accept what’s cooked up for them, but that they actually create their own recipes for peace.”