Humanitarian Crises and Intervention: Reassessing the Impact of Mass Media

by Soderlund,Walter

• ISBN13: 9781565492622
• ISBN10: 1565492625
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-06-15
• Publisher: Lynne Rienner

Summary

As the Cold War began to wind down in the early '90s, former colonies were besieged by a string of humanitarian crises that killed millions of people and forced many millions more to leave their homes and livelihoods. A cruel paradox was revealed: just as the concept of 'Responsibility to Protect' human rights was challenging the principle of 'State Sovereignty', no state with the capacity to do so was actually willing to intervene in a crisis based solely on humanitarian grounds. This book takes a unique and comprehensive look at how the international community, led by the US, responded to ten humanitarian crises of the last decade and how major media outlets played a role in influencing (or failing to influence) action. Crises examined include Liberia, East Timor, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Angola, Haiti, and the Congo. Soderlund and Briggs apply the same analytic method to each case to discover why the international community was unwilling, time and time again, to address this new brand of conflict that appeared at the time.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Maps	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Introduction: The Problem and Research Methods	p. 1
Liberia, 1990: ECOMOG I, "Operation Liberty," UNOMIL	p. 21
Somalia, 1992: UNOSOM I, UNITAF, "Operation Restore Hope," UNOSOM II	p. 43
Sudan, 1992: Humanitarian Relief Efforts Confront an Intractable Civil War	p. 73
Rwanda, 1994: UNAMIR I, UNAMIR II, and "Operation Turquoise"	p. 95
Haiti, 1994: "Operation Restore (Uphold) Democracy," UNMIH	p. 123
Burundi, 1996: United Nations and African Intervention Initiatives Falter	p. 155
Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo), 1996: "Operation Assurance," The Intervention that Never Was	p. 171
Sierra Leone, 1997: ECOMOG II, UNOMSIL, UNAMSIL	p. 193
Angola, 1999: 1,000 UN Military Observers Removed, 30 UN Civilian Observers Returned	p. 211
East Timor (Timor-Leste), 1999: INTERFET, "Operation Warden"	p. 231
Conclusion: Assessing the Comparative Impact of Mass Media on Intervention Decision-making	p. 259
Contributors	p. 287
References	p. 289
Index	p. 321
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.