Large Liberal Interventions Should End

Dr Colin D. Robinson lectures on War Studies at Cranfield University, Shrivenham. His research centres on the strategic challenges and opportunities for OECD states’ defence aims and programmes in the remainder of the world, as well as the history of African armies, the African Standby Force, military command and control, and New Zealand defence issues. He has recently been focused on how liberal ideology, liberal ideas, at the highest levels, both help and impede OECD progress in building partner armies, notably in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and for Liberia, where he did his doctoral fieldwork. He sits on the editorial boards of Defence and Security Analysis and the Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies. He spent much of 2020-22 teaching on military decisions and strategy for the eSchool of Professional Military Education, USAF Air University. He previously worked for the United Nations in Georgia, Liberia, and New York. Colin Robinson completed his doctorate in 2012, worked for the University of Liberia 2016-17, and was a Visiting Lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Massey University in 2018.

• Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter I: Surveying the Literature Chapter II: The Local and Hybrid Turns in Peacebuilding Chapter III: The Failure of Counterinsurgency in Somalia Chapter IV: Other Non-COIN Options Chapter V: Conclusions Appendix 1: Initial Somali Brigades, 2008-2015 Appendix 2: Somali Battalions and Locations, 2022 Appendix 3: “New” Somali Post-offensive Brigades, May 2024 Appendix 4: Internationally Recognised Presidents of Somalia, 2004-2025