Rural Afghan Women as Agents of Change and the Failure of Liberal Peacebuilding

This article will critique the liberal peacebuilding agenda and argue for an alternative, post-liberal approach to peacebuilding and conflict research by drawing upon James Scott’s theory of everyday resistance in conjunction with my own recent research with rural women in the Hirat and Balkh provinces of Afghanistan. The objective of this article is to amplify the narratives and experiences of rural Afghan women in order to acknowledge their agency and ability, and in recognition of the potential they possess in terms of contribution to effective, sustainable peacebuilding processes. The potential of rural communities is largely neglected by liberal peacebuilding processes in Afghanistan, reflecting the problematic nature of the liberal peacebuilding agenda in general; namely that it is uniformly applied in a top-down approach