Social Engineering and the failure of Liberal Peacebuilding in Post-conflict African Societies

Abstract

This research argues that liberal democracy, liberal peacebuilding and social engineering efforts of are doomed to fail in post-conflict African societies if liberal democratic actors adopt a methodology that seeks to undermine the local structures existing within the African society. Social engineering (which is the process that involves imposition of liberal values, while undermining local contents) is highlighted as the bane of liberal peacebuilding efforts in Africa. This research demonstrates the distinction between pro-liberal values and the pro-liberal implementation methods adopted to transfer liberal democratic values. Furthermore, it examines the power dynamics between local and international methods of peacebuilding during the implementation of positive peace in post-conflict societies. Evidence and literature were obtained from secondary sources relevant to the conversation around systems of government and how these contribute to development in Africa. The analytical method used is content analysis which his used to analyse opinions, empirical and theoretical evidence in a comparative manner which drawing conclusions on simple polemics.  Using the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a case study, this qualitative research shows that the neglect of local alternatives to peacebuilding and the use of social engineering can potentially lead to the failure of liberal peacebuilding processes.