| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article offers a first-hand account of a grassroots peace initiative that appeared in war-affected areas of Nicaragua in the 1980s and still exists to date. While bottom-up initiatives usually hardly scale up, the Nicaraguan peace commissions managed to convert into a broad peace infrastructure, weaving horizontal and vertical relationships with a variety of actors with the assistance of external organizations. They adapted their work to the evolving socio-political context, beginning with immediate concerns during the armed conflict, such as mediating between warring parties to protect civilians, and progressively addressing a broader range of conflicts. While this adaptive capacity could explain their endurance, the sustainability of their peacebuilding endeavours matters most. By establishing local capacities for peace throughout society, the peace commissions laid the ground for these peacebuilding endeavours to last.
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