Discourses in dispute: an alternative reading of the dilemmas experienced by international actors in Somalia during the 1990s

The article approaches the dilemmas experienced by international agents in peace operations deployed in Somalia during the 1990s. It highlights the diverging narratives used by international actors (United States and United Nations) vis-a-vis the Somali "Other". It is argued that the main dilemmas experienced during UN and US operations in Somalia were not of technical nature, concerning coordination problems between the main forces involved, as usually claimed. Differently, the article identifies a dispute of political nature between the United States and the UN, created by their divergent conceptions on the Somali "Other".