The 2006 Crisis in East Timor

Timor-Leste is small territorially. Its population is not large. Yet the learning that comes from it becoming independent is a precious gift to all. This book shows that peacebuilding is not a technical skill first. It is the product of engaged societies and effective political institutions. This book captures well how the interplay of actors can seriously constrain peacebuilding and how essential is the social contract at the core of any state project. - Dr Andrea Bartoli, CORE Fellow, Seton Hall University and President of the Sant' Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue This is a hugely useful book, exploring how the fantasies of apolitical, technical international interventions in support of peacebuilding and statebuilding in East Timor helped to thwart a nascent political settlement within the country, contributing to the political crisis of 2006. It is also a rich addition to the mounting set of case studies on the profound limitations of international peacebuilding interventions, and a source of helpful thinking for how to rethink these interventions. - Christopher Cramer, Professor of the Political Economy of Development. SOAS, University of London. Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) Timor-Leste is small territorially. Its population is not large. Yet the learning that comes from it becoming independent is a precious gift to all. This book shows that peacebuilding is not a technical skill first. It is the product of engaged societies and effective political institutions. This book captures well how the interplay of actors can seriously constrain peacebuilding and how essential is the social contract at the core of any state project. - Dr Andrea Bartoli, CORE Fellow, Seton Hall University and President of the Sant' Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue This is a hugely useful book, exploring how the fantasies of apolitical, technical international interventions in support of peacebuilding and statebuilding in East Timor helped to thwart a nascent political settlement within the country, contributing to the political crisis of 2006. It is also a rich addition to the mounting set of case studies on the profound limitations of international peacebuilding interventions, and a source of helpful thinking for how to rethink these interventions. - Christopher Cramer, Professor of the Political Economy of Development. SOAS, University of London. Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS)