Exiting conflict, owning the peace: local ownership in international peace operations

Local ownership is regarded as a desirable outcome of international peace operations, which enables local people to control reform and reconstruction processes, and internationals to eventually scale down or end their presence in a country. Yet, beyond this broad characterisation, local ownership is an unclear and contested idea, which provokes mis-understandings among local and international constituencies, and makes it harder to achieve outcomes which are satisfactory to all of these groups. A study of three cases of late-stage intervention - Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan - shows why ›local ownership‹ is a problematic concept in these contexts, and reveals the need to find new ways of framing and organising increasingly dysfunctional relationships between external actors and locals, to restore trust, effectiveness and legitimacy in peace operations. These could include human security peacebuilding contracts, a change in communications strategies and re-thinking the ›local‹ dimension in conflict affected societies.