Displacing Human Rights

War and Intervention in Northern Uganda

Adam Branch

A thorough explication and debunking of "traditional justice" interventions
First book to make a critical analysis of the political consequences of a number of different human rights interventions in Africa
An original account of the historical development of human rights intervention in Africa since the end of the Cold War
The most comprehensive account to date of the politics of the northern Uganda conflict

Displacing Human Rights

War and Intervention in Northern Uganda

Adam Branch

Description

Today, Western intervention is a ubiquitous feature of violent conflict in Africa. Humanitarian aid agencies, community peacebuilders, microcredit promoters, children's rights activists, the World Bank, the International Criminal Court, the US military, and numerous others have involved themselves in African conflicts, all claiming to bring peace and human rights to situations where they are desperately needed. However, according to Adam Branch, Western intervention is not the solution to violence in Africa. Instead, it can be a major part of the problem, often undermining human rights and even prolonging war and intensifying anti-civilian violence. Based on an extended case study of Western intervention into northern Uganda's twenty-year civil war, and drawing on his own extensive research and human rights activism there, this book lays bare the reductive understandings motivating Western intervention in Africa, the inadequate tools it insists on employing, its refusal to be accountable to African citizenries, and, most important, its counterproductive consequences for peace, human rights, and justice. In short, Branch demonstrates how Western interventions undermine the efforts Africans themselves are undertaking to end violence in their communities. The book does not end with critique, however. Motivated by a commitment to global justice, it proposes concrete changes for Western humanitarian, peacebuilding, and justice interventions. It also offers a new normative framework for re-orienting the Western approach to violent conflict in Africa around a practice of genuine solidarity.

Displacing Human Rights

War and Intervention in Northern Uganda

Adam Branch

Displacing Human Rights

War and Intervention in Northern Uganda

Adam Branch

Author Information

Adam Branch is Assistant Professor of Political Science at San Diego State University

Displacing Human Rights

War and Intervention in Northern Uganda

Adam Branch

Reviews and Awards

"In this impressively researched book, Adam Branch offers a powerful analysis of the role of humanitarian intervention in the construction of authoritarian political control. He provides a masterful examination of the tradeoffs between humanitarian assistance and collaboration in host country counterinsurgency and population control strategies, bringing clarity to a complex and challenging subject. I commend this book to scholars and policy makers with a serious interest in humanitarian intervention and authoritarian politics, and to anyone who cares about how to assist communities in need."--William Reno, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University

"Branch's sweeping critique of human rights intervention is sure to provoke and inspire. This book raises questions that cannot be ignored by students or seekers of peace and justice in Africa today. In unsettling some of the humanitarians' most profound articles of faith, Branch proves how indispensable critical thought remains in the pursuit of human rights. The book uncovers the cognitive deficit which undermines contemporary humanitarianism and reveals the moral arrogance of some human rights entrepreneurs."--Moses Chrispus Okello, Senior Research Advisor, Refugee Law Project, Makerere University

"Adam Branch has written a remarkable book on the theory and practice of human rights intervention. This book is at the same time a deep reflection on the complicity of the human rights community in the decades-long war on the Acholi people. All those interested in questions of rights and justice will do well to read this book."--Mahmood Mamdani, Professor of Government, Columbia University

"In this highly readable and important study, Branch develops a damning rebuttal to claims that the ICC is serving the cause of global justice in Africa. Starting from the ICC's practice and effects on the ground, rather than from the abstract claims of its advocates, Branch demonstrates how law becomes arbitrary and politicized: a factor in armed conflict rather than standing above or resolving it."--David Chandler, Professor of International Relations, University of Westminster

"A key strength of the book is its ability to analyse and reveal common patterns in seemingly disparate and complex empirical instances of counterproductive human rights interventions in Uganda. ... [T]his book should be required reading for all those working on various themes in Africa today."--The Journal of Modern African Studies

"This book provides a pessimistic, but much needed, critique of the history of foreign intervention in Northern Uganda. ... Responsible discussions of foreign policy must consider the ways in which 'great power politics' can hurt people in the name of protection; this book is an excellent place to start that discussion." - The Christian Science Monitor

Displacing Human Rights

War and Intervention in Northern Uganda

Adam Branch

From Our Blog

Dangerous ignorance: The hysteria of Kony 2012

By Adam Branch From Kampala, the Kony 2012 hysteria was easy to miss. I'm not on Facebook or Twitter. I don't watch YouTube and the Ugandan papers didn't pick up the story for several days. But what I could not avoid were the hundreds of emails from friends, colleagues, and students in the US about the video by Invisible Children and the massive online response to it.

Posted on March 20, 2012

Read the blog post