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Abstract

Why Liberals are Poor Peace-Makers: Discarding Orthodoxies to Reduce Violence in Developing Countries

This paper suggests that the reduction of levels of violent conflict in lower and middle income countries requires a serious rethinking of both the role of the state in consolidating and maintaining peace and the model of a state capable of doing so. The paper draws on research undertaken by the Crisis States Research Centre at the LSE between 2000 and 2012. The first section emphasises that the most important drivers of violence in the developing world today are the asymmetric military interventions unleashed by the world's great powers to effect regime change. The most intractable cases of persistent violent conflict in the developing world today have been precipitated by external military interventions often in the name of civilian protection and democracy promotion. The following sections argue that the establishment of inclusive political settlements and state organisations based upon them should take precedence over the promotion of formal democratic systems, poverty reduction, efficient service delivery, or prudent macroeconomic management in the wake of violent conflicts. In this sense the paper suggests that organisations like the WHO need to pay much more attention to how their activities in post-war situations affect the consolidation of state organisations, even if this means tolerating greater levels of inefficiency and slower developmental progress.

 

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