Governance for peace: A culturalist approach

Abstract

‘Governance’ and ‘peace’ are interpenetrating concepts. Situated “at the axis of peace-building and state-building” (UNDP 2012, 38), efficient governance can enhance peaceful cohabitation, and an environment of peace, in turn, facilitates governance. Both governance and peace, though, are, in Walter Gallie’s sense, ‘essentially contested concepts’, which renders an analysis of their relationship difficult. Governance, to give a minimalist, and at the same time maximalist definition, is ‘orderly rule’ (Mitra 2006, 1). It is a liminal category whose origin and existence are closely linked to both self-interest and embedded values (Mitra 2006, 26). Following from that, orderly rule is critically conditional on the ability of modern institutions to accommodate embedded values, undertake strategic reform and maintain the difficult balance between force and persuasion in the management of law and order (Mitra 2006, 26–27). Such orderly rule can promote a cohesive society characterized by internal peace.