Paper short abstract:

Doing research in a war zone is not easy, especially in Africa. I realized eight months of fieldwork in West Africa during the years 2007 and 2008. I want to discuss and share my experience during this meeting.

Paper long abstract:

My research tried to explain the difficulties faced by international organizations in West Africa in developing effective peacekeeping operations. Specifically I examined the intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Ivory Coast, drawing also on the experience of interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. My research attempted to go beyond conventional narratives focused on the weaknesses of ECOWAS, the African Union (AU) or the United Nations (UN), or on the realpolitik dimensions such as Nigerian regional hegemony or external intervention by former colonial powers, and to understand the dynamics of peacekeeping in the region in terms of the notion of multilevel governance.

My research involved eight months of fieldwork in West Africa, working both in the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja in Nigeria, on the ground in Ivory Coast, as well as from Senegal. I carried out a substantial number of interviews many actors and institutions of conflict resolution, as well as engaged with them on a more informal basis.

I realized this research after the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Ethics Committee has accepted my request of ethics approval of my project. I want during this meeting to share my experience and faced difficulties during this fieldwork.

Sriram, Chandra Lekha, C ; King, J, C ; Mertus, J, A ; Martin-Ortega, O ; Herman, J (dir.), Surviving Field Research : Working in Violent and Difficult Situations, London ; New York : Routledge, 2009, 262p.