Can Intervention Work?

A fresh and critically important perspective on foreign interventions (Washington Post), Can Intervention Work? distills Rory Stewarts (author of The Places In Between) and Gerald Knauss remarkable firsthand experiences of political and military interventions into a potent examination of what we can and cannot achieve in a new era of nation building. As they delve into the massive, military-driven efforts in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the authors reveal each efforts enormous consequences for international relations, human rights, and our understanding of state building. Stewart and Knaus parse carefully the philosophies that have informed interventionismfrom neoconservative to liberal imperialistand draw on their diverse experiences in the military, nongovernmental organizations, and the Iraqi provincial government to reveal what we can ultimately expect from large-scale interventions and how they might best realize positive change in the world. Author and columnist Fred Kaplan calls Can Intervention Work? the most thorough examination of the subject [of intervention] that Ive read in a while.