Learning in Peacebuilding – Mission Impossible?

ABSTRACT

A common recommendation in the peacebuilding literature is that missions must learn from experiences on the local ground. Yet, if often remains unclear who has the authority to propose and diffuse new or critical knowledge. The article argues that peacebuilding can be understood as a socio-professional field in which education and professional careers condition the legitimacy to author new or critical insights. Hence, peacebuilding privileges knowledge that has been produced and is diffused in OECD-country research and academic institutions and the business world, most notably in strategic management consulting. Inversely, local knowledge is disparaged and, hence, unlikely to be promoted.

KEYWORDS:

• Peacebuilding
• field sociology
• knowledge production and diffusion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr. Catherine Goetze is Senior Lecturer in International Relations. In her research she is interested in the sociology of global politics, notably in the social origins of global ideas. Her latest book ‘The Distinction of Peace’ was published by the University of Michigan Press in 2017. She has worked as international relations scholar in five different countries and in three different languages. She has been recipient of several research grants (British Academy, Political Science Association, German Research Council) and scholarships (Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, German Academic Exchange Services, French Foreign Ministry).