Ascension and Decay of Liberal Peace: The case of Afghanistan

This work aims to understand how the international community used the premise of liberal peace as a justification for an intervention in Afghanistan. Looking at the evolution of liberal peacebuilding and how it has evolved over the past decades, Afghanistan has been chosen as a case study because it represents a shift towards less liberal approaches, reflecting the most recent changes and trends in world politics. The NATO and the UN intervention have ended up damaging Afghanistan and Taliban has regained control over the territory. Thus, it can indicate the beginning of the decay of the liberal peace, a project that emerged among optimism and ambitious frameworks to promote peace, democratization and security but has dangerous unintended consequences for such fragile nations.

This work aims to understand how the international community used the premise of liberal peace as a justification for an intervention in Afghanistan. Looking at the evolution of liberal peacebuilding and how it has evolved over the past decades, Afghanistan has been chosen as a case study because it represents a shift towards less liberal approaches, reflecting the most recent changes and trends in world politics. The NATO and UN intervention have ended up damaging Afghanistan and Taliban has regained control over the territory. Thus, it can indicate the beginning of the decay of the liberal peace, a project that emerged among optimism and ambitious frameworks to promote peace, democratization and security but has dangerous unintended consequences for such fragile nations.