Blue Helmets and Black Markets

Peter Andreas is John Hay Professor of International Studies at Brown University. He is the author of Border Games and coeditor of Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts, both from Cornell. He is also the author of Smuggler Nation and coauthor of Policing the Globe and Drug War Politics.

Blue Helmets and Black Markets provides a template for analyzing international interventions, suggesting that looking beyond the standard actors and actions yields some significant insights.(International Studies Review) Andreas does not deny the suffering or the heroism of those caught in the siege of Sarajevo or the deadly earnestness of those who maintained it. But he wants to make this savage tale whole by exposing corruption's part in exploiting and sustaining the violence. Andreas, with prose as lean as his analysis is rich, avoids moral judgments and focuses instead on the two-sided aspects of this sort of war: the illicit commerce between the warring parties, the profiteering by politicians struggling to save a community, the indulgences of outside agencies sent to help the victims.(Foreign Affairs) In this provocative study, Andreas examines the unexpected consequences of humanitarian intervention.... Drawing on extensive interviews, diaries, and memoirs of participants, and newspaper accounts, among other sources, Andreas argues that the internationalization of the siege paradoxically prolonged the conflict. Humanitarian assistance the international community provided to the people of Sarajevo became incorporated into the criminalized war economy that flourished in the besieged city.... The study also reveals the much more complex social dynamics that emerged and flourished during the conflict. In particular, far from severing ties between ethnic groups, the war economy sustained informal contacts and cross-ethnic collaboration in the midst of conflict. Andreas argues that the example of Sarajevo strongly suggests that uncovering the hidden dynamics of war economies is important because their legacies outlast a conflict's end and continue to shape postconflict reconstruction. Highly recommended.(Choice)

• Preface1. The Longest SiegeSarajevo on Center StageThe Cast of CharactersFront Stage and Backstage: Formal and Informal RolesConflict NarrativesCriminalized Conflict NarrativesPreview2. Imposing the SiegeThe Road to Siege WarfareThe Start of the Siege and the Criminally Aided DefenseThe International Response3. Sustaining the SiegeDiverting and Manipulating Humanitarian AidExploiting the Privileges of Mobility and AccessThe UN-Controlled Airport as Smuggling HubTunneling under the Siege: Lifeline and Profit CenterTrading with the EnemyThe Media and Its Dependence on the Black MarketThe Money Letter Smuggling SystemThe Smugglers' Markets and Cigarettes as Currency4. The Siege WithinCriminal Defenders as PredatorsPolitical Corruption, Abuse, and OpportunismObstructing Access to Water5. Lifting the SiegeFront Stage:Triggering NATO Air StrikesBackstage: Shifting the Military Balance by Evading the UN Arms Embargo6. AftermathThe Criminalized Aftermath of WarThe Criminalized New EliteSarajevo as Transit Point for Migrant SmugglingSex Trafficking and PeacekeepingThe Arizona Market: Peace through Illicit Trade?7. ExtensionsSrebrenicaLeningradGroznyFallujaConclusionsRevisiting SarajevoLessons from SarajevoNotesIndex