Hybrid Violence: Locating the Use of Force in Postconflict Settings

This article unpacks the notion of hybrid violence and sketches the different forms of hybrid violence—categorical, institutional, motivational, and temporal—that can be found in many postconflict contexts. It highlights how attempts to establish a monopoly over the legitimate use of force are often at odds with the various roles that violence plays in contemporary states, especially (but not exclusively) in postconflict contexts. The article argues that in fact many of the shortcomings of the liberal peacebuilding paradigm stem from a failure to recognize that a hybrid political order existed before conflict erupted and that hybridized forms of violence were a critical element in shaping conflict dynamics in many postcolonial states.