This book critically explores the practices of peacebuilding, and the politics of the communities experiencing intervention. The contributions to this volume have a dual focus. First, they analyse the practices of western intervention and peacebuilding, and the prejudices and politics that drive them. Second, they explore how communities experience and deal with this intervention, as well as an understanding of how their political and economic priorities can often diverge markedly from those of the intervener. This is achieved through theoretical and thematic chapters, and an extensive number of in-depth empirical case studies. Utilising a variety of conceptual frameworks and disciplines, the book seeks to understand why something so normatively desirable – the pursuit of, and building of, peace – has turned out so badly. From Cambodia to Afghanistan, Iraq to Mali, interventions in the pursuit of peace have not achieved the results desired by the interveners. But, rather, they have created further instability and violence. The contributors to this book explore why. This book will be of much interest to students, academics and practitioners of peacebuilding, peacekeeping, international intervention, statebuilding, security studies and IR in general.

Knowledge about violent conflict and international intervention is political. It involves power struggles over the objects of knowing (problematization/silencing), how they are known (epistemic practices), and what interpretations are taken into account in policymaking and implementation. This book unearths the politics, power and performances involved in the social construction of seemingly neutral concepts such as facts, truth and authenticity in knowing about violent conflict and international intervention. Contributors foreground problems of physical and social access to information, explore practices generating knowledge actors’ authority and legitimacy, and analyse struggles over competing policy narratives. A first set of chapters focuses on the social construction of facts, truth and authenticity through studies of militia research in the DR Congo, politicians’ on-site visits in intervention theatres in the Balkans and Afghanistan, and the epistemic practices of Human Rights Watch and comics journalism. A second set of contributions analyses the strategic side of knowledge through case studies of diplomatic counterinsurgency in Bosnia and Herzegovina, African governments’ active role in the ‘bunkerization’ of international aid workers, and authoritarian peacebuilding as a challenge to the liberal power/knowledge regime in world politics. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding.

This book advances an innovative approach to explain international interventions' uneven outcomes in given contexts, and harnesses this approach to examine three prominent case studies: Aceh, Cambodia and Solomon Islands. It is the first book comprehensively to discuss the rapidly growing literature on how interventions interface with target states and societies.

This book is the best guide to the complexities of intervention now available. The issues raised by it will remain important and divisive for some time.'___ The Times Literary Suplement.

International intervention on humanitarian grounds has been a contentious issue for decades. First, it pits the principle of state sovereignty against claims of universal human rights. Second, the motivations of intervening states may be open to question when avowals of moral action are arguably the fig leaf covering an assertion of power for political advantage. These questions have been salient in the context of the Balkan and African wars and U.S. policy in the Middle East. This volume undertakes a serious, systematic, and broadly international review of the issues.

This book critically explores the practices of peacebuilding, and the politics of the communities experiencing intervention. The contributions to this volume have a dual focus. First, they analyse the practices of western intervention and peacebuilding, and the prejudices and politics that drive them. Second, they explore how communities experience and deal with this intervention, as well as an understanding of how their political and economic priorities can often diverge markedly from those of the intervener. This is achieved through theoretical and thematic chapters, and an extensive number of in-depth empirical case studies. Utilising a variety of conceptual frameworks and disciplines, the book seeks to understand why something so normatively desirable – the pursuit of, and building of, peace – has turned out so badly. From Cambodia to Afghanistan, Iraq to Mali, interventions in the pursuit of peace have not achieved the results desired by the interveners. But, rather, they have created further instability and violence. The contributors to this book explore why. This book will be of much interest to students, academics and practitioners of peacebuilding, peacekeeping, international intervention, statebuilding, security studies and IR in general.

The issue of humanitarian intervention has generated one of the most heated debates in International Relations over the past decade - among both theorists and practitioners. At the heart of the debate is the alleged tension between the principle of state sovereignty, a defining pillar of the UN system and international law, and the evolving international norms related to human rights and the use of force. This edited book investigates the controversial place of humanitarian intervention in the theory and practice of International Relations. Although the subject has gained greater prominence, it continues to have an uneasy relationship with both the major schools of thought in the discipline of IR, and the behaviour of states, international organizations, and non-governmental actors. Many academic discussions focus on the question of whether there is a legal 'right' of humanitarian intervention, giving insufficient attention to the underlying ethical issues, the politics within international organizations and coalitions, and the practical dilemmas faced by international actors - before, during, and after the intervention. The book analyses humanitarian intervention through the lenses of both theory and practice, and assesses the challenges it poses for international society in a post September 11th world. It includes chapters by well-known academics from the disciplines of law, philosophy, and international relations, as well as those who have been activelyengaged in cases of intervention during the past decade. The cases cover not only well-known conflicts such as Somalia and Bosnia, but also the recent international interventions in East Timor and Afghanistan. Three main themes emerge from the study. First, the contributors show that the alleged conflict between human rights and state sovereignty has been addressed by two recent developments in international society: an evolution in the notion of sovereignty from 'sovereignty as authority' to 'sovereignty as responsibility'; and an expanded definition of the Security Council on what constitutes a threat to peace and security. Second, despite this new climate of permissiveness, humanitarian intervention remains a controversial norm in International Relations, due to continued opposition from certain members of international society, and concerns about its potentially negative consequences. Finally, while the past decade has seen some successful cases of intervention to addresshumanitarian catastrophes, the current capability of international organizations to undertake humanitarian interventions remains limited. As the book demonstrates, the issue of humanitarian intervention has the potential to divide international institutions such as the UN and damage their credibility. This raises questions about whether and how individual members of international society should respond to humanitarian crises.

Published in conjunction with the Save the Children Fund and the Centre for Global Governance (of the London School of Economics), makes available to scholars the front-line experiences of humanitarian workers in Somalia, among the Kurds in Iraq, and in other parts of the world. The five offerings also discuss the general topics of humanitarian relief in the New World Order, sovereignty and suffering, and options for reforming international assistance. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Finnemore examines changes over the past 400 years about why countries intervene militarily as well as in the ways they have intervened.