Bangladesh in International Peacebuilding Discourses from Japan and Beyond

This edited volume grew out of an international conference co-organized by BIISS and the Japan Foundation and explores how Japan’s pragmatic, locally owned approach to peacebuilding can inform Bangladesh’s expanding contributions to UN peace operations and post-conflict recovery. Contributors examine Japan’s evolution from a checkbook donor to a hands-on peacebuilder, emphasizing context-specific institution building, rule of law, community resilience, and human security. They contrast liberal peace orthodoxies with hybrid models that privilege local actors and cultural resources, and evaluate how these logics translate to South Asian theaters. Several chapters connect SDG-16 to peacekeeping, arguing that the lines between peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and development are increasingly blurred and require integrated missions and civilian skill pipelines. For Bangladesh, the book sketches pathways to move up the peace value chain: specialized police and formed units, deployable justice and governance experts, women’s meaningful participation, and civilian career tracks. It also looks inward—documenting how lessons from UN missions can strengthen domestic disaster response, community policing, and conflict sensitivity in development programming. By making the case for “local ownership plus international solidarity,” the book positions Bangladesh as both a contributor to, and a beneficiary of, contemporary peacebuilding thinking.