All fourteen major peacebuilding missions launched between 1989 and 1999 shared a common strategy for consolidating
peace after internal conflicts : immediate democratization and marketization. This volume argues that transforming
war-shattered states into market democracies is a basically sound idea, but that pushing the process too quickly
can have damaging and destabilizing effects. A more sensible approach would first establish a system of domestic
institutions capable of managing the disruptive effects of democratization and marketization, and only then phase
in political and economic reforms as conditions warrant. Avoiding the problems that marred many peacebuilding missions
in the 1990s will require longer-lasting, better-planned, and ultimately more intrusive forms of intervention in
the domestic affairs of war-torn states.