Two major developments shaping intervention worldwide are the growing importance of African actors and the increasing use of force. The recently published special issue of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, edited by Antonia Witt, addresses these two aspects from a bottom-up perspective. The analysis focuses on the localized politics that interventions incite and how local actors in turn influence and shape interventions. With its focus on African interveners, the issue also sheds light on an area that has been insufficiently addressed in the literature to date.
The special issue emerged from the project Local Perceptions of Regional Interventions: AU and ECOWAS in Burkina Faso and The Gambia, which was funded by the German Research Foundation. In the summer of 2023, an authors' workshop was held at PRIF with scholars from South Africa, Burkina Faso, Norway, Sweden, and Germany, whose papers are now featured in the special issue. In addition to the introduction by Antonia Witt, PRIF is also represented with an article by Sophia Birchinger, Sait Matty Jaw, and Antonia Witt. These two articles, along with several others, are open access.
To the introduction: Full article: Militarization and the Hopes for African Interventions: Exploring Societal Perspectives
To the special issue: Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding: Vol 20, No 1 (Current issue)