In 2010 Séverine Autesserre, Assistant Professor at Barnard College and Columbia University, achieved remarkable notoriety for her first book, The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding. Drawing on unparalleled original data derived from hundreds of field interviews and many years working as a post-conflict intervener, Autesserre presented a contextually radical explanation for why United Nations (UN) missions, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have failed to end conflict and seed development. In her words, “bottom-up conflict precipitated considerable violence … and it became increasingly more influential during the transition [from pre to post-conflict status].” At issue, she argued, was the United Nations’ preclusion of acting on that violence and the role of organizational culture in focusing on top-down causes and solutions.