| Popis: |
The concept of Infrastructures for Peace (I4Ps) has received renewed attention in the peacebuilding literature as part of the response to calls for a more inclusive and sustainable approach to peacebuilding processes. Despite their growing popularity, very few systematic studies have been conducted on I4Ps within various settings. For the most part, researchers have relied on secondary accounts and anecdotal evidence to describe how the concept works in practice and dedicated little attention to the views/perspectives of the individuals who are involved in the activities of the I4Ps. The lack of systematic studies on I4Ps is particularly evident in the case of Ghana’s National Peace Council (the NPC), which is the primary focus of this dissertation. While the NPC has been roundly praised within the I4P literature as one of the most – if not the most – successful cases of peace infrastructures, there have been no comprehensive studies on the NPC to date except for a few studies that discursively analyze its achievements alongside several other I4Ps. Seeking to address this limitation and fill part of the gap that has been created in the I4P literature and, particularly, in our understanding of the NPC, this dissertation draws on primary data that was gathered from stakeholders of the NPC to explore the NPC’s contributions to peacebuilding processes during Ghana’s elections. Specifically, the dissertation relies on the first-hand accounts and/or experiences of individuals who have encountered the NPC to provide an understanding of the strategies which the NPC has used to intervene in electoral conflicts. The dissertation also presents and analyzes the views of the NPC’s stakeholders on the success of the NPC’s interventions and the factors which they believe may have contributed to the NPC’s successful interventions. |
