ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the growing focus on strengthening the resilience of post-conflict societies as an international policy-strategy to promote peace. It deals with the conceptual grounding of critiques of liberal peace. The chapter examines resilience approaches, which, building upon the deconstructive logics of the critique of liberal peace, seek to shape peacebuilding practice by the means of bottom-up, context-sensitive and iterative actions that embrace the needs and values of the people assisted. The organisations such as Armed Violence Monitoring Systems, Conciliation Resources, International Alert or Peace Direct are progressively incorporating detailed analyses of local actors into their programme planning for strengthening resilience. The close resemblance between international policy approaches of resilience and scholarly critiques of liberal peace leads to an implication: this convergence is less a sign of a radical shift in international policymaking than a critical retreat from the universalist aspirations of earlier international peace interventions.
