Blue helmets and black markets : the business of survival in the siege of Sarajevo

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Blue helmets and black markets : the business of survival in the siege of Sarajevo

Peter Andreas

Cornell University Press, 2008

  • : cloth

Available at  / 4 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [167]-200) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The 1992-1995 battle for Sarajevo was the longest siege in modern history. It was also the most internationalized, attracting a vast contingent of aid workers, UN soldiers, journalists, smugglers, and embargo-busters. The city took center stage under an intense global media spotlight, becoming the most visible face of post-Cold War conflict and humanitarian intervention. However, some critical activities took place backstage, away from the cameras, including extensive clandestine trading across the siege lines, theft and diversion of aid, and complicity in the black market by peacekeeping forces. In Blue Helmets and Black Markets, Peter Andreas traces the interaction between these formal front-stage and informal backstage activities, arguing that this created and sustained a criminalized war economy and prolonged the conflict in a manner that served various interests on all sides. Although the vast majority of Sarajevans struggled for daily survival and lived in a state of terror, the siege was highly rewarding for some key local and international players. This situation also left a powerful legacy for postwar reconstruction: new elites emerged via war profiteering and an illicit economy flourished partly based on the smuggling networks built up during wartime. Andreas shows how and why the internationalization of the siege changed the repertoires of siege-craft and siege defenses and altered the strategic calculations of both the besiegers and the besieged. The Sarajevo experience dramatically illustrates that just as changes in weapons technologies transformed siege warfare through the ages, so too has the arrival of CNN, NGOs, satellite phones, UN peacekeepers, and aid convoys. Drawing on interviews, reportage, diaries, memoirs, and other sources, Andreas documents the business of survival in wartime Sarajevo and the limits, contradictions, and unintended consequences of international intervention. Concluding with a comparison of the battle for Sarajevo with the sieges of Leningrad, Grozny, and Srebrenica, and, more recently, Falluja, Blue Helmets and Black Markets is a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary urban warfare, war economies, and the political repercussions of humanitarian action.

Table of Contents

Preface1. The Longest Siege Sarajevo on Center Stage The Cast of Characters Front Stage and Backstage: Formal and Informal Roles Conflict Narratives Criminalized Conflict Narratives Preview2. Imposing the Siege The Road to Siege Warfare The Start of the Siege and the Criminally Aided Defense The International Response3. Sustaining the Siege Diverting and Manipulating Humanitarian Aid Exploiting the Privileges of Mobility and Access The UN-Controlled Airport as Smuggling Hub Tunneling under the Siege: Lifeline and Profit Center Trading with the Enemy The Media and Its Dependence on the Black Market The Money Letter Smuggling System The Smugglers' Markets and Cigarettes as Currency4. The Siege Within Criminal Defenders as Predators Political Corruption, Abuse, and Opportunism Obstructing Access to Water5. Lifting the Siege Front Stage:Triggering NATO Air Strikes Backstage: Shifting the Military Balance by Evading the UN Arms Embargo6. Aftermath The Criminalized Aftermath of War The Criminalized New Elite Sarajevo as Transit Point for Migrant Smuggling Sex Trafficking and Peacekeeping The Arizona Market: Peace through Illicit Trade?7. Extensions Srebrenica Leningrad Grozny FallujaConclusions Revisiting Sarajevo Lessons from SarajevoNotes Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

Page Top