Description
Traditional authorities in hybrid peacebuilding
Mohamed Abdi Mohamood
A critical perspective on hybridity calls for a better understanding of the multiple theoretical frameworks that usually occur in the context of peacebuilding, development, and social justice modifications (Forsyth, Kent, Dinnen, Wallis, and Bose, 2017). Significant importance is placed on developing tools that allow participation of world views even though the principles of institutions and values of people operate inversely. Even though all scholars in the field of hybrid/post-liberal peace have a different understanding of the concept, they nonetheless agree on the framework's main components. The commonality they have is that they all critique the liberal peace in which they argue that its institutions, individuals, and actors are biased and that they are unable to bond successfully or engage with the values of the locals and their culture (Eriksson and Kostic, 2013). In the literature on hybrid peacebuilding, the notion of local is usually referred to customary, indigenous knowledge and traditional authorities such as elders and clan chiefs (Boege, Brown, and Clements, 2009, p.15). However, it is worth noting that the existing literature on hybridity romanticizes the locals and does not consider how local actors can both positively and negatively affect local peace processes. The scholars that promote hybrid peacebuilding advocate for the inclusion of these customary norms and traditional authorities in local peacebuilding processes (Mac Ginty, 2011). However, as seen in the case study of countries like Somalia, these traditional leaders can also be drivers of conflicts and become obstacles to peace processes. Therefore, this paper argues using Somalia as a case study, that the inclusion of local customs and traditions in peace building can be threatening in the sense that they can exclude women and youth from peacebuilding processes. To demonstrate this, this paper will analyse the different peace conferences that have been held for Somalia since the state collapsed in 1991.
