Liberal Internationalism

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War, peacebuilding operations have become an integral part of world politics-despite their continuing failures. This chapter provides an account of peacebuilding operations in practice and identifies cycles of failure and reform, namely the successful integration of peacebuilding into the fabric of the world order despite its continuing failures. It traces these dynamics back to the internal contradictions of liberalism and argues that the main function of peacebuilding operations lies in managing the tensions and contradictions inherent in a liberal world order. Peacebuilding-in one form or another-is therefore likely to persist for the duration of a liberal world order.