Introduction

The various structures of postcolonial governance, whether indigenous, inherited from colonialism, or created after independence, were unable to fully deal with the interacting local, national, regional, and global forces that have placed tremendous stresses on the continent and its peoples. Africa is neither on the margins of peacebuilding scholarship nor is peacebuilding no longer on the margins of knowledge production in the continent. The production of high-quality, high-impact, and policy-relevant peacebuilding research in and on Africa has been on the rise in the past few decades. Contemporary peacebuilding in Africa has been contentious and criticized because it is perceived as anchored primarily on a liberal peace perspective. The liberal peace perspective is inspired by a set of “standard interventions” that include conflict resolution strategies, demobilization, and reconstitution of security institutions, election-based democratization, market liberalization, and the restoration of civil and political rights.