Dissertation Proposal Defense: Dialectics of State-building and Peace-building: A Dilemma or Destiny?

You're invited to join PhD Candidate Shiva Hari Dahal as he defends his dissertation proposal on January 15th 2013 in Truland Building Room 700A.

This research aims to analyze and explain a simple question – how does the agenda of statebuilding impact peacebuilding process? This research assumes that the processes of statebuilding and peacebuilding are contextual and that can be productively interactive if properly approached. The concern for inclusion and participation of different stakeholders in the processes of statebuilding and peacebuilding is a critical issue for transforming violence into democratic politics. Different stakeholders' engagement in the process of statebuilding and peacebuilding ensures their ownership and enhances legitimacy in the decision-making process and negotiated outcomes, the researcher assumes, if the processes are designed and owned collectively. The research cites Nepal as a case study; applies discourse methodology to do content analysis of the archival data and the framework of open-ended questions to analyze responses from the interviews with negotiators and leaders of identity groups engaged in political dialogues and civil society leaders engaged in the processes; explores what conditions are required for weak nation-states to move beyond from turbulent transition to democratic politics; and makes recommendations to design democratic structures to progress towards positive peace. My hypothesis is that both peacebuilding and statebuilding have been integrated in Nepal, but neither has been as successful as it could have been. In order to explore why, and where the pitfalls were, my research will focus on the areas of: (1) Local ownership in the processes with the focus on how they were designed, (2) Legitimacy of the processes and interventions, and (3) Conceptual clarity in the political actors on statebuilding and peacebuilding. In the course of study and analysis, the researcher will discuss previous studies in order to identify the research gap and key conceptual elements will be referred to. The research further explores these key elements and outlines the theoretical assumptions of the research project.