Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T21:21:09.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hobbes and the Congo: Frames, Local Violence, and International Intervention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2009

Séverine Autesserre
Séverine Autesserre
Affiliation:
Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Why do international peacebuilders fail to address the local causes of peace process failures? The existing explanations of peacebuilding failures, which focus on constraints and vested interests, do not explain the international neglect of local conflict. In this article, I show how discursive frames shape international intervention and preclude international action on local violence. Drawing on more than 330 interviews, multi-sited ethnography, and document analysis, I develop a case study of the Democratic Republic of Congo's transition from war to peace and democracy (2003–2006). I demonstrate that local agendas played a decisive role in sustaining local, national, and regional violence. However, a postconflict peacebuilding frame shaped the international understanding of violence and intervention in such a way that local conflict resolution appeared irrelevant and illegitimate. This frame included four key elements: international actors labeled the Congo a “postconflict” situation; they believed that violence there was innate and therefore acceptable even in peacetime; they conceptualized international intervention as exclusively concerned with the national and international realms; and they saw holding elections, as opposed to local conflict resolution, as a workable, appropriate, and effective tool for state- and peacebuilding. This frame authorized and justified specific practices and policies while precluding others, notably local conflict resolution, ultimately dooming the peacebuilding efforts. In conclusion, I contend that analyzing discursive frames is a fruitful approach to the puzzle of international peacebuilding failures beyond the Congo.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 249 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adam, Hussein. 2005. Peace Making and Peace Building in Somalia: A Tale of Two Political Cultures. Paper presented at the 49th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association ConferenceNovemberWashington, D.C.Google Scholar
Alao, Abiodun, Mackinlay, John, and Olonisakin, Funmi. 1999. Peacekeepers, Politicians and Warlords: The Liberian Peace Process. New York: United Nations University Press.Google Scholar
Autesserre, Séverine. 2006a. Local Violence, International Indifference? Post-Conflict ‘Settlement’ in the Eastern D.R. Congo (2003–2005). Ph.D. diss., New York University, New York.Google Scholar
Autesserre, Séverine. 2006b. Local Violence, National Peace? Post-War ‘Settlement’ in the Eastern D.R. Congo (2003–2006). African Studies Review 49 (3):1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Autesserre, Séverine. 2007. D. R. Congo: Explaining Peace Building Failures, 2003–2006. Review of African Political Economy 34 (113):423–41.Google Scholar
Autesserre, Séverine. 2008. The Trouble with Congo—How Local Disputes Fuel Regional Violence. Foreign Affairs 87 (3):94–110.Google Scholar
Badie, Bertrand. 1995. La Fin des Territoires: Essai sur le Désordre International et Sur L'utilité Sociale Du Respect. Paris: Fayard.Google Scholar
Barnett, Michael. 2002. Eyewitness to a Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Barnett, Michael, and Finnemore, Martha. 2004. Rules for the World: International Organizations in Global Politics. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Benford, Robert D., and Snow, David A.. 2000. Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment. Annual Review of Sociology 26:611–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, Peter L., and Luckmann, Thomas. 1967. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Bigo, Didier. 1996. Guerres, Conflits, Transnational et Territoire. In L'international Sans Territoire, edited by Badie, Bertrand, Smouts, Marie-Claude, and Andreff, Wladimir, 397–418. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Braeckman, Colette. 2003. Les Nouveaux Prédateurs: Politique des Puissances en Afrique Centrale. Paris: Fayard.Google Scholar
Collier, Paul, and Hoeffler, Anke. 2001. Greed and Grievance in Civil War. Oxford Economic Paper 56. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar
Conrad, Joseph. 1902. Youth: A Narrative and Two Other Stories [Heart of Darkness]. Edinburgh/London: Blackwood.Google Scholar
Cowan, Paul. 2005. The Peacekeepers. Canada: National Film Board of Canada.Google Scholar
de Waal, Alex. 2005. Who Are the Darfurians? Arab and African Identities, Violence and External Engagement. African Affairs 104 (415):181–205.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, Paul J., and Powell, Walter W.. 1983. The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. American Sociological Review 48 (2):147–60.Google Scholar
Doyle, Michael, and Sambanis, Nicholas. 2006. Making War and Building Peace: United Nations Peace Operations. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, Kevin C. 2003. Imagining the Congo: The International Relations of Identity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Eden, Lynn. 2004. Whole World on Fire: Organizations, Knowledge, and Nuclear Weapons Devastation. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Englund, Harri. 2006. Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Fearon, James D., and Laitin, David D.. 2003. Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War. American Political Science Review 97 (1):75–90.Google Scholar
Ferguson, James. 1990. The Anti-Politics Machine: ‘Development,’ Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Finnemore, Martha. 1996. Norms, Culture, and World Politics: Insights from Sociology's Institutionalism. International Organization 50 (2):325–47.Google Scholar
Fortna, Virginia Page. 2004. Where Have All the Victories Gone? War Outcomes in Historical Perspective. Paper presented at the 99th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science AssociationSeptemberChicago.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1975. Surveiller et Punir: Naissance de la Prison. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah. 1997. Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Herman, Judith Lewis. 1992. Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group. 2004. Maintaining Momentum in the Congo: The Ituri Problem. Africa Report No. 84. Brussels: International Crisis Group.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group. 2006a. Congo's Elections: Making or Breaking the Peace. Africa Report No. 108. Brussels: International Crisis Group.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group. 2006b. Katanga: The Forgotten Crisis of the Congo. Africa Report No. 103. Brussels: International Crisis Group.Google Scholar
International Rescue Committee. 2005. Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Results from a Nationwide Survey. New York: International Rescue Committee and Burnet Institute.Google Scholar
Jervis, Robert. 2006. Understanding Beliefs. Political Psychology 27 (5):641–63.Google Scholar
Kalyvas, Stathis N. 2006. The Logic of Violence in Civil War. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Keck, Margaret, and Sikkink, Kathryn. 1998. Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Kelman, Herbert, and Hamilton, V. Lee. 1989. Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Klotz, Audie, and Lynch, Cecelia. 2007. Strategies for Research in Constructivist International Relations. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Krämer, Mario. 2006. The Relations Between Center and Periphery: Dynamics of Violence in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Paper presented at the Order, Conflict, and Violence Speaker SeriesYale University, New Haven, Conn.Google Scholar
Licklider, Roy. 1995. Consequences of Negotiated Settlements in Civil Wars, 1945–1993. American Political Science Review 89 (3):681–87.Google Scholar
Lyons, Terrence. 2004. Post-Conflict Elections and the Process of Demilitarizing Politics: The Role of Electoral Administration. Democratization 11 (3):36–62.Google Scholar
Mamdani, Mahmood. 2001. When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mamdani, Mahmood. 2007. The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency. London Review of Books 29 (8). 8 March 2007. Available at ⟨http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n05/mamd01_.html⟩. Accessed 14 January 2009.Google Scholar
Mampilly, Zachariah. 2007. Stationary Bandits: Understanding Rebel Governance. Ph.D. diss., University of California Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Mansfield, Edward D., and Snyder, Jack. 2005. Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Mattheiem, Nathalie. 2005. Congo—un entretien exclusif avec le responsable des opérations de maintien de la paix de l'ONU Guehenno: Si on réussit, c'est toute l'Afrique qui repart. Le Soir (Internet ed.), 23 April 2005. Available at ⟨http://archives.lesoir.be/congo-un-entretien-exclusif-avec-le-responsable-des_t-20050423-Z0QHXG.html?queryand=%22Si+on+r%E9ussit%2C+c%92est+toute+l%92Af⟩. Accessed 14 January 2009.Google Scholar
Nbanda Nzambo, Honoré. 2004. Crimes Organisés en Afrique Centrale. Révélations sur les Réseaux Rwandais et Occidentaux. Paris: Duboiris.Google Scholar
Neumann, Iver. 2008. Discourse Analysis. In Qualitative Methods in International Relations: A Pluralist Guide, edited by Klotz, Audie and Prakash, Deepa, 61–77. New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Ottaway, Marina. 2002. Rebuilding State Institutions in Collapsed States. Development and Change 33 (5):1001–23.Google Scholar
Paris, Roland. 2003. Peacekeeping and the Constraints of Global Culture. European Journal of International Relations 9 (3):441–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paris, Roland. 2004. At War's End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porac, Joseph F., Thomas, Howard, and Baden-Fuller, Charles W. F.. 1989. Competitive Groups as Cognitive Communities: The Case of Scottish Knitwear Manufacturers. Journal of Management Studies 26 (4):397–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, Samantha. 2002. ‘A Problem from Hell:’ America and the Age of Genocide. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Shaw, Ibrahim Seaga. 2007. Historical Frames and the Politics of Humanitarian Intervention: From Ethiopia, Somalia to Rwanda. Globalisation, Societies and Education 5 (3):351–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, Jack L. 2000. From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Staibano, Carina. 2005. Enhancing the UN Capacity. Part Two: The Democratic Republic of Congo: Enhancing UN Peacekeeping Capacity—Some Operational Aspects. Unpublished Manuscript, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.Google Scholar
Stedman, Stephen John. 1997. Spoilers Problems in Peace Processes. International Security 22 (2):5–53.Google Scholar
Stedman, Stephen John, Rothchild, Donald, and Cousens, Elizabeth M.. 2002. Ending Civil Wars: The Implementation of Peace Agreements. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Straus, Scott. 2006. The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Touval, Saadia, and Zartman, William. 1985. International Mediation in Theory and Practice. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
United Nations (UN) Best Practice Unit. 2003. Handbook on United Nations Multidimensional Peacekeeping Operations. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). 2005. MONUC and the Bukavu Crisis. New York: United Nations, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Best Practices Unit.Google Scholar
UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). 2007. DRC Profile. ‘Why are the Problems Still Continuing Today?’ Previously available at ⟨http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=885⟩. Accessed October 2007.Google Scholar
UN Security Council. 2003. Second Special Report of the Secretary General on the United Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. S/2003/566. 27 May 2003. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
UN Security Council. 2003–2006a. Reports of the Secretary General on the United Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Reports 14 through 23. New York: United Nations. Available at ⟨http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/monuc/monucDrp.htm⟩. Accessed 14 January 2009.Google Scholar
UN Security Council. 2003–2006b. Resolutions 1711, 1671, 1653, 1649, 1635, 1621, 1616, 1596, 1592, 1565, 1555, 1552, 1533, 1522, 1501, 1499, 1493, and 1489. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of State. 2007. Background Note: Democratic Republic of the Congo. Updated October 2008. Available at ⟨http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2823.htm⟩. Accessed 14 January 2009.Google Scholar
Van Acker, Frank, and Vlassenroot, Koen. 2000. Youth and Conflict in Kivu: ‘Komona Clair.’ Journal of Humanitarian Assistance. Previously available at ⟨http://jha.ac/⟩. First accessed April 2002.Google Scholar
Vlassenroot, Koen, and Raeymaekers, Timothy. 2004. Conflict and Social Transformation in Eastern D.R. Congo. Gent, Belgium: Academia Press Scientific.Google Scholar
Vlassenroot, Koen, and Romkema, Hans. 2002. The Emergence of a New Order? Resources and War in Eastern Congo. Journal of Humanitarian Assistance. Available at ⟨http://jha.ac/articles/a111.htm⟩. Accessed 14 January 2009.Google Scholar
Walter, Barbara F. 2002. Committing to Peace: The Successful Settlement of Civil Wars. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, Catherine. 2008. Hypocrisy Trap: The World Bank and the Poverty of Reform. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weick, Karl E. 1995. Sensemaking in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Weinstein, Jeremy. 2005. Autonomous Recovery and International Intervention in Comparative Perspective. Unpublished manuscript, Center for Global Development, Washington, D.C.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willame, Jean-Claude. 1997. Banyarwanda et Banyamulenge: Violences Ethniques et Gestion de L'identitaire au Kivu. Bruxelles/Paris: Institut Africain-CEDAF/L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Wilmer, Franke. 2002. The Social Construction of Man, the State, and War: Identity, Conflict, and Violence in Former Yugoslavia. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wood, Elisabeth Jean. 2000. Forging Democracy from Below: Insurgent Transitions in South Africa and El Salvador. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Woodward, Susan L. 1995. Balkan Tragedy: Chaos and Dissolution After the Cold War. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Woodward, Susan L. 2006. Why State-Building? Toward a Conceptual Framework. Program on States and Security, City University of New York.Google Scholar
Youngs, Richard. 2004. Democratic Institution-Building and Conflict Resolution: Emerging EU Approaches. International Peacekeeping 11 (3):526–43.Google Scholar
Zartman, I. William. 1989. Ripe for Resolution: Conflict and Intervention in Africa. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar