International Intervention Quotes

“...international peacebuilders usually arrive in new theaters of deployment with a clear sense of belonging to a specific group – a group markedly different from local populations.”
― Severine Autesserre, Peaceland: Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention

“These are all good things, I said. But no one knows where your country is or who you are. You don't have a familiar ethnic cuisine; your diaspora , from what I understand, is mostly in Southern California, three time zones removed from the national media in New York; and you don't have a recognizable, long-simmering conflict like the one between the Israelis and the Palestinians, where people in the richer nations can take sides and argue over at the dinner table. The best you can do is get the United Nations involved, as in East Timor. Maybe they'll send troops."
"We don't want the United Nations" Mr. Nanabragov said. "We don't want Sri Lankan troops patrolling our streets. We're better tan that. We want America.”
― Gary Shteyngart, Absurdistan

“Model interveners often challenge the enduring stereotypes about local people. They point to authorities who have the expertise, competence, motivation, and work ethic essential to peacebuilding, and to ordinary citizens who are intelligent, selfless, and trustworthy. They emphasize that host populations have far more relevant knowledge, contacts, and means to resolve their own predicaments than interveners usually believe.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World

“Not all good things come together, and we can't have it all tomorrow. Remarkable interveners understand that building peace sometimes requires baby steps, and they look to local people as a guide for which foot to start on.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World