Skip to main content
University of Michigan Press
Fulcrum Beta logo beta
  1. Home
  2. The Distinction of Peace: A Social Analysis of Peacebuilding
Cover for The Distinction of Peace: A Social Analysis of Peacebuilding

The Distinction of Peace: A Social Analysis of Peacebuilding

Catherine Goetze 2017 Creative Commons License This open access version made available with the support of libraries participating in Knowledge Unlatched.
Open Access icon OPEN ACCESS
"Peacebuilding" serves as a catch-all term to describe efforts by an array of international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and agencies of foreign states to restore or construct a peaceful society in the wake—or even in the midst—of conflict. Despite this variety, practitioners consider themselves members of a global profession. In The Distinction of Peace, Catherine Goetze investigates the genesis of peacebuilding as a professional field of expertise since the 1960s, its increasing influence, and the ways it reflects global power structures.

Goetze describes how the peacebuilding field came into being, how it defines who belongs to it and who does not, and what kind of group culture it has generated. Using an innovative methodology, she investigates the motivations of individuals who become peacebuilders, their professional trajectories and networks, and the "good peacebuilder" as an ideal. For many, working in peacebuilding in various ways—as an aid worker on the ground, as a lawyer at the United Nations, or as an academic in a think tank—has become not merely a livelihood, but also a form of participation in world politics. As a field, peacebuilding has developed techniques for incorporating and training new members, yet its internal politics also create the conditions of exclusion that often result in practical failures of the peacebuilding enterprise.

By providing a critical account of the social mechanisms that make up the peacebuilding field, Goetze offers deep insights into the workings of Western domination and global inequalities.

Read Book
  • EPUB (1.04 MB)
  • PDF (3.29 MB)
Buy Book
Series
  • Configurations: Critical Studies of World Politics
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-472-07341-2 (hardcover)
  • 978-0-472-12268-4 (ebook)
  • 978-0-472-90076-3 (open access)
  • 978-0-472-05341-4 (paper)
Subject
  • Political Science:International Relations
  • European Studies:Eastern European Studies
  • Political Science:Conflict Resolution & Peace Studies
Citable Link
  • Table of Contents
  • Stats

Table of Contents

  • Cover
  • Half Title
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • List of Abbreviations
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • 1. Pierre Bourdieu’s Toolbox: Fields, Power, Practices, and Habitus in the Analysis of Peacebuilding
  • The Field
    • 2. The Peacebuilding Field as Default Space
    • 3. “There Are No Neutral Men”: The Sociological Structure of Peacebuilding
    • 4. Boundaries of the Field: The Peacebuilder, the Businessman, and the Scholar-Expert
  • The Habitus
    • 5. Peacebuilding Sensibilities
    • 6. Narratives of Intervention: Leadership, Liberalism, and Social Justice
    • 7. The Nomos of the Field: The Fatalism of Saving Lives
    • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index

Stats

40 views since August 16, 2018
University of Michigan Press

University of Michigan Press

Powered by Fulcrum Beta logo beta

  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Accessibility
  • Terms of Service
  • Log In

© University of Michigan Press 2019

x This site requires cookies to function correctly.