- the tentative quest for post-liberal peace

The focal point of this thesis is the peacebuilding environment in Nepal following the end of the civil war in 2006. A fieldwork investigation was conducted focusing on the perceptions of inhabitants of Kathmandu on peace and peacebuilding issues using semi-structured interviews. By investigating these perceptions the study seeks to answer three main questions: • How can the contrasting perspectives on the peace process be understood? • Can life in post-conflict Nepal fruitfully be conceptualized as a ”no war, no peace”-society, and if so, what are the possible implications of this on the peace process? • How do people in contemporary Nepal envision sustainable peace? The thesis draws on theoretical frameworks which are critical of the liberal peace- mainly problematizing its tendency to neglect the local context and needs, and its reliance on top-down and technocratic measures. The conclusion of this thesis is that the contrasting perspectives on the peace process can be understood as a consequence of the disjuncture between everyda