This book considers the opportunities that peace research and the teaching of conflict resolution can offer academic diplomacy. Aiming to offer a comprehensive analysis of the conflict in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, it also launches a new theoretical approach, neopragmatism, and offers lessons for the prevention of conflicts elsewhere. The value of this book lies in its highlighting of the practical role scholars can play in facilitating peaceful resolution of conflicts, concludes Outi Keranen

Keranen, Outi

English

LSE Research Online

blo gs.lse.ac.ukhttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2013/03/18/book-review-can-peace-research-make-peace-lessons-in-academic-diplomacy/Blog AdminBook Review: Can Peace Research Make Peace? Lessons inAcademic DiplomacyThis book considers the opportunities that peace research and the teaching of conflictresolution can offer academic diplomacy. Aiming to offer a comprehensive analysis of theconflict in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, it also launches a new theoretical approach, neo-pragmatism, and offers lessons for the prevention of conflicts elsewhere. The value of thisbook lies in its highlighting of the practical role scholars can play in facilitating peacefulresolution of conflicts, concludes Outi Keranen.Can Peace Research Make Peace? Lessons in Academic Diplomacy. Timo Kivimaki.Ashgate.Find this book: The province of  West Kalimantan in Indonesia has witnessed more thanseventeen separate violent conf licts between the Dayak, Malay, Chineseand Madurese populations since the 1950s. The conf licts have stemmedf rom polit ical competit ion between the ethnic groups and destabilizingef f ects of  decentralization of  the province’s governance. Timo Kivimaki,Prof essor of  International Relations and peace researcher, establishedpeace studies network in East Asia in 2001. The activit ies of  the networkreached West Kalimantan, where, in collaboration with the local university,Kivimaki taught peace studies and conf lict resolution to the key actors inthe respective communities. Seven years later, the educational init iativetransf ormed into f ormal peace process led by the Vice President ofIndonesia, Jusuf  Kalla.Kivimaki’s Can Peace Research Make Peace? Lessons in AcademicDiplomacy provides a f ascinating account of  the process and the conf licts in West Kalimantanthat have elicited litt le media attention. What makes the volume particularly interesting are theethnographic insights gained f rom Kivimaki’s long involvement in the region. In exploring thecauses of  re-occurring violence in West Kalimantan, Kivimaki f or instance f oregrounds the symbolicf unctions of  violence. Killing and violence serve as a way to prove loyalty and commitment to one’scommunity, but also as a way to articulate and enact masculinity. With the aim of  translating theseobservations into practical conf lict prevention strategies, he points to the need of  substituting violenceand killing as symbols of  masculinity with alternative, non-violent activit ies. Competit ive sports, f or example,of f er opportunit ies f or non-destructive expressions of  masculinity, Kivimaki suggests.The f ormulation of  practical conf lict-resolution strategies grounded in ethnographic knowledge is a re-occurring theme in the analysis. In many ways the book represents a call f or pragmatic peace research andmore importantly f or what Kivimaki calls ‘academic diplomacy’. This means concrete involvement of  peaceresearchers in peace processes. On the basis of  his own experience in West Kalimantan, Kivimaki outlinesa number of  roles academics can play. In addition to setting up educational platf orms f or peace-makingf ollowing the example of  Kivimaki’s East Asia Network, scholars can establish networks of  contacts thatcan be utilized f or peace negotiations. Crucially, as researchers are less constrained in terms of  who theyspeak to, they can reach out f or actors and groups deemed illegit imate by of f icial negotiators and donoragencies. Kivimaki also argues that peace researchers can challenge negative stereotypes of  rival groupsby revealing them as socially constructed representations rather than objective f acts. Deconstructingnegative representations of  the rival groups is crucial f or countering the ‘impractical epistemic orientations’that of ten hinder peace-making and reconciliation.The engagement of  scholars in academic diplomacy may, however, come at a price. Kivimaki’s ownexperience shows how peace researchers can become targets of  intelligence agencies. Kivimaki asserts hewas monitored by Western intelligence agencies during his work in West Kalimantan, and while authoringCan Peace Research Make Peace? he was investigated by the Danish Security and Intelligence Service overhis contacts with groups and actors regarded as terrorist organizations in the West. This raises concernsabout conf identiality and trust that are essential f or research in conf lict-zones and paramount f ormediation-work.Beyond the practical challenges of  academic diplomacy, a troubling aspect of  Kivimaki’s vision of  scholarsas peace-makers is the notion that third party actors should actively seek to change the ideationallandscape of  the society undergoing conf lict in accordance with ‘modern’ norms and ideas.  For Kivimaki therole of  peace researchers is not limited to merely highlighting the socially constructed nature ofantagonistic identit ies in conf lict- torn societies but it can also extend to ‘constructing social realities’. Thismeans reordering ‘awkward’ local mentalit ies by introducing modern norms of  behaviour. As a result,Kivimaki treads at t imes on a f ine line between third-party mediation and social engineering. Giving thelocals the correct version of  ‘social reality’ seems to assume superior knowledge and understanding by theexternal mediators of  how to bring societal change and consequently, peace. While it is clear that externalactors can and should play a role in f acilitating peace processes, notions of  modernizing local att itudesinvoke uncomf ortable echoes of  past European attempts to civilize the natives inhabiting colonizedterritories. As experiences of  peace-building in post-conf lict states imply, successf ul conf lict resolutionmechanisms can also draw on local tradit ions and norms (see f or instance Jarat Chopra’s and TanjaHohe’s 2004 article in Global Governance on ‘participatory intervention’).Notwithstanding the above caveat, the value of  Can Peace Research Make Peace? lies in highlighting thepractical role scholars can play in f acilitating peacef ul resolution of  conf licts. Kivimaki jett isons thepositivist idea of  neutral scholar and takes a normative stance on the very purpose of  peace research;rather than merely describing conf licts and peace processes, the knowledge generated and contactsestablished by peace researchers should be used to bring an end to violence. It is easy to concur withKivimaki; the urgency of  alleviating the suf f ering of  people in societies plagued by conf lict must overrideprinciples of  objective academic research. It is also clear that peace researchers can complement of f icialdiplomacy in conf lict-zones through practical measures of  bringing dif f erent communities together inconf lict resolution workshops. These workshops do not only of f er educational opportunit ies but alsoprovide non-violent f orums f or the warring parties to meet.  It is such opportunit ies that may prove vital f orresolution of  on-going conf licts in Syria, Somalia and beyond where the of f icial, international mediation isconstrained by geopolit ical expediencies. Yet, f or academic diplomacy in conf lict zones to work, moref unding – but also clearer guidelines on the rights and obligations of  academics in conf lict zones vis-à-visstate security agencies – are clearly needed.——————————————————————————————Outi Keranen is doctoral candidate at the LSE International Relations Department. Her research f ocuseson post-conf lict state-building in Bosnia and Herzegovina with particular interest on the dynamics betweenlocal and international state-building actors and processes. Outi’s research interests are in conf lict andpeace studies and her f urther research f ocuses on identity-building in post-war societies. Read morereviews by Outi.

Book review: Can peace research make peace? Lessons inacademic diplomacy

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