Emily E Stanton - Theorising Civil Society Peacebuilding: The Practical Wisdom of Local Peace Practitioners in Northern Ireland, 1965-2015

Using empirical qualitative research, this book conceptualises and demonstrates the value of local practical knowledge for peacebuilding in the context of Northern Ireland.

There are increasing calls to involve local people to ensure legitimacy, relevance, and sustainability when seeking to build peace and transform violent conflict. However, as peacebuilding becomes increasingly professionalised, this raises fundamental questions about whose knowledge matters for building peace and what kind of knowledge matters. Seeking to address these questions and to learn from applied practice, this book provides a qualitative empirical research study, investigating 40 practitioners active in conflict transformation at a grassroots level in Northern Ireland over 50 years. This research led not only to recapturing lost knowledge from practitioners, but also to a neglected virtue the Aristotelian concept of practical wisdom, phronesis. This book argues that phronesis has deepened our understanding of why local practical knowledge is vitally important and calls for its global rediscovery as knowledge necessary for building sustainable peace.

This book will be of much interest to practitioners and students in the fields of peacebuilding, conflict resolution, philosophy, and British and Irish politics.

Emily E. Stanton is a program manager with Community Relations in Schools (CRIS), a Northern Irish NGO. Her involvement in peacebuilding spans 25 years and she received her PhD from Ulster University, UK.

Routledge Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution

The field of peace and conflict research has grown enormously as an academic pursuit in recent years, gaining credibility and relevance amongst policy makers and in the international humanitarian and NGO sector. The Routledge Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution series aims to provide an outlet for some of the most significant new work emerging from this academic community, and to establish itself as a leading platform for innovative work at the point where peace and conflict research impacts on International Relations theory and processes.

Series Editors: Tom Woodhouse and Oliver Ramsbotham

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-Peace-and-Conflict-Resolution/book-series/RSPCR

Emily E. Stanton

First published 2021

by Routledge

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and by Routledge

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2021 Emily E. Stanton

The right of Emily E. Stanton to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Names: Stanton, Emily E., 1970 author.
Title: Theorising civil society peacebuilding : the practical wisdom of local
peace practitioners in Northern Ireland, 19652015 / Emily E. Stanton.
Description: First Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2021. |
Series: Routledge Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020055891 (print) | LCCN 2020055892 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367496838 (Hardback) | ISBN 9781003046974 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Civil societyNorthern Ireland. | Peace-buildingNorthern Ireland. |
ReconciliationPolitical aspectsNorthern Ireland. |
Conflict managementNorthern Ireland. | Northern IrelandSocial conditions. |
Northern IrelandPolitics and government.
Classification: LCC JN1572.A91 .S73 2021 (print) |
LCC JN1572.A91 (ebook) | DDC 303.6/60941609045dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020055891
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020055892

ISBN: 978-0-367-49683-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-49686-9 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-04697-4 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Newgen Publishing UK

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There are many people whom I wish to acknowledge as having played an important role in the genesis, development, and completion of this book. Firstly, and most importantly, this book would not have been possible without the local peacebuilders whose practice I studied. I wish to thank all the practitioners who participated in the field research by agreeing to be interviewed and attend theory-building workshops. These busy practitioners were generous with their time, and as a result, interviewee data was extremely rich. Their wisdom affirmed for me the value of practitioner-based knowledge and the need for it to be used more routinely and purposefully to strengthen both peacebuilding theory and practice. My hope is that this book can, in some way, contribute to that increased knowledge exchange.

I also wish to thank key individuals in the academic community who have mentored me over the years, many of whom are featured in this book. I am extremely grateful for my early exposure to the study of peace and conflict transformation while at Earlham College and in later years at Eastern Mennonite University. The opportunity to learn from luminous scholars and practitioners in both institutions was formative for my intellectual journey and, indeed, for bringing me to Northern Ireland. At Earlham, I benefited greatly as a student from the influence of the late Tony Bing and Howard and Caroline Higgins in the Peace and Global Studies Department. In later years, while studying for my masters in Conflict Transformation at Eastern Mennonite, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be mentored and learn reflective practice from Dr John Paul Lederach and Dr Lisa Schirch, amongst many others. Now living in Northern Ireland, I have had the privilege to work with scholars who have shaped and influenced my ideas and research: for example, my doctoral supervisory team Professor Duncan Morrow, Professor Brandon Hamber, and Dr Granne Kelly of Ulster University. At every step of the research their guidance, insight, critique, and support was critical. Id also like to thank several scholars who encouraged me to explore publication from this research; here particular thanks are extended to my doctoral External Examiner Professor Roger Mac Ginty and also to Dr Catherine Turner, both of Durham University, as well as Dr John Eversley of Queens University Belfast. Their collective vote of confidence in the significance of the research was highly motivational.