From Empire Lite to Post-Interventionary Governance: Counterinsurgency as Contingent Sovereignty.

The interventionary framework for Afghanistan and Iraq originally enlisted the 'empire lite' thesis, calling for quick 'in and out' missions involving military precision, regime change and quick elections. Years later, long-term counterinsurgency strategy is back in vogue. While the latter appears to be a break with the former, this paper suggests that there is an under-examined confluence between them. The paper examines the shift towards counterinsurgency in terms of a recurrent tendency within the logic of liberalism which seeks to correct the failures of the past by hinging political independence and withdrawal on a contractual narrative of social organization that requires the 'wishing away of conquest.' ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]