This essay aims to reconsider and refine the concept of peace building in light ofpractical and strategic interests of international peace operations. Peace-buildinggenerally refers to activities to solidify structures for stable peace in conflict riddensociety. As it is understood to include so many divergent activities conducted byinternational organizations, governments, NGOs and so on, it tends to lack coherentperspectives. As a result, the contents of peace-building remain ambiguous. The essay- 22 -does not attempt to provide a philosophical definition of peace-building; instead, itseeks to identify a logic according to which practitioners as well as researchers cancoordinate and comprehend various peace-building activities in a “strategic" manner.The essay first looks at the development of discussions on the concept ofpeace-building in the past 10 years, mainly focusing on documents of the UnitedNations. In so doing, it identifies the background of recent modifications of the concept.Then it seeks to clarify some “strategic " ways of understanding peace-building. As thisessay is part of the author 's ongoing project on “the rule of law approach ofpeace-building," it finally indicates a conceptual road map leading refinement of theconcept of peace-building to broader issues of international peace operations
