Inverting Peace: The Bottom-Up Role of the Mine Action Community in Postliberal Peace-Building

Abstract

This thesis explores the role of the humanitarian mine action (HMA) sector in peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. Mine action is widely believed to be an integral component of peacebuilding, and its conduct has evolved significantly through the 20th and 21st centuries. Through the lens of postliberal international relations theory, HMA - and its practices and practitioners - is examined as a contributor to peace. To accomplish this a Bourdiesian field analysis of the HMA sector was conducted; along with a more in-depth case study of mine action in Sri Lanka which draws upon data from in-depth interviews and policy analysis. The results shed light on certain power relations in the HMA field relating to knowledge, expertise, and legitimacy; and provides a preliminary exploration of the contributions of mine action to a postliberal conception of peace. These results highlight both the potential of the method, and the need for further ethnographic study.