The failure of a liberal peace
Sri Lanka's counter-insurgency in global perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5681024 |
|---|---|
| Authors | D G Lewis (0000-0002-8655-6178, corresponding author), David Lewis (0000-0002-0253-5530) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 647-671 |
| Publication date | 2010-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Conflict Security and Development (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1467-8802 • E-ISSN: 1478-1174 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14678802.2010.511509 |
| OpenAlex | W1971793588 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 22 |
| References cited | 28 |
The victory by the Sri Lankan government over the LTTE in 2009 apparently ended over 25 years of civil war. However, the ramifications of the government's counter-insurgency go far beyond Sri Lanka's domestic politics. The military campaign against the LTTE poses a significant challenge to many of the liberal norms that inform contemporary models of international peace-building—the so-called ‘liberal peace’. This article suggests that Sri Lanka's attempts to justify a shift from peaceful conflict resolution to counter-insurgency relied on three main factors: the flawed nature of the peace process, which highlighted wider concerns about the mechanisms and principles of international peace processes; the increased influence of ‘Rising Powers’, particularly China, in global governance mechanisms, and their impact on international norms related to conflict management; and the use by the government of a discourse of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency to limit international censure. The article concludes that the Sri Lankan case may suggest a growing contestation of international peace-building norms, and the emergence of a legitimated ‘illiberal peace’
Development economics · Economics · Insurgency · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Terrorism · Victory · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Public Administration
Deeper hegemony
Trendsetters, Trend Followers, and Individual Players
Authoritarianism Goes Global
The Insurgent's Dilemma
The Ethics of Security Research
Global Models, Victim Disconnect and Demands for International Intervention
Social coexistence and violence during Turkey’s authoritarian transition
A prelude to revisionism? The stalemated peace model and the emergence of multipolarity in international order
Discourses of Victimization in Sri Lanka’s Civil War
When the Going Gets Tough… Monitoring Missions and a Changing Conflict Environment in Sri Lanka, 2002–2008
Where does hybridity originate? Interfacing between local and international actors in Sri Lankan postconflict peacebuilding
Illiberal peace? Authoritarian modes of conflict management
Schizophrenic soothers
Does counterinsurgency fuel civil war? Peru and Syria compared
The myopic Foucauldian gaze
Tamil diaspora activism in the post-liberal international order
Peace and Liberal Misrecognition
Buddhist extremism, anti-Muslim violence and civil war legacies in Sri Lanka
The myth of liberal peace-building
Sri Lanka's Schmittian peace
Inscribing the victor's land
Geopolitics and Peace
National Interests in International Society
The Transformation of Peace
Saving Strangers
Whose Ideas Matter?
Social network analysis and counterinsurgency
China's Participation in the International Human Rights Regime
The Limits of Liberal Peacebuilding? International Engagement in the Sri Lankan Peace Process
The Regulatory Power of Business Norms
Multilateralism, Intervention and Norm Contestation
Do the Asian Drivers Pull their Diplomatic Weight? China, India, and the United Nations
China and India as Emerging Global Governance Actors
A post-liberal peace
Building a Republican Peace
Hearts and Minds’? British Counter-Insurgency Strategy in Northern Ireland
Introduction
Assessing the Complex Evolution of Norms
International Norm Dynamics and Political Change
Peacekeeping and the Constraints of Global Culture
Reconstructing post-war Lebanon
Conflict, peacebuilding and NGO legitimacy
Saving liberal peacebuilding
Indigenous Peace-Making Versus the Liberal Peace
Rwanda
| Unique citing works | 22 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,47 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2025 (15) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |