International Intervention and the Problem of Legitimacy

Andrew Gilbert

Description

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.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Bosnia y Herzegovina
• Diplomacy
• Military history
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Diplomatie (homonymie)
• Bosnie-Herzégovine

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 août 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501750281
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION AND THE PROBLEM OF LEGITIMACY

INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION AND THE PROBLEM OF LEGITIMACY Encounters in Postwar Bosnia Herzegovina

ANDREW C. GîbERT

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2020 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress .cornell.edu.

First published 2020 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Names: Gilbert, Andrew, author. Title: International intervention and the problem of legitimacy :  encounters in postwar BosniaHerzegovina / Andrew C. Gilbert. Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, 2020. |  Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019046922 (print) | LCCN 2019046923 (ebook) |  ISBN 9781501750267 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501750274 (epub) |  ISBN 9781501750281 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Intervention (International law)—Political aspects. |  Legitimacy of governments—Bosnia and Herzegovina. | Postwar  reconstruction—Bosnia and Herzegovina. | Ethnicity—Political aspects—  Bosnia and Herzegovina. | Bosnia and Herzegovina—Politics and  government—1992– Classification: LCC DR1752 .G55 2020 (print) | LCC DR1752 (ebook) |  DDC 949.74203—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046922 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046923

Cover photograph: United Nations soldiers of the British battalion on patrol in Vitez, May 1, 1994. Stari Vitez, Bosnia and Herzegovina. UN Photo/John Isaac.

Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments

Introduction: Intervention Encounters in a New World Order Interlude: International Authority and Bosnia after Dayton 1. Limits of Foreign Authority: Publicity and the The Political Logic of Ambivalence 2.  The Uses of History: Recontextualization and International Intervention Interlude: Field Sites, Field Methods, Field Contexts 3. Doing Things with Ethnicity 4. Humanitarianism to Humanitarianization: From Managing the Instabilities of International Aid 5. and the Making of International Authority Entextualization Conclusion

Notes References Index

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64

109

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138

163

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221 231 245

Illustratîons

Figure 0.1. Cover of Zihad Ključanin and Hazim Akmadžić,Zločin je zaboraviti zločin! Sanski Most u ratu, 1992–1995. Svjedočenja/Documenti. (It Is Criminal to Forget Evil! Sanski Most in the war, 1992–1995. Witness statements/ documents). 5 Figure 0.2. Photograph of an interaction between returning refugees and the US ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Clifford Bond in the Stari Grad neighborhood in the town of Prijedor, a site of significant refugee return. 7 Figure 1.1. Photograph of article: Senad Pećanin, Ivan Lovrenović, Nerzuk Ćurak, and Mile Stojić, “Deset teza za Bosnu i Hercegovinu” (Ten theses for Bosnia and Herzegovina),Dani. 139 (January 28, 2000), 16–17. Article addressed to High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch. 35 Figure 1.2. First page of article by High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch, “Ovo nije naša zemlja” (This is not our country),Dani. 144 (March 3, 2000), 23. 36 Figure 4.1. Photograph of a refugee return site in the town of Prijedor prior to the reconstruction of houses. 158 Figure 4.2. Photograph of a refugee return site in the town of Prijedor after housing reconstruction had begun. 158

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Acknowledgments

This book has been a long time in the making, and my list of debts both scholarly and personal is long and stretches back well over a decade. It must begin in Bos nia and Herzegovina, which is rightly famous for the generosity and warmth of its people, and this must be infectious, because I experienced it equally among Bosnians and foreigners alike. In Sarajevo, for their generous hospitality and will ingness to share their time and particularly their space with me, I thank Tobi and Milena, Massimo, Peter, Bodo and Azra, Rhodri, and Erika. Intellectual solidarity is not always easy to come by in Bosnia, making the friendship and collegiality of Nerzuk, Dino, and Asim all the more important. MiodragŽivanovićdeserves special recognition for the oasis of sanity and good humor he provided for me in his office at the Filozofski fakultet at the University of Banja Luka. My research would not have even gotten off the ground if the staff of a wide variety of international organizations had not taken time out of their days to an swer my questions. The staff of the Reconstruction and Return Task Force at various offices of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in northwestern Bosnia were quite helpful, in particular Lawrence, Michelle, and John. The same goes for the staff at the UNHCR field office in Prijedor. Conversations and field trips with the staff of the numerous nongovernmental organizations active in northwestern Bosnia were invaluable in revealing the scale and depth of the refu gee return process, and their good will and openness to my constant queries were much appreciated. These include those working for World Vision, Catholic Re lief Services, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Technisches Hilfswerk, Dor cas Aid, International Orthodox Christian Charities, Swiss Caritas, and Lutheran World Federation. The staff at the Prijedor and Sanski Most field offices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) deserve special recognition for allowing me to be present at numerous meetings, for their open ness and their friendship. The many insights gained in this book would have been impossible without them. For my understanding of the basic dilemmas and politics of refugee return in Prijedor, I must thank the patient staff of theFondacija za obnovu i povratak “Pri jedor 98”: Gorana, Sead, Anel, Emira, Mirjana,Čela, Sanela, and Mirsad. Among other returnees to Prijedor, my conversations with Muharem, Nusreta, and

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