Building Stability Overseas
Three case studies in British defence diplomacy - Uganda, Rhodesia-Zimbabwe, and Sierra Leone
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5724802 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew Ford (0000-0002-2282-0451, University of Sussex, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 584-606 |
| Publication date | 2014-05-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Small Wars and Insurgencies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-2318 • E-ISSN: 1743-9558 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09592318.2014.913618 |
| OpenAlex | W1978264132 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 28 |
In 2011, the Department for International Development, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, and the Ministry of Defence launched the Building Stability Overseas Strategy (BSOS). This document sought to integrate cross-government activity as it related to conflict and security so as to ‘take fast, appropriate and effective action to prevent a crisis or stop it escalating and spreading’. At the heart of the strategy was the recognition that addressing instability and conflict overseas was morally right and in the UK's national interests. This confluence of foreign policy realism and ethical outlook most clearly found harmony in the acknowledgement that it was cheaper for the international community to avoid conflict than it was to try to manage it. Through an examination of three historical case studies (Uganda 1964–1972, Rhodesia–Zimbabwe 1979–1981, and Sierra Leone 2000–2007), this article seeks to demonstrate just how difficult this seemingly sensible strategic outlook is. In particular, the article shows there are historical parallels in British postcolonial history that very closely resemble contemporary policy choices; that these can be used to define what is different about past and present practice; and, which in turn, can be used to – at least tentatively – mark out the potential strengths and weaknesses in BSOS
Commonwealth · Development economics · Diplomacy · Economics · Foreign policy · International relations · Ministry of Foreign Affairs · Parallels · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sierra leone · Sociology · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism · Law · Military History and Strategy · Peacebuilding and International Security · Public Administration
The Failure of Peacekeeping in Sierra Leone
Coin Is Dead—Long Live Transformation
Good Anthropology, Bad History
Army, Empire, and Cold War
Warfare in Independent Africa
Conventional Deterrence and the Challenge of Credibility
Finding the Target, Fixing the Method
The ‘Expanding Torrent’
Demobilisation and Integration
The Provision of Lethal Military Equipment
A Whitehall ‘Showdown’
Weapons without influence
How Liberal Peacebuilding May Be Failing Sierra Leone
Israel's Exit from Africa, 1973
Khaki and Blue
Reconstructing Security after Conflict
"Defence Diplomacy" in North-South Relations
The West Side Boys
I Didn't Want to Die So I Joined Them
Political Science and the Crisis of Authoritarianism
Cosmopolitan peacekeeping and peacebuilding in Sierra Leone
The 1964 Army Mutinies and the Making of Modern East Africa
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |