How can liberal peacebuilding be improved upon? This article examines the core principles of republicanism – deliberation, representation and constitutionalism – and highlights the differences between liberal and ‘republican peacebuilding’. It argues that liberal peacebuilding may be doing more harm than good, and that republican peacebuilding is better suited to promoting stability and legitimacy in post-conflict environments. Republican peacebuilding emphasises the necessity of institutional mechanisms of representation, constitutional arrangements that distribute political power, and deliberative processes that encourage groups to generalise their views. It helps to slow the peacebuilding process and ensures that those with the knowledge have the ability to shape their lives.
Current approaches to peacebuilding are characterised by explicit liberal goals, such as creating a state defined by the rule of law, markets and democracy. This objective is informed by the belief that, to have legitimacy, the state must be organised around liberal-democratic principles, and that because liberal democracies are respectful of their societies and peaceful toward their neighbours, they are the foundation of a stable international order.
However, by attempting to bring about profound yet rapid change in all aspects of the state, society and economy, liberal peacebuilding puts fragile societies under huge pressure. Peacebuilders fear resuscitating a predatory state, presume that the best state is a limited state, and desire to create a strong society that can restrain the state. However, liberalisation prior to institutionalisation may lead to the rise of societal demands that cannot be met, and may ultimately trigger instability and conflict; effective state institutions are needed to channel, organise and respond to societal demands.
While liberalism and republicanism share common elements (such as the centrality of liberty, elections, representation, constitutions and laws), there are also distinctions between them. For example, republicanism emphasises the concept of liberty as the freedom from arbitrary power, the threats posed by factional conflict, and the deliberative process. Republican peacebuilding relies on the core tenets of deliberation, representation and constitutionalism:
- Deliberation: The process of deliberation facilitates public engagement, encourages individuals to generalise their ideas and to consider each other’s views, and to develop a sense of community and common fate within divided societies. It also enhances the legitimacy of collective decisions.
- Representation: Unelected arrangements (such as consultative bodies and transitional governments) are supported in the immediate post-conflict period until elections can be held. Unelected mechanisms of representation must satisfy two key criteria: inclusivity (incorporating diverse views) and publicity (making their decisions, and the reasons behind them, public).
- Constitutionalism: Constitutional arrangements provide checks and balances and distribute political power. This helps to reduce the possibility of centralised governments exercising arbitrary power or factional groups dominating the political landscape. The constitutional process must allow for broad participation and consultation in order to ensure legitimacy.
Republican peacebuilding is better suited than liberal peacebuilding to addressing the challenges faced by post-conflict states due to its emphasis on the institutional foundations of stability and legitimacy. Other advantages of republican peacebuilding include:
- Adapting to local circumstances and encouraging local accountability: Peacebuilders must be accountable to the local population (for example, through ad hoc or standing committees or establishing an ombudsperson to deal with complaints regarding the conduct of peacebuilders), and must incorporate local voices and involve local elites in reconstruction.
- Promoting an incremental approach to peacebuilding: This gives space to societal groups to decide what kind of life they wish to lead and how to achieve it.
