ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores a trajectory of more than 25 years of international peacebuilding. It recasts it as a crisis of confidence in universal ideas of peacebuilding and self-government: from the early days of euphoria and trust in democracy and liberal peace, through the interventionist measures of therapeutic approaches that emphasises local ownership and resilience. The book examines the shift in the 1990s from interventions that prioritised democratisation and the free market to build peace after conflict, to interventions that concentrated on fixing state institutions and regulating civil society. It focuses on the critiques of liberal peace and the policy attempts to move towards 'post-liberal' forms of peacebuilding. The book extends and deepens the analysis of approaches to statebuilding by turning to the intervention in Kosovo. Finally, it points at an unforeseen direction taken by critiques of liberal peacebuilding.
