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.
This book suggests a new explanation for why international peace interventions often fail to reach their full potential.
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.
'In this book, Séverine Autesserre makes another superb
contribution to the study of peacebuilding, this time by exposing
and analyzing the subculture of expatriates who participate in
peacebuilding efforts on behalf of a diverse array of international
and nongovernmental organizations. Many of the persistent
dysfunctions of peacebuilding missions, she suggests, can be traced
back to the routine practices, habits, and narratives within this
subculture. It is a fascinating argument, of importance to both
students and practitioners of peacebuilding.' Roland Paris,
University Research Chair in International Security and Governance,
University of Ottawa
'Scholars and practitioners have needed an ethnography of
peacebuilding for quite some time - and Autesserre is one of the
very few equipped to provide it. Having spent years in different
conflict zones, as both an aid worker and a scholar, she knows the
terrain like few others. She expertly re-creates how peacebuilders
live and practice their craft; how these practices contribute to
failures on the ground; and why peacebuilders, who should and do
know better, seem to be incapable of changing their ways. In
showing how the culture of this transnational community constructs
and acts on the local scale, she does for peacebuilding what James
Ferguson's The Anti-Politics Machine did for development studies.
Peaceland is a pathbreaking contribution to our understanding of
the contemporary practice of peacebuilding - and global politics.'
Michael Barnett, University Professor of International Relations
and Political Science, Elliott School of International Affairs,
George Washington University
'Thanks to its empirically thorough, interpretively sophisticated,
and analytically rich understanding of practices of intervention,
this book raises the bar of academic research for the whole
discipline of International Relations. Based on extensive
ethnographic fieldwork in the hardest of theaters, Séverine
Autesserre makes the definitive proof that paying attention to the
ways in which the everyday world of international intervention goes
around throws a distinctive and most useful light on a central
phenomenon of our time. This book is the best thing that could
possibly happen to foster the study of international practices.'
Vincent Pouliot, Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar,
Department of Political Science, McGill University, and Director,
Centre for International Peace and Security Studies
'In this groundbreaking inquest, Autesserre builds on her previous
work on the Congo to show the vital significance of 'doing'
peacebuilding from the ground up, with sustained attention to the
local dynamics of conflict. The number of case studies
investigated, the originality of her methodology, the breadth of
supporting evidence, and the range of arresting insights are among
the principal merits of this outstanding contribution. One can only
hope that it will be widely read by peacebuilders everywhere, but
also by scholars, journalists, and policy wonks in search of a new
angle of vision for making 'Peaceland' a reality.' René Lemarchand,
Emeritus Professor, University of Florida
'Essential reading for practitioners, policy makers, and donors
involved in international interventions in conflict areas. Drawing
on her worldwide field experience, Professor Autesserre's
comprehensive research offers new perspectives on how and why
interveners should develop a thorough understanding of the local
history, culture, and customs of populations in conflict zones.
Much can be learned from her critical insights as we endeavor to
assist those populations in danger.' Catherine Dumait-Harper,
Former MSF Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders
Representative to the United Nations
'In recent years peacebuilding has become something of a vogue in
international circles. So Séverine Autesserre's book is a timely
and well-reasoned reminder for all would-be peacebuilders and the
organizations that stand behind them that they need to be prudent
and patient in both their prescriptions for peace and the way they
go about trying to achieve them. Good intentions are not enough.'
Alan Doss, Senior Political Advisor, Kofi Annan Foundation
'Autesserre speaks with authority in a book which is both a harsh
critique and a tribute to the individuals and organizations that
dare to think differently.' Times Higher Education
'Peaceland should be a wake-up call to anyone who lives in this
world … Autesserre's courage for wandering outside her discipline's
comfort-zone (though ethnographic approaches seems to be on the
rise) is noteworthy, and perhaps it is time for more
anthropologists to do the same to develop a more comprehensive
understanding of intervener's relations with local populations, and
the role of everyday habits and rituals therein.' Stephanie Hobbis,
Anthropoliteia
'The book is a must-read for intervention practitioners, policy
advocates, scholars and researchers in the field, as well as
educators in the classroom.' Sabine Hirschauer, International
Feminist Journal of Politics
'Peaceland is an important book. It builds on rich fieldwork and a
bulk of literature on international interventions in developing
countries to advance a novel and sophisticated argument about the
potential and the limitations of events to promote peace or prevent
the recurrence of violence.' Desafios
'Peaceland, by Séverine Autesserre, offers a fresh and insightful
contribution to the small but growing body of literature that
advocates for increased focus on the roles and influence of the
'everyday' in international peace-building interventions.' Janel
Smith, International Journal on World Peace
'Severine Autesserre's superb ethnographic study of international
peace interventions adopts this complementarity approach to
practices. Autesserre underscores the importance of the 'nuts and
bolts of peacebuilding: the banal, everyday activities that
actually make up the bulk of the work'. She demonstrates
convincingly that everyday practices and mundane elements produce
and reproduce the strategies and policies of peacebuilding, thereby
explaining 'the existence and continued use of ways of working that
interveners view as inefficient, ineffective, or even
counterproductive'.' The Journal of Global Security Studies
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