The Sanctions Dilemma The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has a historical perspective regarding the use of economic sanctions. We have both supported and opposed the implementation of sanctions -- at times with clear strength of conviction, at other times with doubts and apprehensions. We have supported econom John Patterson • 9 min read
An Interview with Mark Duffield Mark Duffield visited Croatia and Bosnia between January 9 and 22, 1994, as part of a study of complex political emergencies. Joe Stork spoke with him on January 28, 1994. In your field report you refer to the failure to provide protection as representing a political failure of historic consequence Joe Stork • 8 min read
Bosnia and the Future of Military Humanitarianism Mark Duffield was in Bosnia and Croatia from January 9 to January 22, 1994 as part of a larger study of complex emergencies. The following is condensed from his “first impression” field report. The war in former Yugoslavia has displaced over 4 million people. Nearly 3 million of these are in Bosnia Mark Duffield • 6 min read
Sovereignty and Intervention After the Cold War Over the past several years, the perception has become widespread that the world has entered a period of profound change. A main feature of this change has been some erosion of the principle of state sovereignty as a major structural feature of international relations. The new activism of the United John Prendergast, Mark Duffield • 16 min read
Can Military Intervention Be "Humanitarian"? “Humanitarian intervention,” the violation of a nation-state’s sovereignty for the purpose of protecting human life from government repression or famine or civil breakdown, is an old concept that has been given a new lease on life with the end of the Cold War. It is currently being practiced in Soma Rakiya Omaar, Alex de Waal • 15 min read
From the Editors (March/April 1994) The collapse of the bipolar world order, and the profound crises of many post-colonial nation-states in the Middle East, the Balkans, Africa, Central America and Central Asia, have given rise to a range of conflicts and major humanitarian disasters that in turn have fueled a new debate in the US and The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (January/February 1994) Abrahamian, Ervand. Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Revolution (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993). Adnan, Etel. Of Cities and Women: Letters to Fawwaz (Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 1993). Amnesty International. Saudi Arabia: The Arrest, Detention and Torture of Christian a The Editors • 1 min read
MER Article Israeli Women, Palestinian Women Deborah S. Bernstein, ed., Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-State Israel (SUNY, 1992). Barbara Swirski and Marilyn P. Safir, eds., Calling the Equality Bluff: Women in Israel (Pergamon, 1991). Elise G. Young, Keepers of the History: Women and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Teachers Purnima Bose • 5 min read
MER Article Chemonics Revisited In mid-October 1993, the New York Times ran a series exploring in detail how influential agribusiness firms have managed to reap huge profits from Agriculture Department programs designed to promote US exports. One case in point was Comet Rice, a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Erly Industries, whos Al Miskin • 3 min read
MER Article Searching for Strategies In a heated student election campaign at Birzeit University in November, the oppositional “Jerusalem First” coalition made a striking spectacle as hundreds of its supporters marched smartly across the university’s hilltop campus. In a prominent position at the head of the march, female students from the Popular Front, clad Rita Giacaman • 8 min read
MER Article An Interview with Hanan Ashrawi Hanan Ashrawi, a professor of literature at Birzeit University, was the spokesperson for the Palestinian delegation to the bilateral peace talks in Washington. In early December, Ashrawi announced she would not serve in any official capacity in the new Palestinian authority, but would instead work t Joe Stork • 2 min read
MER Article Lebanon's Palestinians This article was written by a special correspondent. Residents of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon have been cautiously peeking out of their prison-like camps after nearly a decade of sieges and assaults. But looking out is now fraught with anxiety. There is no future in the camps, residents co (Author not identified) • 2 min read
