Books
Reassuring the Reluctant Warriors: U.S. Civil-Military Relations and Multilateral Intervention
Cornell University Press, 2015
Why did American leaders work hard to secure approval from the United Nations or regional multilateral bodies for armed interventions in the Balkans (1995, 1999), Haiti (1994, 2004), and Libya (2011), while making only limited efforts to gain such approval for the 2003 Iraq War? Drawing on declassified documents and more than 100 interviews that I conducted with senior policymakers, I demonstrate that the first instinct of pro-intervention civilian officials in Washington is often to bypass multilateral bodies such as the UN and NATO to maximize U.S. freedom of action. But the calculus of these civilian officials is likely to change when senior generals and admirals, as “reluctant warriors,” push back against plans to intervene unilaterally by clearly expressing their concerns about the risks and operational costs. In such circumstances, pro-intervention civilian officials can be expected to become more favorable to multilateralism; indeed, they may seek support from the UN and NATO, to reassure the military and their bureaucratic allies about the likelihood of international burden and risk sharing and to ensure that the intervention will go ahead. By contrast, when top military officers fail to vigorously express their concerns, as happened in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq War, the most pro-intervention civilian officials are empowered. The United States is then more likely to bypass multilateral bodies, and it may end up shouldering a heavy stabilization burden largely by itself.
French Interventions in Africa: Reluctant Multilateralism
(co-edited, with Thierry Tardy)
London and New York: Routledge, 2021
This book explores France’s African intervention policy and related legitimation strategies through the United Nations, the European Union, and various ad hoc multilateral frameworks. France’s enduring ability to project military power on the African continent and influence political events there has been central to its self-perception as a major power. However, since the end of the cold war, France’s paternalistic interference has been increasingly questioned, not least by African audiences. This has produced a gradual and somewhat reluctant turn to multilateralism on the part of French leaders. Drawing on in-depth case studies of recent French intervention policy, this edited volume critically assesses France’s efforts to reassure critics by securing multilateral endorsements; share burdens and liabilities through collective implementation; and re-affirm its status as a major power by spearheading complex missions.
Just and Unjust Military Intervention: European Thinkers from Vitoria to Mill
(co-edited, with Jennifer Welsh)
Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Classical arguments about the legitimate use of force have profoundly shaped the norms and institutions of contemporary international society. But what specific lessons can we learn from the classical European philosophers and jurists when thinking about humanitarian intervention, preventive self-defense or international trusteeship today? The contributors to this volume take seriously the admonition of contextualist scholars not to uproot classical thinkers’ arguments from their social, political and intellectual environment. Nevertheless, this collection demonstrates that contemporary students, scholars and policymakers can still learn a great deal from the questions raised by classical European thinkers, the problems they highlighted, and even the problematic character of some of the solutions they offered. The aim of this volume is to open up current assumptions about military intervention, and to explore the possibility of reconceptualizing and reappraising contemporary approaches.
A Cosmopolitanism of Nations: Giuseppe Mazzini’s Writings on Democracy, Nation Building, and International Relations
(co-edited, with Nadia Urbinati)
Princeton University Press, 2009.
This volume gathers Giuseppe Mazzini’s most important essays on democracy, nation building, and international relations, including some that have never before been translated into English. These neglected writings remind us why Mazzini was one of the most influential political thinkers of the nineteenth century—and why there is still great benefit to be derived from a careful analysis of what he had to say. Mazzini (1805-1872) is best known today as the inspirational leader of the Italian Risorgimento. But, as this book demonstrates, he also made a vital contribution to the development of modern democratic and liberal internationalist thought.
The writings collected here show how Mazzini developed a sophisticated theory of democratic nation building—one that illustrates why democracy cannot be successfully imposed through military intervention from the outside. He also speculated, much more explicitly than Immanuel Kant, about how popular participation and self-rule within independent nation-states might result in lasting peace among democracies. In short, Mazzini believed that universal aspirations toward human freedom, equality, and international peace could best be realized through independent nation-states with homegrown democratic institutions. He thus envisioned what one might today call a genuine cosmopolitanism of nations.