Resistance to illiberal peacebuilding: towards a new research agenda

In recent years, liberal peacebuilding has been increasingly displaced by illiberal peacebuilding – illiberal norms and practices that prioritise regime control, stability, and order through economic co-optation, repression of dissent, and the promotion of hegemonic narratives. While studies have examined how illiberal peacebuilding is practiced in various contexts, few have thus far asked how people respond to, and possibly resist, illiberal ideas and practices of peacebuilding. Rather, the existing research on resistance and peacebuilding has primarily focused on local resistance to top-down, often international, liberal peacebuilding. In this article, we address this gap by bringing resistance studies and peacebuilding into greater dialogue and by exploring civil society resistance to illiberal peacebuilding in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. We examine how civil society and social movement actors have resisted regime efforts to build peace through illiberal norms and means, and instead worked to imagine and construct alternative forms of peace that are more inclusive and egalitarian – though not necessarily liberal.