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Contribution short abstract

Timor-Leste is considered a paradigmatic humanitarian and development success. This paper highlights shortcomings of external intervention, the unsustainability of the governance structures imposed, and hence a state of "unpeace". It argues instead for a local-led lower case hdpn.

Contribution long abstract

Southeast Asia is a region deeply affected by conflict and conflictual legacies, whether colonial, Cold War, territorial, ideological, religious, or related to resources. Throughout the region a premium is placed on economic development, with rapid success combined with high levels of industrialization, urbanization, and modernization. Despite dramatic progress in economic development and governance, however, major challenges to human security endure. In some cases, these have been exacerbated by national security and development policymaking, while at the same time human insecurity and distributive injustices threaten to undermine a fragile peace. Timor-Leste became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on 20 May 2002, but with ongoing UN and other international security support for another decade. It has been championed as a paradigmatic success story of UN-led liberal peacebuilding (humanitarian intervention), statebuilding, and development. This paper identifies, however, the extent to which top-down, narrow and siloed approaches can undermine all these governance aspirations, leading to a state of “unpeace”. It introduces instead the need for comprehensive and hybrid approaches like the humanitarian-development peace nexus (HDPN) combined with a greater focus on the local as well as vulnerable individuals and groups (a lower case hdpn). Only through the implementation of governance measures informed by such perspectives can truly sustainable peace and development be fostered in Timor-Leste, or in other conflict-affected societies in Southeast Asia.