Building Peace in Timor-Leste: a Critical Analysis

Abstract

The durability and quality of peace in societies emerging from violent, intra-state conflict is dependent on a number of variables. While internal factors, such as governance, justice and the rule of law are crucial to the success and durability of peace processes, it is increasingly acknowledged that the underlying causes of conflict are often linked to external factors. This thesis highlights some of the key factors which impact on the quality and durability of peace in societies emerging from violent conflicts, and makes a distinction between dominant approaches to peace building that are reflected in contemporary international relations and external assistance provided to those societies, and what I call transformative peace building. The latter reflects peace building's original conceptualisation in peace research, together with the spirit of critical theory and participatory principles. This thesis also identifies the essential elements of a framework for building a durable and equitable peace. This is achieved by problematising the 'peace' experienced in the international system after the end of the Second World War and by conducting a critical analysis of the civilian aspects of the international community's assistance to Timor-Leste (East Timor) during the country's transition to independence. The case study on East Timor specifically examines the under-researched social dimensions of peace building and issues of inclusion, accountability and ownership in societies emerging from violent conflicts. In analysing the international community's interventions in the justice and rule of law sector, I argue that the technical or formal rule of law structures created during the transition did not take into account the social basis for the rule of law - the social construction of order, justice and peace within East Timor's disrupted and traumatised communities. Moreover, the interventions failed to interface with the socially constructed order of relationships within society, which effectively establish the rights, responsibilities and obligations amongst individuals in society, and between individuals, communities and the State. The resulting conclusion is thus a 'critical analysis' of the international community's intervention and administration in East Timor - however much was achieved (and much was), the Timorese remain traumatised by and significantly dependent upon Indonesia, and the state structures relevant to the rule of law are extremely fragile. The lesson is that a great deal more could have been done if there had indeed been a proper understanding and implementation of the truism that peace requires more than the cessation of overt hostilities.