Decolonizing Peace: A Study of Non-Hierarchical, Community-Led Peacebuilding and Social Integration

Traditional, top-down peacebuilding models often fail to address the root causes of conflict, frequently replicating the colonial and carceral logics they claim to subvert. This paper identifies a critical gap in the literature by examining the long-term sustainability and replicability of fully autonomous, non-hierarchical peace structures. Building on the work of scholars in decolonial praxis and grassroots peacebuilding, this paper forwards a conceptual framework of "decolonial peace praxis" to analyze how these communities function as sites of 'unlearning' the patriarchal and hierarchical structures that perpetuate violence. Using illustrative examples from community-based organizations such as The Rising Tide Fellowship, this study explores how non-hierarchical groups establish social cohesion, transform internal conflict, and create alternative models for social integration and justice. The paper argues that these autonomous communities are not utopian outliers but vital laboratories for developing tangible, scalable strategies for sustainable peace. Keywords: Decolonial Praxis, Grassroots Peacebuilding, Non-Hierarchical Governance, Conflict Transformation, Intersectional Analysis, Social Integration, Anarchism