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Severine Autesserre Books

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“Not all good things come together, and we can't have it all tomorrow. Remarkable interveners understand that building peace sometimes requires baby steps, and they look to local people as a guide for which foot to start on.”

International PeacePeacebuildingGrassroots OrganizingGrassroots AdvocacyInternational Intervention
Book:The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World
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“Contrary to what most politicians and interveners preach, outside experts, national leaders, and top-down approaches are not the only means to reestablishing peace. Bottom-up initiatives can also make a difference, and ordinary people have the capacity to address some of the deeper roots of their country’s problems.”

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Book:The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World
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“Even though the Congo is the stage of intense international peacebuilding efforts, and even though it recently experienced a transition from war to “peace and democracy,” it continues to be plagued by the deadliest conflict since World War II. Why did the international intervention fail to help the Congo achieve lasting peace and security?”

WarForeign PolicyCongoPeace And SecurityPeacebuildingPeace And ConflictDrcDeadly ConflictInternational Interventions
Book:The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding
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“International peacebuilders will need to act in novel ways that are likely to challenge deeply entrenched cultural norms and jeopardize numerous organizational interests. They will have to learn how to support grassroots conflict-resolution efforts. They will have to integrate bottom-up and top-down strategies to fully address the local, national, and international sources of tensions.”

WarPeaceInterventionInternational RelationsForeign AffairsPeacebuildingPeace And Conflict
Book:The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding
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“[R]ight when it's at its hardest, right when you want to give up most, that's when your commitment to the long term is most important. Because unlike you, the people you want to help can't just leave.”

InspirationalCommitmentPerseveranceHelping OthersLong TermPeace Building
Book:Peaceland: Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention
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“Everywhere that there is violence, there are also ordinary yet extraordinary people fighting it.... They are courageous, smart, innovative citizens taking risks for what they believe in. They are people who understand the ins and outs of violence in their village or neighborhood--and find ways to confront it.”

InspirationalPeaceViolenceHopefulNonviolencePeacebuilding
Book:The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding
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“It's daughters playing soccer with the children of the rival group, sons marrying outsiders, aunts trading with longstanding enemies, and individuals of all backgrounds sharing a market, hospital, school, or art center with the people they've been told to hate. In their day-to-day lives, ordinary people often engage in actions that observers view as banal and unimportant, when in fact these everyday acts help establish relationships that can prevent local outbreaks of violence and, at times, serve as the basis to deal with conflict.”

PeaceConflict ResolutionInternational PeacePeacebuildingGrassroots OrganizingBottom Up
Book:The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World
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“Model interveners often challenge the enduring stereotypes about local people. They point to authorities who have the expertise, competence, motivation, and work ethic essential to peacebuilding, and to ordinary citizens who are intelligent, selfless, and trustworthy. They emphasize that host populations have far more relevant knowledge, contacts, and means to resolve their own predicaments than interveners usually believe.”

PeaceInternational PeacePeacebuildingInternational Intervention
Book:The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World
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“Many domestic activists focus their efforts on top-down changes such as national elections and state policies--and despair when they fail to reach their goals....Bottom-up activism can help address the racial, ethnic, religious, and political issues that divide not just places like Congo or Colombia, but also the societies of non-war countries.”

ActivismGrassroots OrganizingBottom UpGrassroots Advocacy
Book:The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World
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