{"product_id":"democratic-designs-kimberley-coles-9780472069859","title":"Democratic Designs: International Intervention and Electoral Practices in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe signing of the Dayton Peace Accords brought more than peace to Bosnia-Herzegovina; it also brought an influx of international aid workers intent on helping Bosnia and Bosnians out of war. \u003ci\u003eDemocratic Designs\u003c\/i\u003e examines the tool kit, experiences, and understandings of these \"internationals\" charged with bringing democracy to postconflict societies around the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDemocratic Designs\u003c\/i\u003e is an ethnography of the practices of international intervention and democracy building. Coles examines both the lives of internationals and the work they performed in postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina, in order to demonstrate how democracy---as a set of meanings and practices---is built through routine, instrumental, and procedural actors like audit reports, signatures, voter registers, and election supervisors. Over a period covering five election cycles, Coles had unique access to electoral forms and reforms as they were put into practice and documents exactly how the privileged lives of the internationals---above the state institutions they were building and far from the realities of normal life in postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina---interacted with their democratic works.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Perceptive anthropology meets international democracy promotion---the result is an arresting, original study of the controversial effort to build Bosnian democracy.\"\u003cbr\u003e---Thomas Carothers, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Democracy projects have become a field of expertise and a tool of empire. \u003ci\u003eDemocratic Designs\u003c\/i\u003e is a brilliant exploration of this paradoxical world.\"\u003cbr\u003e---Timothy Mitchell, Professor of Politics, Director of International Center for Advanced Studies, New York University\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eDemocratic Designs\u003c\/i\u003e is a careful, detailed and thoughtful ethnography of electoral practices in one case of internationally imposed 'democracy.' Coles had access to the day-to-day practices of producing democratic elections, and recounts these in an accessible way. The account makes a number of important contributions to the growing anthropological literature on the sociality of bureaucracy---and internationalist bureaucracy in particular.\"\u003cbr\u003e---Annelise Riles, Professor of Law and Anthropology at Cornell University and author and editor of several books, including \u003ci\u003eThe Network Inside Out\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKimberley Coles is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Redlands.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Kimberley Coles\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0472069853\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780472069859\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Michigan Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/22\/2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.05lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.73h x 6.42w x 0.82d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReference and Research Bk News\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2008 pg. 215","brand":"Kimberley Coles","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48064991330559,"sku":"9780472069859","price":31.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_bfdb53d6-c73c-4847-b5e4-8a1a0984f0a0.jpg?v=1768672411","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/democratic-designs-kimberley-coles-9780472069859","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}