Civil conflict remains one of the most significant threats to peace and security in the contemporary era. In Constructing Peace Lisa MacLeod offers the first ever application of Finnemore and Sikkink's model of norm construction to the study of peace building and conflict resolution. Skillfully applying this model in a comparison of United Nations peacebuilding operations in El Salvador and Cambodia, MacLeod strives to provide readers with a better understanding of how the process of construction of norms of political legitimacy may lead to practical strategies for the transformation of civil conflict. This rare and exciting study of long-term peace building efforts will appeal to scholars of international studies and conflict resolution.