Social Capital, Civil Society and Peace: Reflections on Conflict Transformation in the Philippines

Toohey A¹*

1. Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Civil society is recognised as comprising complex and multifaceted entities, resilient to and yet responsive to both the state apparatus and global market processes. Civil society in the Philippines, long regarded as one of the most vibrant, diverse and innovative in Asia, has emerged as a significant actor in the field of conflict resolution and peace-building. In thinking about the work of peace, this paper engages with the effectiveness of civil society in mobilizing societal awareness on the struggle for a ‘just and lasting peace’. Shaped by development and conflict paradigms that privilege concepts such as social capital, the paper aims to interrogate how such concepts situated within the peace-development nexus proposed by the national government and funding agencies have shaped conflict-transformation in the Philippines.

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