Knowledge and Expertise in International Interventions

Knowledge and Expertise in International Interventions

Author: Berit Bliesemann de Guevara

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-02-02

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 1351241435

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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.


Book Synopsis Knowledge and Expertise in International Interventions by : Berit Bliesemann de Guevara

Download or read book Knowledge and Expertise in International Interventions written by Berit Bliesemann de Guevara and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-02 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention

Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention

Author: Bliesemann de Guevara, Berit

Publisher: Bristol University Press

Published: 2021-12-01

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1529206898

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Using detailed insights from those with first-hand experience of conducting research in areas of international intervention and conflict, this handbook provides essential practical guidance for researchers and students embarking on fieldwork in violent, repressive and closed contexts. Contributors detail their own experiences from areas including the Congo, Sudan, Yemen, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Myanmar, inviting readers into their reflections on mistakes and hard-learned lessons. Divided into sections on issues of control and confusion, security and risk, distance and closeness and sex and sensitivity, they look at how to negotiate complex grey areas and raise important questions that intervention researchers need to consider before, during and after their time on the ground.


Book Synopsis Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention by : Bliesemann de Guevara, Berit

Download or read book Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention written by Bliesemann de Guevara, Berit and published by Bristol University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-01 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using detailed insights from those with first-hand experience of conducting research in areas of international intervention and conflict, this handbook provides essential practical guidance for researchers and students embarking on fieldwork in violent, repressive and closed contexts. Contributors detail their own experiences from areas including the Congo, Sudan, Yemen, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Myanmar, inviting readers into their reflections on mistakes and hard-learned lessons. Divided into sections on issues of control and confusion, security and risk, distance and closeness and sex and sensitivity, they look at how to negotiate complex grey areas and raise important questions that intervention researchers need to consider before, during and after their time on the ground.

Handbook on Intervention and Statebuilding

Handbook on Intervention and Statebuilding

Author: Nicolas Lemay-Hébert

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2019-12-27

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1788116232

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This innovative Handbook offers a new perspective on the cutting-edge conceptual advances that have shaped – and continue to shape – the field of intervention and statebuilding.


Book Synopsis Handbook on Intervention and Statebuilding by : Nicolas Lemay-Hébert

Download or read book Handbook on Intervention and Statebuilding written by Nicolas Lemay-Hébert and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2019-12-27 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative Handbook offers a new perspective on the cutting-edge conceptual advances that have shaped – and continue to shape – the field of intervention and statebuilding.

Local Researchers and International Practitioners

Local Researchers and International Practitioners

Author: Jacob Phillipps

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-10-09

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 3030826619

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This book is driven by the question: what role is played by the local security research community in Kosovo’s internationally-led Security Sector Reform? Kosovo’s SSR has been heavily driven by international knowledge rather than the context-sensitive evidence, with negative implications for the legitimacy and sustainability of SSR. Centred on an analysis of an extensive interview survey of international SSR practitioners and local researchers in Kosovo and local research papers, this book highlights how local research has engaged with, challenged and contributed to international SSR. Despite the general experience of local marginalisation, local researchers have an important role to play. Following engagement with local research, international SSR practitioners may consider local context in greater depth and think more critically about SSR implications. This highlights the potentially key role that local researchers can play to support effective post-conflict recovery.


Book Synopsis Local Researchers and International Practitioners by : Jacob Phillipps

Download or read book Local Researchers and International Practitioners written by Jacob Phillipps and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-10-09 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is driven by the question: what role is played by the local security research community in Kosovo’s internationally-led Security Sector Reform? Kosovo’s SSR has been heavily driven by international knowledge rather than the context-sensitive evidence, with negative implications for the legitimacy and sustainability of SSR. Centred on an analysis of an extensive interview survey of international SSR practitioners and local researchers in Kosovo and local research papers, this book highlights how local research has engaged with, challenged and contributed to international SSR. Despite the general experience of local marginalisation, local researchers have an important role to play. Following engagement with local research, international SSR practitioners may consider local context in greater depth and think more critically about SSR implications. This highlights the potentially key role that local researchers can play to support effective post-conflict recovery.

The Politics of Expertise in International Organizations

The Politics of Expertise in International Organizations

Author: Annabelle Littoz-Monnet

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-02-24

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1134879717

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This edited volume advances existing research on the production and use of expert knowledge by international bureaucracies. Given the complexity, technicality and apparent apolitical character of the issues dealt with in global governance arenas, ‘evidence-based’ policy-making has imposed itself as the best way to evaluate the risks and consequences of political action in global arenas. In the absence of alternative, democratic modes of legitimation, international organizations have adopted this approach to policy-making. By treating international bureaucracies as strategic actors, this volume address novel questions: why and how do international bureaucrats deploy knowledge in policy-making? Where does the knowledge they use come from, and how can we retrace pathways between the origins of certain ideas and their adoption by international administrations? What kind of evidence do international bureaucrats resort to, and with what implications? Which types of knowledge are seen as authoritative, and why? This volume makes a crucial contribution to our understanding of the way global policy agendas are shaped and propagated. It will be of great interest to scholars, policy-makers and practitioners in the fields of public policy, international relations, global governance and international organizations.


Book Synopsis The Politics of Expertise in International Organizations by : Annabelle Littoz-Monnet

Download or read book The Politics of Expertise in International Organizations written by Annabelle Littoz-Monnet and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-02-24 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume advances existing research on the production and use of expert knowledge by international bureaucracies. Given the complexity, technicality and apparent apolitical character of the issues dealt with in global governance arenas, ‘evidence-based’ policy-making has imposed itself as the best way to evaluate the risks and consequences of political action in global arenas. In the absence of alternative, democratic modes of legitimation, international organizations have adopted this approach to policy-making. By treating international bureaucracies as strategic actors, this volume address novel questions: why and how do international bureaucrats deploy knowledge in policy-making? Where does the knowledge they use come from, and how can we retrace pathways between the origins of certain ideas and their adoption by international administrations? What kind of evidence do international bureaucrats resort to, and with what implications? Which types of knowledge are seen as authoritative, and why? This volume makes a crucial contribution to our understanding of the way global policy agendas are shaped and propagated. It will be of great interest to scholars, policy-makers and practitioners in the fields of public policy, international relations, global governance and international organizations.

Precision Strike Warfare and International Intervention

Precision Strike Warfare and International Intervention

Author: Mike Aaronson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-09-15

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 1317912942

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This book explores whether the new capabilities made possible by precision-strike technologies are reshaping approaches to international intervention. Since the end of the Cold War, US technological superiority has led to a more proactive and, some would argue, high risk approach to international military intervention. New technologies including the capacity to mount precision military strikes from high-level bombing campaigns and, more recently, the selective targeting of individuals from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have facilitated air campaigns, supported by Special Forces, without the commitment of large numbers of troops on the ground. Such campaigns include, for example, NATO’s high-level aerial bombardment of Milosevic’s forces in Kosovo in 1999 and of Gaddafi’s in Libya in 2011, and the US operation involving Special Forces against Osama Bin Laden. The development of UAVs and electronic data intercept technologies has further expanded the potential scope of interventions, for example against Islamic militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan. This volume examines three key and interrelated dimensions of these new precision-strike capabilities: (1) the strategic and foreign policy drivers and consequences; (2) the legal and moral implications of the new capabilities; and (3), the implications for decision-making at the strategic, operational and tactical levels. This book will be of much interest to students of war and technology, air power, international intervention, security studies and IR.


Book Synopsis Precision Strike Warfare and International Intervention by : Mike Aaronson

Download or read book Precision Strike Warfare and International Intervention written by Mike Aaronson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores whether the new capabilities made possible by precision-strike technologies are reshaping approaches to international intervention. Since the end of the Cold War, US technological superiority has led to a more proactive and, some would argue, high risk approach to international military intervention. New technologies including the capacity to mount precision military strikes from high-level bombing campaigns and, more recently, the selective targeting of individuals from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have facilitated air campaigns, supported by Special Forces, without the commitment of large numbers of troops on the ground. Such campaigns include, for example, NATO’s high-level aerial bombardment of Milosevic’s forces in Kosovo in 1999 and of Gaddafi’s in Libya in 2011, and the US operation involving Special Forces against Osama Bin Laden. The development of UAVs and electronic data intercept technologies has further expanded the potential scope of interventions, for example against Islamic militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan. This volume examines three key and interrelated dimensions of these new precision-strike capabilities: (1) the strategic and foreign policy drivers and consequences; (2) the legal and moral implications of the new capabilities; and (3), the implications for decision-making at the strategic, operational and tactical levels. This book will be of much interest to students of war and technology, air power, international intervention, security studies and IR.

International Intervention and the Problem of Legitimacy

International Intervention and the Problem of Legitimacy

Author: Andrew Gilbert

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2020-08-15

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 1501750275

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In International Intervention and the Problem of Legitimacy Andrew C. Gilbert argues for an ethnographic analysis of international intervention as a series of encounters, focusing on the relations of difference and inequality, and the question of legitimacy that permeate such encounters. He discusses the transformations that happen in everyday engagements between intervention agents and their target populations, and also identifies key instabilities that emerge out of such engagements. Gilbert highlights the struggles, entanglements and inter-dependencies between and among foreign agents, and the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina that channel and shape intervention and how it unfolds. Drawing upon nearly two years of fieldwork studying in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gilbert's probing analysis identifies previously overlooked sites, processes, and effects of international intervention, and suggests new comparative opportunities for the study of transnational action that seeks to save and secure human lives and improve the human condition. Above all, International Intervention and the Problem of Legitimacy foregrounds and analyzes the open-ended, innovative, and unpredictable nature of international intervention that is usually omitted from the ordered representations of the technocratic vision and the confident assertions of many critiques.


Book Synopsis International Intervention and the Problem of Legitimacy by : Andrew Gilbert

Download or read book International Intervention and the Problem of Legitimacy written by Andrew Gilbert and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-15 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In International Intervention and the Problem of Legitimacy Andrew C. Gilbert argues for an ethnographic analysis of international intervention as a series of encounters, focusing on the relations of difference and inequality, and the question of legitimacy that permeate such encounters. He discusses the transformations that happen in everyday engagements between intervention agents and their target populations, and also identifies key instabilities that emerge out of such engagements. Gilbert highlights the struggles, entanglements and inter-dependencies between and among foreign agents, and the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina that channel and shape intervention and how it unfolds. Drawing upon nearly two years of fieldwork studying in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gilbert's probing analysis identifies previously overlooked sites, processes, and effects of international intervention, and suggests new comparative opportunities for the study of transnational action that seeks to save and secure human lives and improve the human condition. Above all, International Intervention and the Problem of Legitimacy foregrounds and analyzes the open-ended, innovative, and unpredictable nature of international intervention that is usually omitted from the ordered representations of the technocratic vision and the confident assertions of many critiques.

Peaceland

Peaceland

Author: Séverine Autesserre

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-05-19

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 1139952692

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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. Individuals from all over the world and all walks of life share numerous practices, habits, and narratives when they serve as interveners in conflict zones. These common attitudes and actions enable foreign peacebuilders to function in the field, but they also result in unintended consequences that thwart international efforts. Certain expatriates follow alternative modes of thinking and acting, often with notable results, but they remain in the minority. Through an in-depth analysis of the interveners' everyday life and work, this book proposes innovative ways to better help host populations build a sustainable peace.


Book Synopsis Peaceland by : Séverine Autesserre

Download or read book Peaceland written by Séverine Autesserre and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-05-19 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. Individuals from all over the world and all walks of life share numerous practices, habits, and narratives when they serve as interveners in conflict zones. These common attitudes and actions enable foreign peacebuilders to function in the field, but they also result in unintended consequences that thwart international efforts. Certain expatriates follow alternative modes of thinking and acting, often with notable results, but they remain in the minority. Through an in-depth analysis of the interveners' everyday life and work, this book proposes innovative ways to better help host populations build a sustainable peace.

International Intervention Instruments against Corruption in Central America

International Intervention Instruments against Corruption in Central America

Author: Laura Zamudio-González

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-04-01

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 3030408787

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This book analyzes the innovative international intervention instruments against corruption in Central America called Hybrid Anticorruption Agencies or HACAS. The author aims to disclose and explain the decision of the United Nations and the Organization of American States to promote, separately but with a similar rationale, a new strategic approach to fighting corruption through the creation of two HACAS. Specifically, the book examines the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH). The CICIG and the MACCIH represent unique cases of anti-corruption hybrid commissions because they combine resources, participants and/or national and international institutions which, in a coherent and integrated manner, strengthen the investigation, prosecution, and punishment of corrupt and criminal acts. The book also studies the HACAS as international instruments not free from risks and limitations.


Book Synopsis International Intervention Instruments against Corruption in Central America by : Laura Zamudio-González

Download or read book International Intervention Instruments against Corruption in Central America written by Laura Zamudio-González and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-04-01 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes the innovative international intervention instruments against corruption in Central America called Hybrid Anticorruption Agencies or HACAS. The author aims to disclose and explain the decision of the United Nations and the Organization of American States to promote, separately but with a similar rationale, a new strategic approach to fighting corruption through the creation of two HACAS. Specifically, the book examines the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH). The CICIG and the MACCIH represent unique cases of anti-corruption hybrid commissions because they combine resources, participants and/or national and international institutions which, in a coherent and integrated manner, strengthen the investigation, prosecution, and punishment of corrupt and criminal acts. The book also studies the HACAS as international instruments not free from risks and limitations.

Assembling Exclusive Expertise

Assembling Exclusive Expertise

Author: Anna Leander

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-07-06

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1351136720

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This book looks at the worlding of the Global South in the process of assembling conflict resolution expertise. Anna Leander, Ole Wæver and their contributors pursue this ambition by following the experts, institutions, databases and creative expressions that are assembled into conflict resolution expertise in the Global South. Expertise shapes how conflicts in the Global South are understood and consequently dealt with. Yet, expertise is always and necessarily exclusive. The exclusivity of expertise refers both to the fashionable, the sophisticated and what counts, and also to the exclusion of some people or views. Assembled from a wealth of competing knowledges expertise is always both knowledgeable and ignorant. The ambition of the volume is to explore how this exclusive expertise is assembled and in what ways it is therefore knowledgeable and ignorant of knowledges in/of the Global South. This work will be of significant interest to advanced students and scholars of conflict resolution, peace research, mediation and international relations and scholars of expertise.


Book Synopsis Assembling Exclusive Expertise by : Anna Leander

Download or read book Assembling Exclusive Expertise written by Anna Leander and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-07-06 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book looks at the worlding of the Global South in the process of assembling conflict resolution expertise. Anna Leander, Ole Wæver and their contributors pursue this ambition by following the experts, institutions, databases and creative expressions that are assembled into conflict resolution expertise in the Global South. Expertise shapes how conflicts in the Global South are understood and consequently dealt with. Yet, expertise is always and necessarily exclusive. The exclusivity of expertise refers both to the fashionable, the sophisticated and what counts, and also to the exclusion of some people or views. Assembled from a wealth of competing knowledges expertise is always both knowledgeable and ignorant. The ambition of the volume is to explore how this exclusive expertise is assembled and in what ways it is therefore knowledgeable and ignorant of knowledges in/of the Global South. This work will be of significant interest to advanced students and scholars of conflict resolution, peace research, mediation and international relations and scholars of expertise.