Lexington Books
Pages: 278
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4985-8177-6 • Hardback • February 2020 • $100.00 • (£77.00)
978-1-4985-8179-0 • Paperback • May 2022 • $39.99 • (£31.00)
978-1-4985-8178-3 • eBook • February 2020 • $38.00 • (£29.00)
Ramon Blanco is professor at the Federal University of Latin-American Integration.
Introduction
Chapter 1 – A Genealogy of the UN Approaches towards International Peace
Chapter 2 – The Emergence of Timor-Leste as an International Urgent Need
Chapter 3: The UN’s Engagement with Timor-Leste and its Shortcomings
Chapter 4 – The Surveillance Framework: Steering, Monitoring and Structuring
Chapter 5 – The Transformation of Timor-Leste into a Governance State
Conclusion
The UN’s five consecutive massive (and intrusive) state-building and peace-building missions in postconflict Timor-Leste (1999–2012), labeled by some as "neotrusteeship," are generally regarded as having been a qualified success. Drawing on theories and concepts earlier elaborated by Michel Foucault and the English school of international relations, Blanco (Federal Univ. of Latin-American Integration, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil) has created a novel analytical synthesis to explain those UN operations as a Foucaultian dispositif. In short, the totality of the UN’s efforts to administer, discipline, and "normalize" life and governance in Timor-Leste constituted a comprehensive surveillance framework designed to transform this fledgling, collapsed postcolonial polity into a functioning liberal democratic state. Blanco’s critical appraisal, based on fieldwork, UN documentation, and relevant secondary sources, lays bare the inherent limitations of even such ambitious undertakings. It offers a different perspective on international relations theory generally, and enriches our understanding of prevailing concepts such as statehood, power, international society, peace, global governance, and multilateral peace operations. . . this book should be found in all college and larger public libraries, especially those with collections specializing in international affairs. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.
— Choice
“Peace as Government: The Will to Normalize Timor-Leste provides a very timely and insightful analysis of the United Nations’ state building and peacebuilding intervention in Timor-Leste and is definitely a must-read for all those interested in a more critical and comprehensive understanding of governance dynamics often sustaining internationally-led peace endeavors and processes.”— Daniela Nascimento, University of Coimbra