Intervention and State-Building in the Pacific: The Legitimacy of Co-Operative Intervention (New Approaches to Conflict Analysis)

Intervention and State-Building in the Pacific explores state-building intervention in weak, war-torn, or failing states through a critical examination of a new model that has recently emerged in relation to the Pacific "arc of crisis." Initiated by the Australian Government in 2003, this "cooperative intervention" doctrine--built on declared principles of partnership and respect for sovereignty--seems to offer a legitimate way to engage in state-building intervention. Drawing on a group of distinguished Pacific specialists, this book mounts a critique of these claims, showing how international legitimacy does not automatically translate into political legitimacy among those in the affected societies and how the attempt to legitimize the intervention internationally may actually work against such legitimacy in the recipient state.