Peace for the Price of Justice? Tracing the Implementation of an Integrative Peacebuilding Approach in Liberia

This article revisits the ‘peace-versus-justice’ dilemma by theorizing and testing an integrative peacebuilding mechanism based on conditional sequencing. It conceptualizes peacebuilding as a hybrid configuration in which power-sharing and security sector reform operate jointly to stabilize post-conflict order and enable the implementation of later transitional justice measures. Using theory-testing process tracing and fieldwork-based evidence, the article examines Liberia’s peacebuilding approach after the 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Findings suggest that early security-oriented measures contributed to sustaining peace, while delayed and incomplete implementation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations produced a persistent accountability gap.