Armed Conflicts, their Resolution, and a Post-Conflict Society’s Reality : A Qualitative Study of the Central African Republic’s Post-Conflict Society

Abstract: This paper will investigate what role human rights can play in the reconstruction of a post-conflict society. The true root causes of conflict are not addressed by prior peace interventions, often governments are unable to deliver to their populations what they were promised. This thesis is guided by an overarching research interest in how during these situations, peacebuilding, human rights, and the construction of a new, accountable social contract can go hand-in-hand. The case study of the Central African Republic’s conflicts will be used to investigate the hypothesis. Nurturing and restoring society’s trust in the peacebuilding process is often underestimated. To break the vicious cycle of self-enforcing conflicts and their recurrence, a revitalisation of the social contract may be a strategy to optimize working towards reconciling the post-conflict society. The research finds that a human rights-rooted social contract approach in a post-conflict society can impact the peacebuilding positively.