Following the so-called ‘local turn’ in peacebuilding research and efforts towards a ‘Global’ orientation in international relations (IR) scholarship, a number of authors have recently called for and proposed research approaches that recognise local actors’ agency in peacebuilding and other forms of intervention. These calls and proposals have revealed a serious lack of attention to local agency in previous research. But eagerness to recognise that which has long been wrongfully neglected also comes with new challenges. Most importantly, the emphasis on local agency runs the risk of overlooking or even misrecognising situations when and where actors feel severely limited in their possibilities and/or experience that their actions are of little or no effect. This paper develops a situational concept of agency for open-ended empirical analysis that explicitly allows for findings of severely limited or even absent agency in specific contexts. The concept’s analytical value is exemplified in an exploration of the case of victims of sexual violence and the post-war Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Sierra Leone, based on recent field and archival research. Although this exploration reveals activism, individual initiative and coping strategies, these only amount to severely limited victims’ agency in the context of the TRC.

中文翻译：

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承认地方代理的危险：代理的情境概念和性暴力受害者的案例以及塞拉利昂真相与和解委员会 (TRC)

随着建设和平研究中所谓的“地方转向”以及国际关系 (IR) 奖学金朝着“全球”方向的努力，一些作者最近呼吁并提出了承认地方参与者在建设和平和其他方面的机构的研究方法。干预形式。这些呼吁和提议表明，以往的研究严重缺乏对地方机构的关注。但渴望认识到长期以来被错误忽视的事物也带来了新的挑战。最重要的是，当行动者感到自己的可能性和/或经验受到严重限制，而他们的行动几乎没有效果或没有效果时，强调当地机构可能会忽视甚至误认情况。本文为开放式实证分析开发了一种情境性的代理概念，明确允许在特定上下文中发现严重受限甚至缺失的代理。该概念的分析价值体现在对塞拉利昂的性暴力受害者案件和战后真相与和解委员会 (TRC) 的探索中，该委员会基于最近的实地和档案研究。尽管这种探索揭示了激进主义、个人主动性和应对策略，但在真相与和解委员会的背景下，这些仅严重限制了受害者的能动性。基于最近的实地和档案研究。尽管这种探索揭示了激进主义、个人主动性和应对策略，但在真相与和解委员会的背景下，这些仅严重限制了受害者的能动性。基于最近的实地和档案研究。尽管这种探索揭示了激进主义、个人主动性和应对策略，但在真相与和解委员会的背景下，这些仅严重限制了受害者的能动性。