Rethinking Peacebuilding in Afghanistan: A Post-Structuralist Approach

This paper examines the “liberal peace” paradigm and its associated peacebuilding methodological approach, identifying significant roadblocks arising from its epistemological and ontological foundations and institutional hegemony. The failures of the “liberal peace project” in conflict-affected societies have raised doubts about its validity and reliability as a transformative approach. Despite claims of compatibility with local cultural, social, and religious sensitivities, the implementation of top-down theoretical frameworks has often lacked genuine emancipation, yielding disparate outcomes. Surprisingly, there has been limited effort to deconstruct the entire “liberal peace” paradigm. This paper does not propose alternative peacebuilding approaches; instead, it aims to stimulate critical reflections to foster the emergence of alternative discourses. Focusing on Afghanistan as a case study, the analysis employs post-structuralism to deconstruct the theoretical underpinnings of the “liberal peace” order and to examine the U.S. peacebuilding framework in Afghanistan. By doing so, it reveals the intricacies of the “liberal peace” approach and identifies potential areas for improvement and reformulation.