Peacebuilding: A New Way to End War

In the conflict resolution toolbox there are two primary tools: peacemaking and peacekeeping. Peacemaking brings politicians together to find political solutions to conflict and peacekeeping enforces peace agreements with an international mandate. Peacebuilding goes beyond both, says the U.N.’s Judy Cheng-Hopkins. “Peacebuilding is about what comes next—the slow and thankless slog of building a country back up. For generations, that job has been piecemeal: a little emergency aid here, some development projects there. But those professionals are trained differently, rarely coordinate, and are sometimes outright antagonistic.”