Conflict-in-Transformation: Ethics, Phenomenology and the Critique of the 'Liberalizing' Peace

Conflict transformation, and the 'liberalizing peace' paradigm of which it is a part, applies a specific ethos of transformation to the project of peacebuilding. This ethos reshapes conflict and the ways in which it is manifested. An ethico-phenomenological approach is used here to examine the phenomenon of 'conflict-in-transformation' (as opposed to 'peace') that this creates. To this end, the ethical critiques of Charles Taylor, the literature on 'emancipatory' forms of peacebuilding and the European Union's Programmes for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland are examined, This analysis is applied to phenomena of conflict-in-transformation in post-1998 Northern Ireland, In examining this case, the article highlights how an ethico-phenomenological approach can help to identify the (new) forms of conflict engendered by the liberalizing peace paradigm, with a view to transcending these through the development of new directions in theory and practice.