Blue helmets and black markets
Subtitle: the business of survival in the siege of Sarajevo
By: Peter Andreas.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Ithaca
Language: eng
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-13: 9780801443558
Subjects: United Nations -- Bosnia and Hercegovina -- Sarajevo; Smuggling -- Bosnia and Hercegovina -- Sarajevo; Black market -- Bosnia and Hercegovina -- Sarajevo; Humanitarian assistance -- Bosnia and Hercegovina -- Sarajevo; Sarajevo (Bosnia and Hercegovina) -- History -- Siege, 1992-1996
Description: "In Blue Helmets and Black Markets, Peter Andreas traces the interaction between these formal front-stage and informal backstage activities, arguing that this created and sustained a criminalized war economy and prolonged the conflict in a manner that served various interests on all sides. Although the vast majority of Sarajevans struggled for daily survival and lived in a state of terror, the siege was highly rewarding for some key local and international players. This situation also left a powerful legacy for postwar reconstruction: new elites emerged via war profiteering and an illicit economy flourished partly based on the smuggling networks built up during wartime." "Andreas shows how and why the internationalization of the siege changed the repertoires of siege-craft and siege defenses and altered the strategic calculations of both the besiegers and the besieged. The Sarajevo experience dramatically illustrates that just as changes in weapons technologies transformed siege warfare through the ages, so too has the arrival of CNN, NGOs, satellite phones, UN peacekeepers, and aid convoys. Drawing on interviews, reportage, diaries, memoirs, and other sources, Andreas documents the business of survival in wartime Sarajevo and the limits, contradictions, and unintended consequences of international intervention."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.