Publicação
Peace as Government: the (Bio)Politics of State-Building
| Resumo: | Observing current international scenario, it is notorious the centrality that peace and its construction have. Peacekeeping, peacebuilding and state-building have become fundamental processes of present international politics. In this regards, it is indisputable that the latter has emerged as a crucial activity and one of the most pressing issues regarding peace and conflict transformation in contemporary international relations. In fact, state-building constitutes the very core of international policies directed towards peace, development and security in our time and, consequently, it has became a pivotal practice of central states and international organizations, especially the United Nations (UN). Departing from theoretical and conceptual tools developed by the French philosopher Michel Foucault, this thesis reproblematizes the UN approach regarding ‘postconflict’ reconstruction efforts and transformation of international violent conflicts arguing that the construction of peace in our time is an attempt of international normalization of ‘post-conflict’ states and their populations. The pursuit of this normalization, as this thesis argues, is rendered operational through the international government of ‘post-conflict’ states and their populations’ lives at a global scale. In order to pursuit such process, the state-building emerges as the most suitable instrument. It is through the deployment of a state-building dispositif to ‘post-conflict’ scenarios that it is pursued the conduct of conducts of both ‘post-conflict’ states, through their discipline, and their populations, through biopolitics, towards a determinate end – making them resemble more like liberaldemocratic entities. In order to render its argument operational, this thesis analyses the UN ‘post-conflict’ state-building reconstruction process carried out in Timor-Leste. Due to its broad range, depth, and duration, the UN engagement with Timor-Leste is the most appropriate case to have a more comprehensive understanding of the practice of statebuilding in ‘post-conflict’ settings. This thesis analyses how Timor-Leste emerged in the international scenario as an urgent need that needed to be addressed and, consequently, the functioning of the state-building dispositif deployed towards the country as a result of this understanding. Along its analyses, this thesis elucidates that the state-building process, albeit rhetorically framed as building peace and underpinned by power-denying notions such as ‘capacity-building’, is a normalizing dispositif directed towards ‘post-conflict’ states which operates through the pursuit of disciplining such state and exercising a biopolitical power over the political, the economic, the social, and the security spheres surrounding its population. This thesis evinces that, in the end, state-building is a process that seeks to make ‘post-conflict’ states and their populations behave more as what is constructed as the ‘normal’ behavior of current international relations – liberal-democratic entities. |
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| Autores principais: | Freitas, Ramon Blanco de |
| Assunto: | State-Building Peacebuilding Post-Conflict Reconstruction United Nations Timor-Leste (Re)Construção de Estados Construção da Paz Reconstrução Pós-Conflito Nações Unidas Timor-Leste |
| Ano: | 2013 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | tese de doutoramento |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Coimbra |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Estudo Geral - Universidade de Coimbra |
| Resumo: | Observing current international scenario, it is notorious the centrality that peace and its construction have. Peacekeeping, peacebuilding and state-building have become fundamental processes of present international politics. In this regards, it is indisputable that the latter has emerged as a crucial activity and one of the most pressing issues regarding peace and conflict transformation in contemporary international relations. In fact, state-building constitutes the very core of international policies directed towards peace, development and security in our time and, consequently, it has became a pivotal practice of central states and international organizations, especially the United Nations (UN). Departing from theoretical and conceptual tools developed by the French philosopher Michel Foucault, this thesis reproblematizes the UN approach regarding ‘postconflict’ reconstruction efforts and transformation of international violent conflicts arguing that the construction of peace in our time is an attempt of international normalization of ‘post-conflict’ states and their populations. The pursuit of this normalization, as this thesis argues, is rendered operational through the international government of ‘post-conflict’ states and their populations’ lives at a global scale. In order to pursuit such process, the state-building emerges as the most suitable instrument. It is through the deployment of a state-building dispositif to ‘post-conflict’ scenarios that it is pursued the conduct of conducts of both ‘post-conflict’ states, through their discipline, and their populations, through biopolitics, towards a determinate end – making them resemble more like liberaldemocratic entities. In order to render its argument operational, this thesis analyses the UN ‘post-conflict’ state-building reconstruction process carried out in Timor-Leste. Due to its broad range, depth, and duration, the UN engagement with Timor-Leste is the most appropriate case to have a more comprehensive understanding of the practice of statebuilding in ‘post-conflict’ settings. This thesis analyses how Timor-Leste emerged in the international scenario as an urgent need that needed to be addressed and, consequently, the functioning of the state-building dispositif deployed towards the country as a result of this understanding. Along its analyses, this thesis elucidates that the state-building process, albeit rhetorically framed as building peace and underpinned by power-denying notions such as ‘capacity-building’, is a normalizing dispositif directed towards ‘post-conflict’ states which operates through the pursuit of disciplining such state and exercising a biopolitical power over the political, the economic, the social, and the security spheres surrounding its population. This thesis evinces that, in the end, state-building is a process that seeks to make ‘post-conflict’ states and their populations behave more as what is constructed as the ‘normal’ behavior of current international relations – liberal-democratic entities. |
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