Post-Liberal Statebuilding in Central Asia

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Drawing on decolonial perspectives on peace, statehood and development, this illuminating book examines post-liberal statebuilding in Central Asia. It argues that, despite its emancipatory appearance, post-liberal statebuilding is best understood as a set of social ordering mechanisms that lead to new forms of exclusion, marginalization and violence.
Using ethnographic fieldwork in Southern Kyrgyzstan, the volume offers a detailed examination of community security and peacebuilding discourses and practices. Through its analysis, the book highlights the problem with assumptions about liberal democracy, modern statehood and capitalist development as the standard template for post-conflict countries, which is widespread and rarely reflected upon.

Philipp Lottholz is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the DFG Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 138 "Dynamics of Security" and Center for Conflict Studies, Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany.