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Stranger Danger: 
The Imperialist Tendencies of  Peacemakers

Riley Ellis, Ball State University

Sara Nović’s Sara Nović’s Girl at WarGirl at War, a realist novel , a realist novel 
concerned with Ana Jurić’s journey concerned with Ana Jurić’s journey 
through the Yugoslavian Civil War, and through the Yugoslavian Civil War, and 
Mohsin Hamid’s Mohsin Hamid’s Exit WestExit West, a magical , a magical 
realist novel detailing the lives of Nadia realist novel detailing the lives of Nadia 
and Saeed during a civil war, are two and Saeed during a civil war, are two 
different takes on one’s life within a different takes on one’s life within a 
warzone. While Nović explores identities warzone. While Nović explores identities 
and borders within the history of the and borders within the history of the 
former Yugoslavia, Hamid brings modern former Yugoslavia, Hamid brings modern 
issues including violence, surveillance, issues including violence, surveillance, 
and borders into a hypothetical world. and borders into a hypothetical world. 
Nović and Hamid highlight hypocrisies Nović and Hamid highlight hypocrisies 
within peace organizations, as well within peace organizations, as well 
as a lack of accountability for abuses as a lack of accountability for abuses 
committed against citizens living within committed against citizens living within 
warzones. Rather than alleviating warzones. Rather than alleviating 
devastation within areas in conflict, devastation within areas in conflict, 
peace organizations appear to add to the peace organizations appear to add to the 
violence. With an established exploration violence. With an established exploration 
of the globalization present in Hamid’s of the globalization present in Hamid’s 
Exit WestExit West and nationalism present in  and nationalism present in 
Nović’s Nović’s Girl at WarGirl at War, we can expand and , we can expand and 

investigate the portrayal of third-investigate the portrayal of third-
party peace organizations, such as the party peace organizations, such as the 
United Nations, independent agents, United Nations, independent agents, 
and others. While observing these and others. While observing these 
organizations’ tactics concerning the organizations’ tactics concerning the 
guarding of borders and their supposedly guarding of borders and their supposedly 
protective measures within countries, protective measures within countries, 
one can examine them as bodies that one can examine them as bodies that 
self-govern, gatekeep safety, and bypass self-govern, gatekeep safety, and bypass 
borders, all of which are distinguishing borders, all of which are distinguishing 
characteristics of imperialist tendencies characteristics of imperialist tendencies 
vis-à-vis the control and authority they vis-à-vis the control and authority they 
have exerted within foreign states.have exerted within foreign states.

Peace-building organizations are 
recognized as good, pure, benevolent 
saviors that travel around the world to 
help those in need. A negative concept 
such as imperialism would not ordinarily 
be associated with a peace-building 
organization like the United Nations, but 
the conversation has begun to change as 
more accusations of  UN human rights 
abuses come to light. Most recently, an 



independent panel reported “83 allegations of  sexual exploitation and abuse” associated 
with the WHO’s presence in the Democratic Republic of  the Congo due to the 2018 to 
2020 Ebola outbreak (Westendorf). The abuses occurring within the Congo are not the first 
associated with UN organizations. Since about 2000, many UN peacekeeping operations 
have been discovered to have “sexually abused and exploited local women and children” 
(Westendorf). Such organizations have been “structurally unable and arguably unwilling to 
effectively prevent or punish sexual exploitation and abuse by its personnel,” as seen in the 
Congo where there were no official reports or investigations filed before the media caught 
wind of  the abuse (Westendorf). The actions of  the U.N. personnel prompt questions 
regarding its ability to make or keep peace across borders around the world. How can such 
violent actions cultivate a peaceful environment, most especially given the apparent lack of  
accountability within the organization? How can a disordered organization halt chaos within 
another territory? 
 Both Sara Nović’s Girl at War, a realist novel, and Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, a magical 
realist novel, depict the impact of  war, border crossings, and peacekeeping organizations 
on individuals living within tumultuous territories. In Girl at War, Nović establishes a 
loss of  faith between war-impacted individuals and international peace organizations, 
most specifically the UN, by portraying abuses committed by peacekeepers and growing 
frustrations directed at said organizations by the public. Furthermore, Hamid illustrates 
the effects of  a peacekeeping organization’s temporary assistance and how such temporary 
measures lead to distrust, exploitation, and violence. While the conversation about UN 
misconduct is only just beginning, Nović and Hamid’s novels represent the foreboding 
undertones of  imperialist behavior by highlighting peace organizations’ abuse of  power and 
authority at border crossings between and within war-torn countries. 
 To analyze the United Nations and other peacekeeping bodies as having imperialist 
tendencies, I will primarily use Marxist sociologist Isaac Christiansen’s definition of  
imperialism in the twenty-first century. Christiansen determines that imperialism acts “as a 
nationalistic geopolitical expression of  capital” where core countries reallocate “land, labor, 
and resources necessary to produce commodities,” therein “[subjugating] the interests of  
peripheral client states” (338). In a modern sense, imperialism solely requires the elimination 
of  a nation’s authority over its natural and human resources through the establishment 
of  a foreign power within the territory. Regarding this definition, the United Nations and 
other peacekeeping organizations will operate as foreign powers that displace the authority 
of  the peripheral states. Furthermore, the United Nations’ goal will be understood as “the 
maintenance of  international peace and security,” which the organization accomplishes 
through conflict prevention and mediation (“Maintain International Peace”). Regarding 

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Girl at War and Exit West, the behavior at the center of  this discussion will be the attempts, 
or lack thereof, of  peacemakers to curate an environment for sustainable peace as both 
Nović and Hamid examine implications of  different abuses that occur at the hands of  
peacekeepers. 
 Nović first introduces the United Nations and challenges the organization’s fulfillment 
of  its intended goals when the main character, Ana Jurić, presents her story in front of  
UN delegates. Upon walking up to the UN buildings, Ana notes that “over the years [she 
had] lost faith in the UN” seeing as how “their interventions, in [her] country and across 
the globe, were tepid at best” (Nović 96). While Nović establishes that Ana previously had 
faith in the UN, the organization’s lack of  substantial action ruined any such beliefs. Ana 
continues her reflection by “imagin[ing] the delegates ...discussing the body count of  [her] 
parents and friends and determining that yes, something would have to be done to keep 
up appearances, but that it would be best to stay out of  such a messy conflict” (Nović 98). 
Ana’s narrative asserts that the UN does not intervene in conflicts to help civilians, but 
rather “to keep up appearances.” Despite the UN’s intended purpose of  helping parties in 
conflict make peace, the organization would prefer to refrain from engaging in real conflict. 
Through Ana’s interactions with UN delegates, Nović establishes the UN as a controversial 
organization and begins a discussion concerning the continuity between peace organizations’ 
intentions and their behaviors. 
 Similarly, the UN and other peace organizations’ lack of  action against China 
regarding the ongoing genocide of  Uyghur Muslims is illustrative of  such critical 
descriptions. In March 2021, the United Nations acknowledged the allegation that, in 
China, abusive working and living conditions were forcefully inflicted upon Uyghur 
Muslims (“Rights Experts Concerned”). However, instead of  taking any direct action, the 
organization responded solely by “respectfully urg[ing] the Government [of  China] to 
immediately cease any such measures that are not fully compliant with international law, 
norms, and standards relating to human rights” (“Rights Experts Concerned”). Even with 
an increased number of  humanitarian experts begging for China’s government to be held 
accountable for their human rights violations, there is a lack of  real interference within 
China (Richardson). The UN’s consistent calls for the Government of  China to act and 
begin investigations are nothing more than empty actions meant “to keep up appearances,” 
as Nović dictates (98). Because the UN considers China a permanent member, China can 
use its authority to undermine the intentions of  the UN and maintain its reputation in the 
international system (“Current Members”). While the UN has yet to intervene in China, 
Nović and the world’s ever-present understanding that it could illustrates that a peace 
organization’s power extends beyond physical borders. 

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 After introducing the United Nations, Nović develops a disconnect between the 
organization’s intentions and its employees’ behavior. When Ana gives her presentation at 
the UN, she determines that “the UN delegates ...would be thirsty for gore” (Nović 100). 
Nović contrasts Ana’s conclusions concerning the UN’s desire to avoid messy conflict with 
the affirmation that the delegates “would be thirsty for gore.” Kapka Kassabova of  The 
Guardian describes Nović’s UN workers as “criminally well-meaning” in that there is a great 
divide between their inaction and their potentially good intentions. At this moment, Nović 
appears to establish a border between the UN as an international peace organization and 
its employees. This border signifies that, even with peace-driven intentions, their actions do 
not follow these aims, which leaves the opportunity for human rights violations and power 
imbalances that resemble imperial outreach. 
 Nović’s observations are congruent with the number of  abuses committed by 
individual UN employees outside of  organizational direction. As of  March 2017, an 
Associated Press investigation found roughly “2,000 allegations of  sexual abuse or 
exploitation” against UN peacekeepers and staff  (Daigle and Dodds). Despite finding 
employment at an organization dedicated to maintaining peace around the world, UN 
employees appear to lack the desire, dedication, and wellbeing necessary for such a 
meaningful and challenging initiative as the UN’s. Moreover, this contrast between violence 
and ambivalence is further emphasized when Ana spots two boys in the room, thus 
prompting her to wonder whether Sharon, the UN peacekeeper who worked with Ana, “had 
recruited them, too, or if  they were someone else’s project” (Nović 101). Nović’s use of  
the word “project” dehumanizes not only the presenters but their experiences as well. UN 
peacekeepers do not see Ana or the boys as people that went through incredibly traumatic 
experiences, but rather as mascots meant to uplift their pitches for humanitarian committees. 
The dehumanization of  civilians living through war, seen through abuse and belittling 
rhetoric, minimizes the importance of  both the civilians and their histories while creating 
an environment in which the peace organization can place its will above others involved. 
Peace organizations, as depicted by Nović, can be understood to “subjugat[e] the interests of  
peripheral client states,” not necessarily through the literal extermination of  the conflicting 
country’s human resources, but rather through deprivation of  human qualities and respect 
for the country’s human resources (Christiansen 338). 
 The bureaucratic detachment Nović describes is not unique to the UN’s peacekeeping 
efforts, as reports of  UN bureaucratic struggles have emerged for years. In March of  2016, 
“a former president of  the General Assembly was charged by the US attorney for the 
Southern District of  New York with tax evasion after corruptly receiving $1.3 million in 
bribes” (Baumann 462). Furthermore, the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo 

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was recognized as failing to “comply with applicable human rights standards in response 
to the adverse health condition caused by lead contamination of  the [internally displaced 
persons] camps” (Baumann 462). What is significant about these investigations, along with 
many others concerning UN malpractice, is that they were initiated by the Secretary-General 
and other internal agencies associated with the UN (Baumann 462). The sole presence 
of  internal handling creates a lack of  external accountability and enforcement, which can 
lead to a lack of  genuine accountability. In response to the negative reports of  the UN’s 
work culture and bureaucracy, the UN posted a blog that launched a bottom-up procedure 
for culture changes within the UN (Javan). The current Chief  Secretary-General Antonio 
Guterres aims to focus on the mission rather than the bureaucracy while also “vow[ing] 
to boost the UN’s culture of  accountability” (Javan). However, many argue that, because 
“organizations are led from the top,” if  the UN truly wants to change and become more 
efficient and accountable, “it must be from the top” (Bannock and Kweifio-Okai; Baumann 
469). The lack of  responsibility for real change by United Nations executives means that 
the organization itself  may not be truly committed to change, thus leaving room for the 
bureaucratic errors that cultivate an environment tolerant of  abuse. 
 In addition to the UN’s bureaucratic struggles, the structures for holding peacekeeping 
operations accountable have failed in several ways. Not only have UN peacekeepers been 
found guilty of  sexual abuse, exploitation, and spreading diseases but they have also been 
found guilty of  “inaction in the face of  genocide” and other crimes against humanity that 
have led many to demand increased accountability regarding peacekeeping mandates (Bosco; 
Di Razza 1-2). Today, the lack of  clear and concrete regulations and procedures has led to 
many failures to protect citizens within conflicting regions (Bosco; Cooper; Di Razza 2-10). 
The internal procedures for accountability currently rely on the UN Charter, performance 
management, ethical standards, and several other documents (Di Razza 3). Furthermore, the 
legal accountability of  UN staff  is limited because of  the immunity privileges of  the UN 
(Di Razza 6-8). While the immunity can be lifted, there are still additional difficulties in the 
prosecution process because of  “limited evidence, limited access to victims, and variations in 
criminal codes and legal interpretations and approaches from country to country” (Di Razza 
7). A lack of  clear direction, legal accountability, and internal and external transparency 
has cultivated a space where varying performances of  peacekeepers are passable within 
the UN (Bosco; Di Razza 1-13). The UN’s bureaucratic struggles concerning direction and 
legal responsibility perpetuate peacekeepers’ negligence and abuse provided by the lack of  
structural accountability. 
 In contrast to Nović’s bolder introduction of  the peacekeepers, Mohsin Hamid 
introduces the independent agents in Exit West through whispers across main characters 

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Nadia and Saeed’s home. Hamid uses a subtle and uncertain introduction, therein 
establishing a trepidatious relationship between the agents, characters, and the audience. 
As the civil war in Nadia and Saeed’s home begins to progress, “rumors began to circulate 
of  doors that could take you elsewhere” and “some people claimed to know people who 
knew people who had been through such doors” (Hamid 72). With the increasing reports of  
violence, these rumors began to fester within Nadia and Saeed’s minds, leading them to seek 
out the agents who operate the doors that allow for relatively safe border crossings. When 
Nadia and Saeed first meet their agent, “[t]hey did not hear the agent approaching,” and were 
even unsure of  whether or not “he had been there all along” (Hamid 89). In their efforts to 
understand whom they were working with, the pair determined that the agent’s demeanor 
reminded them of  either “a poet or a psychopath” (Hamid 89). However, any understanding 
of  kindness or assurance of  decency that one may find with “a poet” is disavowed when the 
agent refused to elaborate on instructions, given that they “[were] not a request” (Hamid 89). 
At this moment, Nadia and Saeed lose any inkling of  control within their interactions with 
the agent. Because of  their desperation to find safety amidst the civil war, the agent becomes 
aware that the pair is willing to do anything. With this understanding between the three 
characters, there is a blatant power imbalance that leaves Nadia and Saeed at the agent’s will. 
This power imbalance stems from a similar dehumanization that Nović depicts within Ana’s 
experience of  being labeled as a project by UN delegates. Both authors use dehumanization 
to illustrate that peace organizations create metaphysical borders based on authority to 
separate themselves from those whom they are helping.
 Hamid’s description of  the power imbalance between the agent and Nadia and 
Saeed, created through the possession and disposition of  goods and means, reflects real-
world transactional relationships between peacekeepers and civilians. In a report published 
by the UN Office of  Internal Oversight Services, in the period between 2008 and 2013, 
about 480 instances of  UN peacekeepers sexually abusing Haitian and Liberian women and 
children in exchange for resources were reported (“UN Peacekeepers”). The report further 
dictates that these transactional abuses are not new to peacekeeping but are rather common 
(Chandler; “UN Peacekeepers”). UN peacekeepers can—and do—withhold resources 
with an understanding that the desperate, hungry, and poor civilians they are meant to 
serve are willing to do anything to better their situations. As Dean Spade and Craig Willse, 
associate professors at Seattle University and George Mason University respectively, discuss 
in their article concerning “Sex, Gender, and War in an Age of  Multicultural Imperialism,” 
imperialism uses “sexual, gender, and family norms as technologies of  intervention and 
violence” (7). By manipulating and surpassing cultural norms concerning sex and gender, 
both peacekeepers and Hamid’s agents create an uncertain environment in which they have 

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power while the civilians are kept guessing and submissive. Nadia and Saeed are not familiar 
with the agents or their intentions, thus making them vulnerable to unpredictable behavior 
(Hamid 90). These vulnerabilities provide the agents the opportunity to exploit and harass 
the pair. The agents do not commit sexual violence in the same way the UN peacekeepers 
did against Haitian and Liberian civilians, but they do challenge gender and family norms 
by demanding Nadia remove her headscarf  while nearly engaging in physical contact 
(Hamid 89). Within Hamid’s depiction of  Nadia and Saeed’s interactions with the agents, 
he reflects imperial behavior through the use and abuse of  sex and gender by peacekeeping 
organizations. By blatantly crossing the metaphysical border of  a region’s cultural norms, the 
peacekeepers illustrate their chauvinism and imperialist power by placing their organization 
above the authority and values of  the peripheral state. 
 Sara Nović further describes how physical resources are used by peacekeeping 
organizations to subjugate the citizens living within territories in conflict. While recollecting 
the UN’s interactions with civilians and Serbian nationalist fighters, Ana describes a lack 
of  peacekeepers’ presence and how the Serbian soldiers “stole the aid meant for civilians,” 
concluding that “[i]f  you drop the food and leave, you’re just feeding your enemy” (Nović 
104). While the UN and other peacekeeping organizations cannot be everywhere at once, 
there were nearby areas that had surplus amounts of  peacekeepers (Nović 274). Since there 
were other locations with far higher concentrations of  people, one can understand that there 
were enough peacekeepers to have some in Ana’s village. Furthermore, while no one in the 
village had seen any peacekeepers, there was a certain UN presence within the community 
illustrated through the armored trucks that delivered aid (Nović 225). Ana also explains 
how the Serbian soldiers would not kill all the villagers to ensure the continuation of  UN 
and NATO food deliveries (Nović 224). In one understanding of  imperialism, Robert 
Biel describes the imperial tactic where the oppressed are used “as agents in their own 
oppression,” which can be seen with the soldiers’ control over the other villagers through the 
food supply (86). By “drop[ping] the food and leav[ing],” the UN allowed the villagers to be 
victims of  further oppression, thus increasing the civilians’ vulnerability and dependence on 
UN aid (Nović 104). By furthering the villagers’ oppression, the UN creates a larger border 
between the civilians and the outside world, for there are fewer opportunities to escape or 
find more advantageous circumstances. 
 Physical resources as aid are critical in conflicting zones where citizens may struggle 
to find their next meal, but they can cause harm long term. While speaking about the UN 
World Food Program, WFP, Deepmala Mahla who works with Mercy Corps and WFP has 
discussed how food drops are “only an immediate rather than long-term answer” that pose 
the danger of  falling “perpetually into a cycle of  more and more relief ” (Cole). Without 

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prolonged assistance that serves as a supplement for food programs and other aid to lead 
countries to be self-supporting, conflicting countries become dependent on the UN for 
survival. The countries are forced into subordinate positions in which they are subjected to 
the authority of  the UN, and if  the countries do not abide by the UN’s authority, then they 
risk losing their established assistance, and therein their survival as a country. 
 Hamid further explores the role of  peacekeepers in relation to goods through the lens 
of  monetary resources and the elitist position of  peacekeepers standing guard at the doors. 
Rather than physical goods, the peacekeepers within Exit West control opportunities and 
circumstances by blocking doors, or physical borders, that lead to desirable places (Hamid 
115). The agent’s gatekeeping leads many to fear the moment when “hunger force[s] them 
back through one of  the doors that led to undesirable places” (Hamid 115). As more people 
traveled to an area, the camps became more expensive, meaning that, without enough money 
to pay off  guards, many lost their access to shelter and other physical resources. With a 
lack of  resources, people also lost the ability to find newer, better opportunities, which 
only served to enforce a cyclical pattern of  less-than-optimal circumstances (Hamid 118). 
Christiansen engages with this devastating cyclical pattern by detailing how imperialism 
“shift[s] ...wealth and resources upward” by using redistributive mechanisms that benefit the 
wealthy (341-342). With Christiansen’s understanding of  the relation between imperialist 
powers and the flow of  resources, Hamid’s depiction of  peacekeepers’ efforts to gatekeep 
opportunity is indicative of  imperial behaviors. Peacekeepers shift money and opportunities 
to populations that are already wealthy, therein making the general population dependent on 
any and every resource provided to them as aid.
 While there are no portals for the UN to block like Hamid’s peacekeepers, newfound 
opportunities and discussions are often stunted by the UN’s permanent occupation, even 
when many developing nations support the efforts. For example, as recently as March 2021, 
“richer members of  the World Trade Organization,” an agency of  the UN, “block[ed] a push 
by over 80 developing countries ...to waive patent rights in an effort to boost production 
of  COVID-19 vaccines for poor nations” (“Rich, Developing Nations”). These wealthy 
countries used their position, power, and wealth to ensure the prioritization of  capital 
within their own industries. Rather than supporting an initiative that held the backing of  
many UN member countries and had the potential to benefit the globe, the permanent 
countries acted solely out of  their own self-interest. In this instance, the UN participates 
in Christiansen’s idea of  imperialism being “conceived of  as a nationalistic geopolitical 
expression of  capital ...by which capital from core countries appropriates the ...resources 
necessary to produce commodities and subjugates the interests of  peripheral client states to 
those of  capitalist in the metropolis,” or those of  the imperial power (338). The UN acted 

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as an outlet for powerful core countries to withhold the information needed to produce the 
vaccines, which therein suppressed the interests of  the peripheral states. Hamid’s portrayal 
of  peacekeepers and their manner of  controlling circumstances reflects how the UN has 
blocked opportunities and therein suppressed foreign interests as a way to exert imperial-like 
power. 
 Nović and Hamid’s depictions of  peacekeeping organizations in their respective 
novels, Girl at War and Exit West, illustrate the imperialist tendencies of  peacekeeping 
organizations through corruption and abuse. While traditionally one may think of  a singular 
nation, large in size and population, in relation to imperialism, it is significant to understand 
that an imperial power “is defined solely by its cultural diversity and flexible borders,” as 
noted by Yuval Noah Harari in his book Sapiens: A Brief  History of  Humankind (190). 
Nović and Hamid’s depiction of  guarded borders, lack of  aid, lack of  accountability, 
dehumanization, power imbalances, manufactured dependence, and more reflect real-life 
events and atrocities and are illustrative of  imperialist tendencies within peacekeeping 
organizations. At their core, these actions stem from a body, or core country, displacing 
the interests of  another for their own through the means of  “land, labor, and resources” 
(Christiansen 338). These peacekeeping organizations, as depicted by Nović and Hamid, 
use physical and metaphysical borders to exert control over various populations through 
the containment and oppression of  entrances and exits, opportunities, resources, and 
cultural norms. These controlling efforts displace the authority and will of  “peripheral client 
states,” while simultaneously violating the very nature of  what a peacekeeping organization 
is meant to be. Through the understanding that even a well-known, highly respected peace 
organization can become an abuser, perhaps other large, powerful organizations within 
different pieces of  literature can be examined for abusive behavior. Literature is an accessible 
resource that has extensive outreach to the public, meaning that authors can expose 
wrongdoings throughout the world and everyday life and educate the public in an intimate 
and expansive manner. 

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