Liberal peace and peacebuilding: The case of Sierra Leone

There is an increasing awareness and international support for rebuilding states that have gone through conflict. Third party interventions in bringing peace to countries that have emerged from civil wars have been channelled through a fundamental concept called liberal peacebuilding. Liberal peacebuilding, even though faces much criticism, has been a prominent strategy of third-party interventions in post-war countries after the end of the Cold War. This thesis deals with the liberal peacebuilding process in Sierra Leone, after its decade-long brutal civil war. The focus lies on how Roland Paris; an ardent critic of Liberal peace theory, Institutionalization Before Liberalization(IBL) peacebuilding strategy, has contributed in sustaining peace in Sierra Leone since the end of the war in 2002. Evidence of how peacebuilding has been implemented in post-war Sierra Leone under the six different pillars of IBL strategy is analysed. The thesis shows that the IBL strategy has helped to maintain peace in Sierra Leone after ten years of civil war. It also highlights how the pursuit of this approach has laid the foundation for the building of very strong institutions and how such institutions have in turn transformed into a socio-economic, political and cultural landscape of the country that have helped in repressing a relapse to conflict. Despite the shortcomings of the approach, the introduction of IBL approach in Sierra Leone has shown that stronger institutions are key pillars of peace and stability. The fact that the country enjoys relative peace indicates that the IBL strategy is efficient and other peacebuilding operation could follow similar approach. Keywords: Liberal Peace theory, Institutionalization Before Liberalization,Peacebuilding, Conflict Sierra Leone, Civil war