De-internationalizing Hybrid Peace: State-Traditional Authority Collaboration and Conflict Resolution in Northern Ghana

Abstract

Debates on hybrid peace largely concentrate on ‘local-international’ interactions compared to domestic hybrid orders. Besides, the literature on Ghana dichotomises state and non-state peacemaking, obscuring knowledge on important ‘home-grown’ hybrid peace. Drawing on the work of the ‘Committee of Eminent Chiefs’, a body set up to resolve the Dagbon conflict in the Northern region of Ghana, we illustrate how state-traditional authority interactions shape the efficacy of traditional African peace practice(s), and argue that intractable communal conflicts are likely to resolve if states create enabling environments for indigenous peacemaking. Consequently, we suggest further empirical investigations on localised hybridities in peace governance.