Description
It became common knowledge that international organisations (IOs) are struggling with the
issue of local ownership in their peacebuilding and development interventions worldwide.
This happens despite the ‘local turn’ which gained momentum in recent years in peacebuilding research and practice. Drawing on and adding to the post-liberal debate, this paper argues that this continued failure needs to be seen in the context of multiple and diverse forms of ordering, namely structured and structuring processes of meaning-making and social interactions. The type of ordering with characterises IOs and their interventions can hardly be reconciled with processes of local ordering emerging from the ground in communities which are targeted through internationally funded projects. The paper compares these two ordering mechanisms by focusing on their four specific components: cultural beliefs and norms, everyday practices, institutions and issues of power. To illustrate this argument, the paper refers to the case of Central Asia and provides examples from fieldwork in this region.
