Statebuilding as International Relations

• In Event: Promoting Peace? The Past, Present, and Future of International Interventions

Abstract

What is statebuilding? Burgeoning international studies scholarship began to address this topic in the late 1990s as international interventions to stop genocide, prevent violent conflict, and rebuild countries in the aftermath of civil war became the norm. Yet, in spite of growing international investment in statebuilding, the study of statebuilding overall has stagnated, splintering among subfields within international relations and comparative politics, including peacebuilding, foreign aid, democratization, peacekeeping, rebel governance, humanitarian relief, global governance, and the political economy of development. This paper reconceptualizes statebuilding as one of the core topics and practices of international relations. Contrary to its common characterization as efforts at the periphery of international relations—occurring only in impoverished, war-torn countries, and driven primarily by the whims of powerful states—we contend that international statebuilding has been a central feature of the practice of international relations over the past three decades. By addressing the true scope and scale of international statebuilding efforts, scholarship can not only capture what is known about international statebuilding, but it can also reconsider the importance of statebuilding efforts in shaping international relations today.

Authors

• Susanna Campbell, American University

• Naazneen Barma, University of Denver

• Aila M. Matanock, University of California-Berkeley