The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of

The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding (Cambridge Studies in International Relations Book 115)

- Winner of the 2012 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order
- Winner of the 2011 Chadwick F. Alger Prize, International Studies Association

The Trouble with the Congo suggests a new explanation for international peacebuilding failures in civil wars. Drawing from more than 330 interviews and a year and a half of field research, it develops a case study of the international intervention during the Democratic Republic of the Congo's unsuccessful transition from war to peace and democracy (2003-2006). Grassroots rivalries over land, resources, and political power motivated widespread violence. However, a dominant peacebuilding culture shaped the intervention strategy in a way that precluded action on local conflicts, ultimately dooming the international efforts to end the deadliest conflict since World War II. Most international actors interpreted continued fighting as the consequence of national and regional tensions alone. UN staff and diplomats viewed intervention at the macro levels as their only legitimate responsibility. The dominant culture constructed local peacebuilding as such an unimportant, unfamiliar, and unmanageable task that neither shocking events nor resistance from select individuals could convince international actors to reevaluate their understanding of violence and intervention.
Country USA
Manufacturer Cambridge University Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2010-06-14
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Cambridge University Press
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2010-06-14
Format	Kindle eBook

The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding (Cambridge Studies in International Relations Book 115)

You might also like...