Deliberative peacebuilding: agency and development in post-conflict practice

This article builds and tests a model of deliberative peacebuilding by examining the work of the Suffolk-Lenadoon Interface Group (SLIG) in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This model combines scholarship on democratic governance, accountability and procedural justice to address problems associated with the failure to encourage local ownership of peacebuilding processes while assuring accountability to local communities and funders. Application of the model to SLIG's experience shows how the model helps to uncover the productive practices of deliberative peacebuilding and, moreover, the indicators that explain why these practices are successful. We also see that the issues that hampered SLIG's success flow directly from the failure to fully engage with the practices of deliberative peacebuilding. This analysis demonstrates the value of deliberative peacebuilding and the importance of agency in peacebuilding success and provides the first step towards a richer understanding of the interplay between agency, governance and accountability on post-conflict peacebuilding practice.