Africa peace and conflict journal, v. 2, no. 1, June 2009

Abstract

Liberal peace theories prescribe electoral democracy and the free market as panaceas for all postconflict states, irrespective of a society’s ability to cope with the inherent competitiveness of ‘democracy’ and the markets. Current approaches to state building of universalized and ‘best practice’ approaches, not only restore superficial states, they also extend the colonial project of undermining organic processes of state formation and state building. Indigenization stands as a complement to the liberal peace approach. Challenges to traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution in Chad, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda are examined at various stages and levels of intervention.