Statebuilding and Non-State Actors: Implications from Community Declarations in Northern Kenya

Abstract

From one perspective, a major agenda in contemporary peacebuilding policy is to improve in statebuilding efforts. A term “peacebuilding consensus” is often used to elaborate on those who see a direct link between peacebuilding and statebuilding, especially among practitioners in the development community. On the other hand, there are so-called critical wing of peacebuilding studies questioning the underlying assumption behind the peacebuilding consensus by pointing out the status quo as “virtual peace.” The critical circles of peacebuilding researchers are pointing out that peace that is being built through contemporary statebuilding efforts are less multidimensional as advocates would like to think, and stresses needs to pay attention to the social context of the country in concern. Paying attention to this intricate relationship between peacebuilding and statebuilding, this paper will set a following question: Do non-state actors contradict statebuilding? Incorporating non-state actors into statebuilding may sound like an anomaly for those following the path of the state monopoly over the legitimate uses of the force from works of Max Weber. However, can non-state actors be incorporated into statebuilding, and benefit overall peacebuilding and statebuilding efforts in the country concerned? To address these questions, this paper will refer to a case from the northern Kenya. In northern Kenya, a phenomena known as the community declaration is emerging since the beginning of the 1990s, and is starting to be acknowledged by the Kenyan Government through the National Steering Committee on Peacebuilding and Conflict Management within the Office of President. The first section will explain a discussion surrounding contemporary statebuilding policy with emphasis on critical engagement, and the second section will focus on the case study of community declarations from northern Kenya, mainly from 2001 to 2006. The third section will analyze the case study,and what lessons can be drawn from Kenyan case study for statebuilding practices. In short, community declarations originating from the northern Kenya suggest that, because non-state actors are diverse, some non-state actors can complement and be acknowledged by the state at the same time. Whether or not a government chooses a path of pacification or that of coexistence with non-state actors is a political decision to be made by both the government and people concerned. In that light, community declarations from Kenya can be perceived as an example illustrating a possible different route for statebuilding: i.e. hybrid political order.