Introduction

This chapter introduces the theme of the book. It provides an overview of the concepts of peacebuilding and state building. It presents the central concepts employed in the book. A brief exposition of the distinction between neoliberalism and liberalism, on the one hand, and a conceptualisation of the popular progressive concept is offered. The underlying theoretical, ideological, global shift, social reality, power structures and relations characterising the concepts are briefly analysed. It also provides a brief discussion of methodological framework. Relevant methodological frame and approaches deemed to serve this kind of work well are identified. The chapter reconfirms and conveys the message that peacebuilding and state building as a profoundly social construction requires a combination of macro-and micro-sociological, bottom-up, top-down, and multidimensional and multi-faceted methodological approaches.