Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 2015, Vol. 44(2) 360–378 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0899764013517051 nvsq.sagepub.com Article Surviving the Peace: Organizational Responses to Deinstitutionalization of Irish Peacebuilding Sheila M. Cannon 1 and Gemma Donnelly-Cox 1 Abstract This qualitative study explores the deinstitutionalization of peacebuilding in Ireland and how the core population of peacebuilding organizations are responding. We document organizational responses to the understudied phenomenon of deinstitutionalization— the weakening and dissipating of an institutionalized set of practices and beliefs. We rigorously map the field and population under study, illustrating the challenge and necessity of delineating a field of actors involved in a complex social process. This research contributes to understanding deinstitutionalization in two ways. First, we illustrate how organizations both adapt to and resist the challenge of deinstitutionalization. Second, organizations can act as custodians of outgoing traditions, turning to their communities and engaging in defensive institutional work, which seems to enhance their organizational survival. Keywords deinstitutionalization, defensive institutional work, organizational population, inter- organizational field, mapping, peacebuilding organizations Introduction In October 2007, leaders of two opposing sides of the conflict in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, shook hands and agreed to share power in government. Locally and internationally, newspaper headlines captured the dramatic turnaround of this historic moment. The strong and well-funded peacebuilding 1 Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Corresponding Author: Sheila M. Cannon, School of Business, Centre for Nonprofit Management, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland. Email: smcannon@tcd.ie 517051NVS XX X 10.1177/0899764013517051Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector QuarterlyCannon and Donnelly-Cox research-article 2014 by guest on March 27, 2015 nvs.sagepub.com Downloaded from