Yes We Can?

This edited volume focuses on disentangling the interplay of local peacebuilding processes and international policy, via comparative theoretical and empirical work on the question of legitimacy and authority. Using a number of conflict-affected regions as case studies – including Kosovo, Iraq, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Sudan – the book incorporates the expertise of a range of international scholars in order to understand the dynamics of local peacebuilding, the construction of legitimate authority, and its interplay with internationally led peace- and state-building interventions.

In specialized literature as well as in the eyes of regular citizens, social movements are often considered to be actors of democratization. Among other things, social movements criticize existing deficits in democratic systems; they promote practices of deliberation and enact non-hierarchical structures that challenge existing democratic institutions. Very often, these challenges emerge from the context of struggle against unjust situations involving social exclusion, economic inequalities or the violation of fundamental rights.