Abstract
The conceptualization of peacebuilding has broadened beyond institutional considerations in recent decades, leading to increased recognition of the role played by civil society actors in contributing to sustainable peace in conflict-affected societies. However, it has also been demonstrated that in the more extreme case of protracted conflicts, collective psychological features such as intergroup enmity and mistrust discourage individuals from building the cooperative intergroup relationships necessary for genuine conflict transformation. This thesis focuses on explaining how differing levels of motivation to engage in intergroup peacebuilding have developed among civil society activists living in a society affected by protracted ethnic conflict.
This study employed classic grounded theory methodology, drawing primarily on qualitative interview data from 29 individuals active in the community sector in Northern Ireland. 15 of the interviewees are engaged in intergroup peacebuilding activism while the remaining 14 are active largely on behalf of the interests of their own identity group. The study has taken an inductive approach to investigating how some individuals have developed high levels of motivation to engage in intergroup peacebuilding while others show significantly less interest in building cooperative intergroup relationships. Two parallel explanatory frameworks, known as grounded theories, have been developed and are presented in this thesis. They indicate the role of personal traits and socialization in supporting differences in mindset that in turn are associated with different levels of motivation to engage in intergroup peacebuilding.
Thus, this thesis argues that the development of motivations to pursue intergroup peacebuilding are not arbitrary and unpredictable, but can be explained by differences in mindset. It makes an original contribution to knowledge by providing a theoretical framework that explains the role of universalist and particularist psychological features in shaping motivations regarding intergroup peacebuilding. Resulting from the findings, recommendations are made for supporting the more widespread development of universalist psychological features in populations affected by protracted conflict, as a potential contribution to conflict transformation and the establishment of sustainable peace.