Leaving Carrots and Sticks Behind: Building Peace through Trust and Ownership

• In Event: Building and Breaking Peace

Abstract

Reaching peace through negotiation is a key approach in contemporary conflict resolution. However, reaching an agreement and even more so realizing actual implementation and sustained commitment to peace is challenging. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders involved in the Mozambican peace process, which successfully put an end to a decade old conflict, this article inductively builds theory about the role of trust to reach a sustainable peace agreement. Rather than rely on substantial third-party involvement to solve commitment problems and information failure between the warring parties, mediators focused on trust as a key driver for peace. Interviews reveal that continuous trust building and a resulting sense of ownership were at the core of reaching a self-sustaining peace agreement. We suggest that trust was built and maintained during different phases of the peace process through costly signalling between the warring parties and that growing trust served as the foundation for a self-sustained peace process to take place because it allowed both parties to take ownership over decision making and implementation. The findings have important consequences for the literature on peacebuilding as well as policymaking as they emphasise the possibility of trust-building and its importance for long-term peace even within the context of intractable conflict.

Authors

• Laura Michelle Saavedra-Lux, United Nations University

• Patricia Justino, UNU-WIDER