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This book suggests a new explanation for why international peace interventions often fail to reach their full potential.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. Studying the everyday; Part I. Constructing Knowledge of the Host Country: 2. The politics of knowledge; 3. Local reactions; 4. Fumbling in the dark; Part II. Constructing and Maintaining Boundaries: 5. The interveners' circle; 6. A structure of inequality; 7. Daily work routines; Conclusion: transforming Peaceland; Appendix: an ethnographic approach.
About the author
Séverine Autesserre is Assistant Professor of Political Science, specializing in International Relations and African Studies, at Barnard College, Columbia University. Autesserre's work has appeared in such publications as Foreign Affairs, International Organization, African Affairs, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Critique Internationale, the Review of African Political Economy, the African Studies Review, the African Security Review, and the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs. Her previous book, The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding (Cambridge University Press, 2010), won the 2012 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order and the 2011 Chadwick Alger Prize presented by the International Studies Association to the best book on international organizations and multilateralism. Autesserre has won several prestigious fellowships for her work, notably research grants from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and the United States Institute of Peace.
Summary
This book suggests a new explanation for why international peace interventions often fail to reach their full potential. Based on several years of ethnographic research in conflict zones around the world, it demonstrates that everyday elements - such as the expatriates' social habits and usual approaches to understanding their areas of operation - strongly influence peacebuilding effectiveness.
