Twisting Arms and Flexing Muscles Humanitarian Intervention and Peacebuilding in Perspective

Military force is considered essentially a non-military pursuit in international relations, specifically, humanitarian intervention and peacebuilding. This coherent and interrelated study makes an important contribution to the existing literature by concentrating on empirical analyses. It is illustrated by key case studies which consider the complexities and dynamics associated with the application of military force. Of particular importance in this context is the emphasis on areas of recent crisis, such as Africa and the Balkans. The book considers whether our understanding of military force and its utility is outdated and finds that new considerations are required in order to capture the demands of the new environment and generate more appropriate and effective responses. The volume will have wide appeal, ranging from students and academic researchers to high-level policy makers and policy analysts in the military, governance and democratization and peacebuilding communities, as well as area-specialists and non-governmental organizations.

Contents: List of Contributors; List of Abbreviations; Introduction, Natalie Mychajlyszyn; International politics, local conflicts and intervention, S. Neil MacFarlane; Human insecurity and problematic peacekeeping in Africa: beyond 'Blood Diamonds' and HIV/AIDS, Timothy M. Shaw; Short-term gain, long-term pain: an assessment of United Nations chapter VII activities in Central Africa, Robert Astroff and David Meren; Twisting one arm: the effects of biased intervenors, David Carment and Dane Rowlands; Twisting arms or shaking hands? how to put peacekeepers out of business, David Last; Strange bedfellows in humanitarian crises: NGOs and the military, Donna Winslow; Conclusion: dilemmas of peacekeeping at the start of the twenty-first century, Timothy M. Shaw and Natalie Mychajlyszyn; Bibliography; Index.