Arts and theatre for peacebuilding

Abstract

Peacebuilding cannot be imposed from above. A sustainable peaceful order can only be reached if it is embedded in the everyday life of a society. What is needed, then, are political approaches that do more than just impose a set of pre-determined political rights and structures, such as elections and democratic institutions. Important as such features are, they can only work if they have legitimacy at a grassroots level. For peacebuilding to be sustainable, it must operate at numerous levels, and win over not only elites in power but also the actual people who make up post-conflict communities.