Enabling or Disabling Paternalism

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44 Fionnuala Ni Aolain and Michael Hamilton, "Gender and the Rule of Law in. Transitional Societies," Minnesota Journal of International Law 18 (2009).
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Paternalism Beyond Borders Edited by MICHAEL N. BARNETT

The George Washington University

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

CAMBRIDGE

Contents

UNIVERSITY PRESS University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University's mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107176904 © Cambridge University Press 2017 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

Notes on Contributors Acknowledgments

page vii Xl

Introduction: International Paternalism: Framing the Debate

First published 2017

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MICHAEL N. BARNETT

Printed in the United States of America by Sheridan Books, Inc.

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Names: Barnett, Michael N., 1960- editor. Title: Paternalism beyond borders I edited by Michael N. Barnett. Description: Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. I Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016028348 I ISBN 9781107176904 (hardback) I ISBN 9781316625712 (paperback) Subjects: LCSH: Paternalism. I Individualism. I Liberty. Classification: LCC JC571 .P314 2016 I DDC 327.1-dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028348

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Only in the Ballpark of Paternalism: Arrogance and Liberty-Limitation in International Humanitarian Aid

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HENRY S. RICHARDSON

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Rethinking Paternalism: The Meaning of Gender and Sex in the Politics of Asylum

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DIDIER FASSIN

ISBN 978-1-107-17690-4 Hardback ISBN 978-1-316-62571-2 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLS for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Part I The Boundaries of Paternalism

Part II

Paternalism, Old and New

3 Eurocentric Pitfalls and Paradoxes of International Paternalism: Decolonizing Liberal Humanitarianism 2.0

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JOHN M. HOBSON

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The New International Paternalism: International Regimes

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DAVID CHANDLER

Part III

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The Social Relations of Paternalism

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Paternalism and Peacebuilding: Capacity, Knowledge, and Resistance in International Intervention

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SE.VERINE AUTESSERRE

Georgetown University Library

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Severine Autesserre

the exception rather than the rule. 63 The resulting predominance of upward rather than downward accountability deprives interveners of incentives to obtain the consent of their intended beneficiaries, and it deprives these beneficiaries of the power to request an end to paternalistic practices. The last obstacle to change arises from the detrimental byproducts of the politics of knowledge at work in the international peacebuilding field, which make it exceptionally difficult to move away from standard intervention routines. The experiences of the NGOs (such as International Alert and the International Rescue Committee) that have tried to promote local authorship and ownership by implementing community-driven reconstruction programs are telling. 64 According to my interviews with the staff working on such initiatives, local communities are so used to seeing foreigners arrive with a bossy attitude and set ideas that it becomes challenging to implement the new approach. Instead of giving their opinions and requesting what they actually need, a number of grassroots communities construct their appeals to reflect what they think the expatriates want to hear, as a way of ensuring access to funding and help. In other words, despite considerable efforts, these interveners still often end up facing problems similar to those of their colleagues who use less progressive methodologies. International paternalism thus persists virtually unhindered, a vicious cycle of imposition without consent and passive acceptance without appreciation. The actions of resistant local stakeholders and exceptional interveners may start to mitigate the worst consequences of paternalism on the ground, but they are unlikely to eliminate paternalism for good.

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Also Anderson et al., Time to Listen, i. See Elisabeth King, "A Critical Review of Community-Driven Development Programmes in Conflict-Affected Contexts" (London: DFID and International Rescue Committee, 2013) for an analysis of these initiatives across various countries and organizations.

Enabling or Disabling Paternalism: (In)attention to Gender and Women's Knowledge, Capacity, and Authority in Humanitarian Contexts AISLING SWAINE

In 2006, working with an international aid agency in Darfur, Sudan, I was part of a large yet very constrained humanitarian response operation. Having worked in many prior operations globally, this was somewhat different. Humanitarian operations established in response to the Darfur crisis were severely and deliberately hampered by the Sudanese government. In an attempt to thwart international attention to a situation that was increasingly being noted for extensive human rights violations, international and national organizations were subject to a very effective intimidation campaign. It was so successful that international agencies performed operations as if walking on eggshells. There was a tacit consensus among agencies that the best-case scenario was to strive to maintain the provision of basic services, even where this meant working around, and saying little publicly about, the rights violations that were occurring within and outside the camps. I was working on what might have been considered the most sensitive issue in that context at that time - the prolific use of sexualized violence, particularly rape, against women by parties to the conflict in Darfur. Sexualized violence in wartime is generally understood as a gendered violence, primarily impacting women and working off of gendered norms of power and inequalities between men and women. The prolific use of sexualized violence by armed actors became synonymous with the Darfur conflict in the global media in ways that had not been seen since the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The image of the raped female victim also became ubiquitous with Darfur and in many ways became a cornerstone of the multiple global advocacy movements that arose to decry what was happening there. In this highly charged political situation, the act of rape and other kinds of sexualized violence took on hyper political significance. With the eyes of the International Criminal Court on the Darfur situation

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at the time, and the US government also making noise about possible genocide, the act of rape, formerly prosecuted as a component of genocide in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, invoked political significance for a government that could be held culpable, With the potential for rape to be charged as a war crime, allegations of rape were consistently denied by the Sudanese government. Any reference by international agencies to sexualized violence of any form was impossible by virtue of the potential repercussions from the government, i.e., cessation of agency operations and expulsion from the country. It became impossible to speak of this issue in any way publicly, both by the agencies involved, and by the women and girls who were subjected to these abuses. There was an accepted understanding among agencies that to make a loud noise about this issue would place women, as well as the overall humanitarian operation, at further risk,1 This status quo created an incredible sense of discomfort. Not only were women's bodies subject to armed men's violence on a mass scale, services to them were also being restricted by the same actors responsible for those harms. It felt at times as if we were colluding with the perpetrators. The context was so tense that when I entered Sudan, rather than have the correct title of program manager of my agency's violence against women program, I had to adopt a generic title that occluded the specific nature of my job. While the government knew well that this agency was providing services to women affected by violence (their intelligence operations knowing more about our work than we did at times), our official claim to not be doing so appeased tensions and allowed services to continue under the radar. As long as it remained that way. My role was to oversee the covert delivery of sexual assault services to women and girls. Services were made available through women's centers that we had established in the camps. The centers provided broader education and support programs to women and girls, while 1

For more on this see: Colum Lynch, "The Silence in Sudan: Why did the United Nations Stop Reporting Atrocities in Darfur?" Foreign Policy, May 7, 2012, http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/05/07/the-silence-in-sudan/ (accessed November 7, 2015). Human Rights Watch, Darfur: Humanitarian Aid Under Siege (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2006). Michael Kleinman, "Tough Choices for Agencies Expelled from Darfur," Humanitarian Practice Network, May 6, 2009, http://odihpn.org/blog/tough-choices-for-agencies-expelled-from-darfur/.

Enabling or Disabling Paternalis,

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simultaneously acting as a frb wok through established informal women's networks to ma:kii~alie~ confidential sexual assault response services. About six aftr I had taken up my post in Darfur there was a spate of attagaitst women outside one of the camps I was working in. Thesatk 'were unusual. As time had passed, attacks on women by p, tib n,~ conflict had declined compared to the reports of endemtcncebeing experienced by women and girls inside the camps. Inch; nmbers of women began trickling into the women's center w:I ~sablished, reporting that they had been raped early that m