Catherine Goetze | University of Tasmania (original) (raw)

Papers by Catherine Goetze

Research paper thumbnail of Spaces of Aid, How Cars, Compounds and Hotels Shape Humanitarianism

Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of The UN and Human Rights, Who Guards the Guardians?

International Peacekeeping, 2013

Through an analysis of UN operations including international territorial administration, refugee ... more Through an analysis of UN operations including international territorial administration, refugee camps, peacekeeping, the implementation of sanctions and the provision of humanitarian aid, Guglielmo Verdirame shows that the powers exercised by the UN carry a serious risk of human rights abuse. The International Law Commission has codified and developed the law of institutional responsibility, but, while indispensable, these principles and rules cannot on their own ensure compliance and accountability. The 'liberty deficit' of the UN and of other international organisations, thus remains an urgent legal and political problem. Some solutions may be available; indeed, recent state and institutional practice offers interesting examples in this respect. But at a fundamental level we need to ask ourselves whether, judged on the basis of the principle of liberty, the power shift from states to international organisations is always beneficial.

Research paper thumbnail of The Same Old Story of Peacebuilding: Institution Building, Legitimacy and Global Governance

International Peacekeeping, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Rudimentäre Zivilgesellschaften : das Rote Kreuz auf dem Balkan /

Research paper thumbnail of Humanitarian activities of the German Red Cross in the Balkans

Cambridge Univ Press

... of the German Red Cross in the Balkans An evaluation by WOLF-DIETER EBERWEIN AND CATHERINE GO... more ... of the German Red Cross in the Balkans An evaluation by WOLF-DIETER EBERWEIN AND CATHERINE GOTZE ... This article is based on a study commis-sioned by the German Red Cross:Wolf-Dieter Eberwein, Catherine Gotze and Roland Albert, DRK-Studie — was tun? ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Responsibility to Protect, Rhetoric, Reality and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention

International Peacekeeping, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of Civil society organizations in failing states: the Red Cross in Bosnia and Albania

International Peacekeeping, 2004

... Anomie can be seen, as conceptualized by Emile Durkheim, as a general feature of modern socie... more ... Anomie can be seen, as conceptualized by Emile Durkheim, as a general feature of modern societies in which social change is constantly ... Vesna Pesic, 'The War for Ethnic States', in Popov (ed.), (n.21 above); Jasminka Udovicki and James Ridgeway (eds.), Burn this House ...

Research paper thumbnail of Global Governance und die asymmetrische Verwirklichung von global citizenship. Die Humanitarisierung des Flüchtlingsregimes

Governance in einer sich wandelnden Welt, 2008

Page 1. Global Governance und die asymmetrische Verwirklichung von global citizenship. Die Humani... more Page 1. Global Governance und die asymmetrische Verwirklichung von global citizenship. Die Humanitarisierung des Flüchtlingsregimes* Catherine Götze Global governance ist in den letzten Jahren zu einem zentralen Konzept der Internatio-nalen Beziehungen avanciert. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Cosmopolitanism and the culture of peacebuilding

Review of International Studies (RIS), 2014

Cosmopolitanism has been argued to be a crucial component of peacebuilding, both with regard to i... more Cosmopolitanism has been argued to be a crucial component of peacebuilding, both with regard to its aims as well as its staff. In a universalist-liberal understanding of the concept, cosmopolitanism is the optimal mind frame for peacebuilders to rebuild post-war societies, due to the tolerance, justice-orientation, and neutrality regarding local cleavages that the concept entails in theory. This article argues, however, that cosmopolitanism cannot be understood outside of its social context, therefore requiring sociological empirical analyses. Drawing on three such sociological concepts, namely elite, glocal, and localisable cosmopolitanism, the article analyses empirically through interviews with peacebuilders in Kosovo whether and in which form these international civil servants display cosmopolitan worldviews. The study concludes that while in theory the localisable variant would be best suited to contribute to locally sensitive, emancipatory peacebuilding, this form of cosmopolitanism is absent in practice. Given the novel, exploratory character of this analysis of hitherto uncharted terrain, the article also discusses in detail how the findings were obtained and in how far they are generalisable.

Research paper thumbnail of Cosmopolitanism and the Culture of Peacebuilding, published in Review of International Studies, 40 (4), 2014

Cosmopolitanism has been argued to be a crucial component of peacebuilding, both with regard to i... more Cosmopolitanism has been argued to be a crucial component of peacebuilding, both with regard to its aims as well as its staff. In a universalist-liberal understanding of the concept, cosmopolitanism is the optimal mind frame for peacebuilders to rebuild post-war societies, due to the tolerance, justice-orientation and neutrality regarding local cleavages that the concept entails in theory. This article argues, however, that cosmopolitanism cannot be understood outside of its social context, therefore requiring sociological empirical analyses. Drawing on three such sociological concepts, namely elite, glocal and localisable cosmopolitanism, the article analyses empirically through interviews with peacebuilders in Kosovo whether and in which form these international civil servants display cosmopolitan worldviews. The study concludes that while in theory the localisable variant would be best suited to contribute to locally sensitive, emancipatory peacebuilding, this form of cosmopolitanism is absent in practice. Given the novel, exploratory character of this analysis of hitherto uncharted terrain, the article also discusses in detail how the findings were obtained and in how far they are generalisable.

Research paper thumbnail of The Particularism of Cosmopolitanism, published in Global Society, 27 (1), 2013

Research paper thumbnail of The pettiness of conflict

This paper is draft of a workshop paper presented at the Wars beyond wars workshop, organised by ... more This paper is draft of a workshop paper presented at the Wars beyond wars workshop, organised by the formidable PCon team at Colgate University (Jacob Mundy, Stephanie Fishel, Dan Monk) in April 2012 (http://www.colgate.edu/academics/departments-and-programs/peace-and-conflict-studies/events/wars-beyond-war-workshop). The draft didn’t go very far for quite obvious reasons: the idea was to explore ‘little agency’ in war, i.e. gossip, slander, intrigues, and other petty social actions; but the paper gets lost in the theoretical discussion and I was not fully able to integrate more empirical research, case studies into it. It simply needs a bit more research to be ready. It is therefore not for quoting. But all, really all comments are most welcome. The motivation to post it, is to remind myself and others interested in the topic that this kind of agency has been so far neglected in conflict studies. This oversight concerns predominantly ‘weak’ forms of agency in civil wars which may not be physically violent but, at the end of the day, contribute to the dynamics of the ongoing violent combat; as it happens that women are commonly excluded from combat, this is also a form of agency women often ‘utilize’ (whereby I argue strongly against a strategic-rational understanding of this type of agency). In fact, the idea for this article came from reading up interviews with women in Chris Coulter’s, Mariam Parsson’s and Mats Utas’ ‘Young Female Fighters in African Wars: Conflict and its Consequences’. These small forms of agency important to grasp if we want to understand how women or other groups who are, prima facie, excluded from combat but who are involved in armed conflict, as e.g. Jayne Huckerby demands in this op-ed in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/22/opinion/when-women-become-terrorists.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region&region=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region&_r=0

Research paper thumbnail of Statebuilding and Nationbuilding: Comparative Perspectives. In The International Studies Encyclopedia, Vol. 10 (2010).

Research paper thumbnail of Blog on conflict and peace research

Research paper thumbnail of The particularism of cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitan political theorists model their aspirations for global democratic politics on intern... more Cosmopolitan political theorists model their aspirations for global democratic politics on international organisations. But how cosmopolitan are international organisations? Based on a survey of civilian staff of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, the UN headquarters and other organisations working in Kosovo's post-conflict environment, the current article will show that staff in international organisations are not only cosmopolitan. Their world views confirm the individualist-liberal pedigree of cosmopolitanism but also show a strong tendency towards conservative values and a continued appraisal of the state's role. Their historical narratives are, furthermore, distinctively based on the historical experience of Western Europe and North America. The article concludes that cosmopolitanism is politically firmly rooted in the historical and ideological experience of the West, and hence is not universal.

Research paper thumbnail of The Skate and the South Wind of the international state system: the warlord and state myth

This paper analyses news stories about so called warlords particualrly in Afghanistan. Based on a... more This paper analyses news stories about so called warlords particualrly in Afghanistan. Based on a model of interpreting myths that builds on Saussurian linguistic analysis and Levi-Strauss' analysis of myths (hence the title), the paper argues that myths about warlords contain underlying and implicit stories about states. Analysing how myths about warlords are told allows dissecting what the authors want to say about states and legitimate politics. Myths about warlords are therefore also myths about states.

Research paper thumbnail of When inequality becomes injustice

This is a very rough draft of a paper that develops an argument how inequality comes to matter in... more This is a very rough draft of a paper that develops an argument how inequality comes to matter in social conflict situations. It notably lacks references and foot notes given that it was written under quite high pressure but as draft it might be interesting for others working on similar ideas.

Research paper thumbnail of Humanitarian aid under fire The dilemma of aid organizations in everyday conflict

Abstract:'Demokratien verstehen sich als Systeme mit einem humanitaeren Gewissen. In die... more Abstract:'Demokratien verstehen sich als Systeme mit einem humanitaeren Gewissen. In dieser Vorstellung hat jeder Mensch ein Anrecht auf physische Unversehrtheit und Menschenwuerde-ganz unabhaengig davon, welcher Nationalitaet, Ethnie, Religion oder ...

Research paper thumbnail of When Democracies Go to War: Public Debate and the French Decision on War in 1999 and 2003

Global Society, Jan 1, 2008

On what grounds do democratic states wage war? Public opinion is often considered as being of cru... more On what grounds do democratic states wage war? Public opinion is often considered as being of crucial importance in the decision to go to war. This article analyses two debates over war in France. It finds that democracies debate war within a limited range of ...

Research paper thumbnail of Humanitäre Organisationen und Zivilgesellschaft

Konzeptionelle Überlegungen zum …, Jan 1, 1998

Research paper thumbnail of Spaces of Aid, How Cars, Compounds and Hotels Shape Humanitarianism

Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of The UN and Human Rights, Who Guards the Guardians?

International Peacekeeping, 2013

Through an analysis of UN operations including international territorial administration, refugee ... more Through an analysis of UN operations including international territorial administration, refugee camps, peacekeeping, the implementation of sanctions and the provision of humanitarian aid, Guglielmo Verdirame shows that the powers exercised by the UN carry a serious risk of human rights abuse. The International Law Commission has codified and developed the law of institutional responsibility, but, while indispensable, these principles and rules cannot on their own ensure compliance and accountability. The 'liberty deficit' of the UN and of other international organisations, thus remains an urgent legal and political problem. Some solutions may be available; indeed, recent state and institutional practice offers interesting examples in this respect. But at a fundamental level we need to ask ourselves whether, judged on the basis of the principle of liberty, the power shift from states to international organisations is always beneficial.

Research paper thumbnail of The Same Old Story of Peacebuilding: Institution Building, Legitimacy and Global Governance

International Peacekeeping, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Rudimentäre Zivilgesellschaften : das Rote Kreuz auf dem Balkan /

Research paper thumbnail of Humanitarian activities of the German Red Cross in the Balkans

Cambridge Univ Press

... of the German Red Cross in the Balkans An evaluation by WOLF-DIETER EBERWEIN AND CATHERINE GO... more ... of the German Red Cross in the Balkans An evaluation by WOLF-DIETER EBERWEIN AND CATHERINE GOTZE ... This article is based on a study commis-sioned by the German Red Cross:Wolf-Dieter Eberwein, Catherine Gotze and Roland Albert, DRK-Studie — was tun? ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Responsibility to Protect, Rhetoric, Reality and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention

International Peacekeeping, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of Civil society organizations in failing states: the Red Cross in Bosnia and Albania

International Peacekeeping, 2004

... Anomie can be seen, as conceptualized by Emile Durkheim, as a general feature of modern socie... more ... Anomie can be seen, as conceptualized by Emile Durkheim, as a general feature of modern societies in which social change is constantly ... Vesna Pesic, 'The War for Ethnic States', in Popov (ed.), (n.21 above); Jasminka Udovicki and James Ridgeway (eds.), Burn this House ...

Research paper thumbnail of Global Governance und die asymmetrische Verwirklichung von global citizenship. Die Humanitarisierung des Flüchtlingsregimes

Governance in einer sich wandelnden Welt, 2008

Page 1. Global Governance und die asymmetrische Verwirklichung von global citizenship. Die Humani... more Page 1. Global Governance und die asymmetrische Verwirklichung von global citizenship. Die Humanitarisierung des Flüchtlingsregimes* Catherine Götze Global governance ist in den letzten Jahren zu einem zentralen Konzept der Internatio-nalen Beziehungen avanciert. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Cosmopolitanism and the culture of peacebuilding

Review of International Studies (RIS), 2014

Cosmopolitanism has been argued to be a crucial component of peacebuilding, both with regard to i... more Cosmopolitanism has been argued to be a crucial component of peacebuilding, both with regard to its aims as well as its staff. In a universalist-liberal understanding of the concept, cosmopolitanism is the optimal mind frame for peacebuilders to rebuild post-war societies, due to the tolerance, justice-orientation, and neutrality regarding local cleavages that the concept entails in theory. This article argues, however, that cosmopolitanism cannot be understood outside of its social context, therefore requiring sociological empirical analyses. Drawing on three such sociological concepts, namely elite, glocal, and localisable cosmopolitanism, the article analyses empirically through interviews with peacebuilders in Kosovo whether and in which form these international civil servants display cosmopolitan worldviews. The study concludes that while in theory the localisable variant would be best suited to contribute to locally sensitive, emancipatory peacebuilding, this form of cosmopolitanism is absent in practice. Given the novel, exploratory character of this analysis of hitherto uncharted terrain, the article also discusses in detail how the findings were obtained and in how far they are generalisable.

Research paper thumbnail of Cosmopolitanism and the Culture of Peacebuilding, published in Review of International Studies, 40 (4), 2014

Cosmopolitanism has been argued to be a crucial component of peacebuilding, both with regard to i... more Cosmopolitanism has been argued to be a crucial component of peacebuilding, both with regard to its aims as well as its staff. In a universalist-liberal understanding of the concept, cosmopolitanism is the optimal mind frame for peacebuilders to rebuild post-war societies, due to the tolerance, justice-orientation and neutrality regarding local cleavages that the concept entails in theory. This article argues, however, that cosmopolitanism cannot be understood outside of its social context, therefore requiring sociological empirical analyses. Drawing on three such sociological concepts, namely elite, glocal and localisable cosmopolitanism, the article analyses empirically through interviews with peacebuilders in Kosovo whether and in which form these international civil servants display cosmopolitan worldviews. The study concludes that while in theory the localisable variant would be best suited to contribute to locally sensitive, emancipatory peacebuilding, this form of cosmopolitanism is absent in practice. Given the novel, exploratory character of this analysis of hitherto uncharted terrain, the article also discusses in detail how the findings were obtained and in how far they are generalisable.

Research paper thumbnail of The Particularism of Cosmopolitanism, published in Global Society, 27 (1), 2013

Research paper thumbnail of The pettiness of conflict

This paper is draft of a workshop paper presented at the Wars beyond wars workshop, organised by ... more This paper is draft of a workshop paper presented at the Wars beyond wars workshop, organised by the formidable PCon team at Colgate University (Jacob Mundy, Stephanie Fishel, Dan Monk) in April 2012 (http://www.colgate.edu/academics/departments-and-programs/peace-and-conflict-studies/events/wars-beyond-war-workshop). The draft didn’t go very far for quite obvious reasons: the idea was to explore ‘little agency’ in war, i.e. gossip, slander, intrigues, and other petty social actions; but the paper gets lost in the theoretical discussion and I was not fully able to integrate more empirical research, case studies into it. It simply needs a bit more research to be ready. It is therefore not for quoting. But all, really all comments are most welcome. The motivation to post it, is to remind myself and others interested in the topic that this kind of agency has been so far neglected in conflict studies. This oversight concerns predominantly ‘weak’ forms of agency in civil wars which may not be physically violent but, at the end of the day, contribute to the dynamics of the ongoing violent combat; as it happens that women are commonly excluded from combat, this is also a form of agency women often ‘utilize’ (whereby I argue strongly against a strategic-rational understanding of this type of agency). In fact, the idea for this article came from reading up interviews with women in Chris Coulter’s, Mariam Parsson’s and Mats Utas’ ‘Young Female Fighters in African Wars: Conflict and its Consequences’. These small forms of agency important to grasp if we want to understand how women or other groups who are, prima facie, excluded from combat but who are involved in armed conflict, as e.g. Jayne Huckerby demands in this op-ed in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/22/opinion/when-women-become-terrorists.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region&region=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region&_r=0

Research paper thumbnail of Statebuilding and Nationbuilding: Comparative Perspectives. In The International Studies Encyclopedia, Vol. 10 (2010).

Research paper thumbnail of Blog on conflict and peace research

Research paper thumbnail of The particularism of cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitan political theorists model their aspirations for global democratic politics on intern... more Cosmopolitan political theorists model their aspirations for global democratic politics on international organisations. But how cosmopolitan are international organisations? Based on a survey of civilian staff of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, the UN headquarters and other organisations working in Kosovo's post-conflict environment, the current article will show that staff in international organisations are not only cosmopolitan. Their world views confirm the individualist-liberal pedigree of cosmopolitanism but also show a strong tendency towards conservative values and a continued appraisal of the state's role. Their historical narratives are, furthermore, distinctively based on the historical experience of Western Europe and North America. The article concludes that cosmopolitanism is politically firmly rooted in the historical and ideological experience of the West, and hence is not universal.

Research paper thumbnail of The Skate and the South Wind of the international state system: the warlord and state myth

This paper analyses news stories about so called warlords particualrly in Afghanistan. Based on a... more This paper analyses news stories about so called warlords particualrly in Afghanistan. Based on a model of interpreting myths that builds on Saussurian linguistic analysis and Levi-Strauss' analysis of myths (hence the title), the paper argues that myths about warlords contain underlying and implicit stories about states. Analysing how myths about warlords are told allows dissecting what the authors want to say about states and legitimate politics. Myths about warlords are therefore also myths about states.

Research paper thumbnail of When inequality becomes injustice

This is a very rough draft of a paper that develops an argument how inequality comes to matter in... more This is a very rough draft of a paper that develops an argument how inequality comes to matter in social conflict situations. It notably lacks references and foot notes given that it was written under quite high pressure but as draft it might be interesting for others working on similar ideas.

Research paper thumbnail of Humanitarian aid under fire The dilemma of aid organizations in everyday conflict

Abstract:'Demokratien verstehen sich als Systeme mit einem humanitaeren Gewissen. In die... more Abstract:'Demokratien verstehen sich als Systeme mit einem humanitaeren Gewissen. In dieser Vorstellung hat jeder Mensch ein Anrecht auf physische Unversehrtheit und Menschenwuerde-ganz unabhaengig davon, welcher Nationalitaet, Ethnie, Religion oder ...

Research paper thumbnail of When Democracies Go to War: Public Debate and the French Decision on War in 1999 and 2003

Global Society, Jan 1, 2008

On what grounds do democratic states wage war? Public opinion is often considered as being of cru... more On what grounds do democratic states wage war? Public opinion is often considered as being of crucial importance in the decision to go to war. This article analyses two debates over war in France. It finds that democracies debate war within a limited range of ...

Research paper thumbnail of Humanitäre Organisationen und Zivilgesellschaft

Konzeptionelle Überlegungen zum …, Jan 1, 1998

Research paper thumbnail of A Social Analysis of Peacebuilding

“Peacebuilding” serves as a catch-all term to describe efforts by an array of international organ... more “Peacebuilding” serves as a catch-all term to describe efforts by an array of international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and agencies of foreign states to restore or construct a peaceful society in the wake—or even in the midst—of conflict. Despite this variety, practitioners consider themselves members of a global profession. In The Distinction of Peace, Catherine Goetze investigates the genesis of peacebuilding as a professional field of expertise since the 1960s, its increasing influence, and the ways it reflects global power structures.

Goetze describes how the peacebuilding field came into being, how it defines who belongs to it and who does not, and what kind of group culture it has generated. Using an innovative methodology, she investigates the motivations of individuals who become peacebuilders, their professional trajectories and networks, and the “good peacebuilder” as an ideal. For many, working in peacebuilding in various ways—as an aid worker on the ground, as a lawyer at the United Nations, or as an academic in a think tank—has become not merely a livelihood, but also a form of participation in world politics. As a field, peacebuilding has developed techniques for incorporating and training new members, yet its internal politics also create the conditions of exclusion that often result in practical failures of the peacebuilding enterprise.

By providing a critical account of the social mechanisms that make up the peacebuilding field, Goetze offers deep insights into the workings of Western domination and global inequalities.