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What is the connection between peace interventions and people's actual experience of peace? On 13 October, Jeannine Suurmond will defend her dissertation titled 'We have an Infrastructure for Peace...but do we have peace?', in which she examines this question.

Infrastructures for peace

The theory of ‘infrastructures for peace’ suggests that violence can be prevented, and peace supported, with infrastructures for peace. The concept –the institutions, mechanisms, resources, and skills through which conflicts are resolved and peace is sustained within a society– has been adopted as a policy framework by different institutions. Using mixed methods, including interviews with over 1,600 respondents in Nepal, Suurmond explores how infrastructures for peace work and what their relationship is to various peacebuilding priorities in Nepal.

Nepal's peace system

The lens of infrastructures for peace makes a country’s peace system, including gaps and overlap in services, visible. This dissertation contributes to the theoretical and empirical debates on peace infrastructures, the state of peace in Nepal, and the effectiveness of peacebuilding interventions. Suurmond also offers a model than can be applied in other countries and makes concrete recommendations for decision makers and peace workers.