Reimagining Peacebuilding: Reconceptualizing Agency and Emerging Conflicts in the Posthuman Era
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Abstract
This article reimagines the anthropocentric peacebuilding paradigm in response to the multifaceted challenges of the posthuman era. Using conceptual and philosophical methodology, this study engages Actor-Network Theory and Simondon’s theory of individuation, expanding the concept of agency toward nonhuman actors. It identifies emerging social, ecological, and ethical conflicts, distinguishes them from traditional conflicts, and critiques current peacebuilding practices. The analysis explores ontological and epistemological shifts necessary for this transition, attending to distributed cognition and responsibility entangled between human and nonhuman actors. This article contributes to the field by providing a philosophical and conceptual framework for human-nonhuman coevolution. It also proposes a minimum operational framework for posthumanist peacebuilding and outlines how this ontological shift translates into practical peace governance through three core principles: relational impact assessment, shared vulnerability examination, and the adoption of multifaceted and distributed responsibility protocols. Ultimately, it argues that a posthumanist approach remains necessary for addressing the complexities of technological autonomy and the climate crisis while enabling human–nonhuman coevolution.
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