On Monday 16 November 2009, Mats Berdal, Professor of Security and Development, King’s College London; Consulting Senior Fellow, IISS launched his new Adelphi Book “Building Peace After War”.
In Building Peace After War, Mats Berdal examines the record of interventions from Cambodia in the early 1990s to contemporary efforts in Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The book analyses the nature of the modern peacebuilding environment, in particular the historical and psychological conditions that shape it, and addresses the key tasks faced by outside forces in the early and critical ‘post-conflict’ phase of an intervention. In doing so, it asks searching questions about the role of military force in support of peacebuilding, and the vital importance of legitimacy to any intervention.
‘I cannot think of anyone better suited to shine a light on the experience of peacebuilding efforts since the 1990s.’
Alvaro de Soto, former Under-Secretary General, United Nations
‘Here is a ringing counterblast to the naive social-engineering approach that is to be found in so much of the contemporary literature.’
Professor Christopher Coker, London School of Economics
