Can Intervention Work?

“A fresh and critically important perspective on foreign interventions” (Washington Post), Can Intervention Work? distills Rory Stewart’s (author of The Places In Between) and Gerald Knaus’s remarkable firsthand experiences of political and military interventions into a potent examination of what we can and cannot achieve in a new era of nation building. As they delve into the massive, military-driven efforts in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the authors reveal each effort’s enormous consequences for international relations, human rights, and our understanding of state building. Stewart and Knaus parse carefully the philosophies that have informed interventionism—from neoconservative to liberal imperialist—and draw on their diverse experiences in the military, nongovernmental organizations, and the Iraqi provincial government to reveal what we can ultimately expect from large-scale interventions and how they might best realize positive change in the world. Author and columnist Fred Kaplan calls Can Intervention Work? “the most thorough examination of the subject [of intervention] that I’ve read in a while.”

"I devoured this brilliant Burkean tract at a sitting. Is it too much to hope that it will be read not just in Downing Street and the Foreign Office, but also the State Department and the White House?" Peter Oborne, The Daily Telegraph "This is a book for our times..." The Spectator "Can we intervene in foreign countries and do good?...Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus are well placed to pose and answer these questions." The Economist "...Stewart and Knaus are both practitioners and scholars - with particular experience in Afghanistan and Bosnia, respectively. The combined effect is pessimistic, without actually ruling out further interventions." Gideon Rachman, The Financial Times, non-fiction favourites of 2011 "Rory Stewart MP and his co-author ask when it is right to intervene in another country and why it can all go disastrously wrong." The Sunday Times "A fresh and critically important perspective on foreign interventions." Washington Post "Presenting a well thought-out argument which compels us to change the way we conduct interventions..." Soldier

Rory Stewart is a member of the British Parliament and the former Ryan Professor of Human Rights Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Gerald Knaus, founding chairman of the European Stability Initiative, is a Carr Center Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.