Beneath the Veneer of Peacebuilding

Insincere Peace Work and International Greenlighting

Abstract

This research turns a critical eye to peacebuilding in Rwanda, by revealing the negative outcomes of efforts undertaken by Paul Kagame’s regime. Evaluation of five key pillars of peacebuilding demonstrates that a veneer of peacebuilding has again put Rwanda on a dangerous trajectory towards civil war. Examining the role of international greenlighting as a causal factor of the Rwandan genocide offers a new framework through which to understand our own complicity and responsibility. This framework, in the current Rwandan context, underscores the importance of interrogating ongoing patterns of greenlighting in the post-conflict period, and how we continue to contribute to conflict in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Middle powers like Canada bear an onus to generate innovative methods of peacebuilding assessment, in order to understand actual impact on the ground. This allows us to see beyond insincere peace work, and points us towards a place of taking action.