Kumarian Press War and Intervention: Issues for Contemporary Peace Operations

The past decade has witnessed key developments in the nature of both war and intervention. Armed movements direct their focus on civilians, through terror, administration and propaganda. Paramilitary groups are widespread, and have diverse sources of funding and arms. At the same time, peace operations have expanded in both breadth and depth. Not only has the United Nations assumed the transitional governance of territory, and the accompanying direct executive powers, but other actors, from national military contingents to the World Bank and NGOs, have also adapted to meet this cascade of tasks. ""War and Intervention"" explains how armed forces, aid agencies and transitional administrations in war-affected countries have adapted to the changing circumstances of modern war and conflict, using a broad range of cases to introduce the reader to the dynamics on the ground. Michael Bhatia's analysis becomes all the more important at a time when the debate continues about the United States' global position, the United Nations' role, and current and proposed interventions, in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. The book is written to allow readers from a range of different disciplines - military, academic, humanitarian, political and diplomatic - to understand the priorities and methods of different actors in today's peace operations.