Paper short abstract:

Based on interviews in the Congo and in Western Headquarters as well as an analysis of organizational strategies this paper investigates the relationship between plural norms and reigning rationalities among intervention in the Congo. It contributes to debates on post-liberal governance and the humanitarianizaton of politics

Paper long abstract:

Maroding hordes, a rape epidemic, a failed state with a dictatorial leader. Western intervention on the Congo nurtures and requires these facile stereotypes. Intervention in the Congo, however, is not a monolith. Several so-called sectors like international humanitarian, development and peacekeeping organizations are at pains to distinguish themselves from each other. Their activities differ, they are governed by a plurality of norms. Protecting 'bare life', promoting economic growth and contributing to a 'liberal peace' are the guiding motifs among them.

Recent scholarship in social anthropology and International Relations has made strong claims on reigning rationalities of intervention. 'Post-liberal governance', the humanitarianization, biopoliticization or medicalization of politics, for example, are proposed to capture the conceptual heart of intervention today. Yet, some of these proposals do not clarify the relationship between that non-monolithic plurality of norms and the unity of the rationality they propose. I will attempt to do so.

To investigate the relationship between plural norms and reigning rationalities among intervention in the Congo, based on interviews, I identify some of the norms prevalent in reflections among humanitarians and peacekeepers in Goma, New York, Paris and Geneva. In addition, I briefly scrutinize the norms permeating three core organizations working in and on the Congo: The UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Médecins sans Frontières.

This combination of sources will show the difficulty of a nuanced critique of intervention norms and rationalities which does not oversimplify but still manages to get at its paternalistic heart.