Public Lecture on “The Post-War Makeover Fantasy: Neo-Liberalism, A Historicism, and the Political Economy of War to Peace Transitions"

On Wednesday November 7, 2012, the Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of International Studies and the Development Studies Center held a lecture on: “The post-war makeover fantasy: Neo-liberalism, A historicism, and the political economy of war to peace transitions", which was presented by Professor Chris Cramer, a development economist from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Professor Cramer began by explaining how there is a global discourse and organization change around the so called “liberal peace”. He also discussed that there are three sets of ideas combined with four rationales for international actors: liberal peace thesis, security development axis, and rediscovery of the state. Regarding aid, Professor Cramer discussed how aid in a post conflict society is more effective than any other aid. He also shed light on the political, economic and socio transitions of post war countries.

He also mentioned the liberal interpretation of war, in which if the economy of a country is democratized and liberalized that country will remain in peace with other countries; because development is seen as conflict prevention. Professor Cramer believes that there are three central challenges that should be dealt with: how to pay for peace, how to produce peace and how to work for peace. He then ended the lecture by claiming that fiscal policy is very critical to produce peace.