Introducing Hybrid Peace Governance: Impact and Prospects of Liberal Peacebuilding

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, among other cases, the international efforts to promote peace and democratic institutions frequently clash with different understandings of the meaning and implications of these terms. International and domestic actors enter into a bargainingrelationship whereby each actor attempts to promote its own values, norms, and practices. The end result is a condition of hybrid peace governance, in which contrary elements exist alongside each other in a context where violence, actual or potential, continues to play an important role. More precisely, hybrid refers to a condition where liberal and illiberal norms, institutions, and actors coexist, interact, and even clash. The term peace governance points to the activity of governing this condition. While the articles included in this special issue focus primarily, although not exclusively, on hybridity in political and institutional matters, hybrid conditions are also found in other realms, most notably in culture.