Justifying Interventions in Africa - by N Wilén (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This new paperback edition of Justifying Interventions in Africa includes a new preface written by Professor Annika Björkdahl from Lund University. Analysing the UN interventions in Liberia, Burundi and the Congo, Wilén poses the question of how one can stabilize a state through external intervention without destabilizing sovereignty. She critically examines the justifications for international and regional interventions through a social constructivist framework.

From the Back Cover

Wilén answers the paradoxical question of how to stabilize a state through external intervention without destabilizing sovereignty. She examines the justifications for international and regional interventions in the cases of Liberia, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Discourse analysis of official documents and over fifty interviews of external actors in the field provide a practical perspective. Furthermore, the social constructivist framework provides the theoretical background. Rather than reinforcing sovereignty, non-aggressive interventions neutralize target states in the sense that they become dependent on external capacity to maintain their stability. The conclusion is that interventions remain both controversial and paradoxical and the stated aim of reinforcing the state's sovereignty is questionable at best.

Review Quotes

About the Author

Nina Wilén is a Post-Doctoral FNRS Research Fellow at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels. She has published extensively on interventions and peacebuilding operations and in particular focused on reconstructing armies after conflict in Africa. Dr. Wilén teaches at ULB and Sciences Po Paris parallel to her research and fieldwork in Africa.