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Paper short abstract

In this paper, I argue that peacebuilding initiatives have reconstructed conceptions in post-conflict Somalia. I examine how citizenship is performed through new discourses about rights, obligations, and claim-making driven largely by peace processes yet ultimately embodied and legitimized by ordinary people.

Paper long abstract

While it is more commonly acknowledged that conflict, particularly civil wars, changes how individuals and groups relate to others and to state agents within a presumed political community, it is less known how peacebuilding initiatives affect citizenship norms and practices in the aftermath of conflict. In this paper, I stress the centrality of the citizen-building aspect of peacebuilding and suggest that peace processes—in particular—reconstruct notions of citizenship alongside attempts to rebuild political institutions. I am particularly interested in how post-conflict 'citizens' then perform citizenship through discourses and practices about rights, obligations, and claim-making. To anchor these broader discussions, I examine Somali national reconciliation conferences between 2000-2004. These processes led to specific outcomes such as federalism and gender and clan-based electoral quotas that arguably changed how individuals defined themselves as citizens in post-transitional, yet still politically volatile spaces. The potential relevance of this case study for discussions on citizenship in post-conflict African societies is great as I aim to conceptually connect contemporary debates on citizenship with growing literature on peacebuilding in Africa.