"The inaugural Salween Peace Park General Assembly was unlike any gathering that has occurred in Mutraw District, Karen State. From 3 to 5 April 2019, about 100 participants congregated in Day Bu Noh village for the event, including representatives of the district-level Karen National Union (KNU), leaders of Karen civil society organisations active in Mutraw, and two elected representatives from each of the 26 village tracts designated as part of the Peace Park area. I have heard the General Assembly described as a “congress” or a “parliament”. In some ways it is: the assembly is a forum for discussion, dialogue, and negotiation among leaders that act in the interests of the area’s 38,000 inhabitants. Yet instead of statesmen, the General Assembly puts experienced leaders from the KNU and civil society into dialogue with community members who are being recognised as active participants in district-wide negotiations about peace, self-determination, and natural resource management for the first time. By creating a space for leaders and community members to converse on equal footing, the Salween Peace Park tests a new approach to peace in the heart of war-torn Kawthoolei—the “Karen homeland” claimed by the KNU. I visited the Peace Park to witness the General Assembly as part of my PhD research on civil society, development, and governance in Karen areas. There are many aspects of the Peace Park that I do not feel equipped to write about—the indigenous ontology that guides its formation, for example, or its approach to natural resource governance, land issues, and wildlife conservation—even as these aspects are no less integral to the overall vision. Instead, I strive to map the Peace Park’s novel approach to governance and peacebuilding, a testament to my interest in how people relate to each another, and the profound changes that occur as a result..."