Despite calls for enhanced international cooperation in buildingsustainable peace in post-conflict countries, previous studieshighlight coordination problems rather than exploring whatforms of field cooperation exist. This article examines thecoordination efforts of international and state actors inpeacebuilding following the 2016 peace agreement in Colombia.Interviews conducted in Bogotá in 2023 with a number ofinternational and government actors reveal challenges but alsomap examples of top-down and bottom-up coordination efforts.The study questions the feasibility of increased internationalcoordination, suggesting instead pragmatic adjustments basedon practices from the field to enhance post-accord peacebuildingefficiency and effectiveness.

As an important pillar of building sustainable peace after protractedviolent conflict, security sector reform (SSR) has the objective to preparestate security actors, who often have been active conflict participants,for work within the frameworks of democracy, adherence to human andcivil rights, and civilian rule. A major component of SSR is the re-trainingand re-education of local police to improve their relationship with thelocal communities. This relationship has often been severely strained byhuman rights abuses committed by police against community membersduring the conflict, and it continues to be put to the test in fragile post-accord environments by persisting high levels of violence. However,research on how to improve that relationship, particularly from abottom-up  perspective,  remains  scarce.  This  study  analyses  thedynamics of the relationship between the police and communities inthe transition period from war to peace in Colombia, a countrytormented by continued violence even after the signing of the 2016peace agreement that was to set an end to the country’s decades ofinternal conflict. Based on semi-structured interviews conducted duringthe fall of 2019, it applies the theoretical lens of the relational peaceframework that approaches peace in terms of relationships betweendifferent sets of interdependent actors. Thefindings indicate that therelationship between the communities and the police has not reachedsatisfactory levels of relational peace, suggesting a set-back in security-related peacebuilding. The paper concludes with recommendations,including from interviewees, on how to improve that relationship.

Rebuilding relationships between different actors in societies broken by prolonged social conflict is an important part of peacebuilding. This process is particularly challenging where levels of violence are still high and state security actors continue to occupy a powerful position even after a peace accord is signed. In this difficult transition period between war and peace, military and civilian actors, in the government as well as in civil society and the communities, often struggle with the task of redefining their relationships to each other. Applying the relational peace framework, this chapter looks particularly at how representatives of the military and of different civilian state and non-state actors in post-accord Colombia perceive their relationships to each other today, how they view the military's role in post-accord peacebuilding, and what they identify as challenges to relational peace. The findings, based on field interviews conducted in 2017 and 2018, show significant differences in how the actors assess their interactions, think of each other, and evaluate their current and future relationship. Identified as a peace between agonists characterized by a lack of mutual respect, trust, and cooperation, the interaction between the actors in the dyad shows important obstacles to achieving a higher level of relational peace in the future. In the end, however, friendship might be neither attainable nor desirable as the ultimate form of relational peace for civil–military relations.

Tras décadas de reformas policiales en todo el mundo, no existe una fórmula general de lo que funciona y lo que noen dichos procesos. Basado en una revisión de diversas investigaciones, este policy brief describe los desafíos de unareforma policial, particularmente en países que emergen de un conflicto armado, donde la policía debe transitar de sumilitarización a ser una policía democrática. La mayoría de esfuerzos de reforma en el mundo han tenido resultadosambivalentes, con pocas experiencias verdaderamente exitosas, tanto por factores de la reforma como por factoresexternos. Se subraya la importancia de una mejor cooperación entre los actores internacionales y las autoridades locales,así como un fuerte apoyo estatal, una separación clara entre tareas militares y policiales, y un control exhaustivode los antecedentes del personal de la policía. De igual manera, es importante mejorar las relaciones entre la policíay las comunidades para obtener resultados sostenibles.

After decades of police reforms around the world, there is no general formula for what works and what does not work in such processes. Based on a review of diverse research, this policy brief describes the challenges of police reforms, particularly in countries emerging from armed conflict, where the police must transition from being militarized to democratic policing. Most reform efforts around the world have had mixed results, with few truly successful experiences, both due to reform and external factors. The policy brief stresses the importance of better cooperation between international actors and local authorities, as well as strong state support, a clear separation between military and police tasks, and thorough background checks of police personnel. It is also important to improve relations between the police and communities in order to achieve sustainable results.

The security-development nexus describes the complex interlinked relationship between the peacebuilding arenas of security and development. Based on the understanding that re-establishing basic security and development conditions is indispensable to sustainable peace, dominant donor policy frameworks present security and development as inextricably linked: low levels of security and development reinforce each other in a vicious circle, while high levels are expected to influence each other positively. Consensus on this paradigm has called forth integrated approaches to peacebuilding that have dominated the liberal peacebuilding agenda during the past two decades. However, applying the nexus on the ground has resulted in considerable challenges ranging from the securitization of development to coordination problems between security and development actors, which contributed to the failure of a number of peacebuilding missions in recent years. This chapter follows the evolution of the security-development nexus over time and analyzes specific challenges it encountered when implemented. Based on the criticism launched against the nexus, the chapter ends with a discussion of the utility of the paradigm in future peacebuilding endeavors.