Pathways to post-liberal peace: Perspectives on the ‘common good’ in peace and statebuilding

Against the background of a conceptual history of approaches to the ‘common good’ in peace- and statebuilding, this working paper explores potential pathways for relational engagement in transitions from violent conflict. While it is academically widely undisputed that liberal interventionism has reached an impasse, the political space that opens up beyond that remains widely unexplored. Suggestions range from adapting and prolonging the liberal enterprise to a re-orientation towards the local, or the focus on effects in the sense of vintage conflict management. The resulting question, however, is how to overcome the misleading distinction between liberalism and relativism, and to marry the calls for pragmatism and a more political engagement. The notion of relational engagement may offer a potential pathway.