The Hybridity of Liberal Peace: States, Diasporas and Insecurity

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Main author: Laffey, Mark
Other authors: Nadarajah, Suthaharan
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-17088
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description Much contemporary analysis of world order rests on and reproduces a dualistic account of the international system, which is divided into liberal and non-liberal spaces, practices and subjectivities. Drawing on postcolonial thought, we challenge such dualisms in two ways. First, we argue that, as a specific form of governmental reason and practice produced at the intersection of the European and the non-European worlds, liberalism has always been hybrid, encompassing within its project both ‘liberal’ and ‘non-liberal’ spaces and practices. Second, through analysis of liberal engagement with diasporas, a specific set of subjects that occupy both these spaces, we show how contemporary practices of transnational security governance work to reproduce the hybridity of liberal peace. The article demonstrates the shifting conditions for local agency in relations and practices that transcend the simple dualism between liberal and non-liberal spaces, in the process showing how practices of transnational security governance also reproduce diasporas as hybrid subjects. The argument is illustrated with reference to the Tamil diaspora and the Sri Lankan state’s war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
format Journal Article
author Laffey, Mark
author_facet Laffey, Mark
Nadarajah, Suthaharan
authorStr Laffey, Mark
author_letter Laffey, Mark
author2 Nadarajah, Suthaharan
author2Str Nadarajah, Suthaharan
title The Hybridity of Liberal Peace: States, Diasporas and Insecurity
publisher Sage
publishDate 2012
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17088/

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