Introduction: Decentring the study of international interventions

Date01 June 2018
AuthorUrsula C Schroeder
DOI10.1177/0010836718768642
Published date01 June 2018
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836718768642
Cooperation and Conflict
2018, Vol. 53(2) 139 –153
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0010836718768642
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Introduction: Decentring
the study of international
interventions
Ursula C Schroeder
Abstract
International interventions are an omnipresent and increasingly diverse instrument in world
politics. This special issue of Cooperation and Conflict follows broader calls to ‘decentre’ the study
of International Relations and seeks to contribute to a research agenda that goes beyond the
prevailing focus on Northern actors and interests in interventions research. The special issue
advances two interrelated research strategies to decentre the study of international interventions.
First, it promotes research that gives voice to the diversity of experiences and perspectives
outside the Northern centre. Second, it embraces an emerging set of methodological advances
that draw on sociological and ethnographic research traditions in order to advance the in-depth
study of interventions. With contributing authors from the fields of peace and conflict studies,
regional and area studies, as well as International Relations, the special issue sets out to build
bridges across disciplinary boundaries by bringing together a set of experts who normally speak to
separate audiences within their respective research fields. Taking research beyond the ‘classical’
cases of intervention, the articles provide in-depth case narratives of intervention practices in the
Solomon Islands, Colombia, Somalia, Puntland, Côte d’Ivoire, Lebanon and Jordan.
Keywords
Ethnographic approaches, international interventions, liberal peace, sociological approaches
Introduction
International interventions are an omnipresent and increasingly diverse instrument in
world politics. Often highly contested with regard to their legitimacy and effectiveness,
the manner and the targets of interventions vary widely and can range from interventions
to overthrow or stabilize political regimes to attempts to build peace and create function-
ing political institutions after war. In the field of International Relations (IR), however,
Corresponding author:
Ursula C Schroeder, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy, University of Hamburg, Beim Schlump
83, 20144 Hamburg, Germany.
Email: schroeder@ifsh.de
768642CAC0010.1177/0010836718768642Cooperation and ConflictSchroeder
research-article2018
Article

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