Post-conflict peacebuilding in Africa: Between 'virtual peace' and the search for legitimacy

This chapter examines the peace-building operational results and legitimacy in the African continent, underlining some examples, such as Mozambique and Sierra Leone. Since the end of the Cold War, Africa has become the main platform for the so-called post-conflict peace-building operations. First, post-conflict peace-building operations of the Post-Cold War period start from a maxima list vision of peace-building since they attempt to approach the ultimate reasons for armed conflicts, interpreted as a new kind of development in reverse. Secondly, these missions generally promote political and economic liberalization as a recipe to achieve long-term peace, to the extent that most research defines them as liberal peace-building operations. In recent years, the United Nations, bilateral donors and some academic researchers have valued positively many of the post-conflict peace-building operations that have taken place in the African continent.