A Post-Liberal Peace: Eirenism and the Everyday
Richmond, Oliver P. 2009. Review of International Studies 35, no. 3: 557-580.
This text offers a largely-theoretical conceptualization of “post-liberal peace”, a break from the dominant theory of peace as being the result of top-down, externally imposed systems of democratic political and economic governance. The source focuses on the constructivist notion of peace as a social fact where interactions, relationships, and decisions of actors, as opposed to underlying structures such as a democratic system, are the determining factors in building a sustainable and legitimate peace. While certainly abstract in nature, the article is a suitable starting point for International Relations scholars to begin understanding how existing critical theories can be integrated into the field of Peace Research.