Justifying Interventions in Africa

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.

• The Study of Sovereignty, Intervention and Peace Operations in International Relations Analysing a Moving Target: Sovereignty, a Complex Concept Intervention, Justifications and Interpretations: The Case of ECOWAS in Liberia Sanctions, Justifications and Reactions: The Case of the Regional Initiative in Burundi Intervention, Justifications and Interpretations: The Case of SADC in Congo Capacity-Building and Local Ownership: Indicators of Sovereignty? (De)Stabilization - So What?: An Analysis of the Political Consequences of the Interventions on a Regional and International Level Concluding Remarks

'This study interrogates how statebuilding and liberal peacebuilding have had many inintended consequences, not least on the legitimacy of international claims about their "responsibility to protect" and in parallel on local expectations of sovereignty and local ownership. In Africa both of these sets of claims have been somewhat exposed over the last decades, as this valuable and detailed study ably documents in especially rich and insightful empirical detail.' - Oliver Richmond, Professor at the School of International Relations, University of St Andrews 'This important book explores the contradictory logic behind peacebuilding interventions. It intrigues the reader by critically examining the paradoxical problem of stabilizing sovereignty through intervention. Based on original fieldwork, this thoroughly researched book provides penetrating empirical insights as well as a stringent theoretical contribution to the debate about challenges and chanegs of key concepts, such as sovereignty and peacebuilding interventions and their normative underpinnings.' - Annika Bjoerkdahl, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Lund University