scholarly journals Unintended Consequences: Reconsidering the Effects of UN Peacekeeping on State-sponsored Violence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
William George Nomikos
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Vicious Cycle ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Strategic Resources ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Armed Violence

This essay challenges theoretical and empirical arguments about peacebuilding effectiveness that put the state at the center of United Nations peace operations. We argue that state-centric UN peacebuilding operations inadvertently incentivize local-level violence in post-conflict zones. We demonstrate that when the UN supports central governments it unintentionally empowers non-professionalized militaries, paramilitaries, and warlords to settle local scores. Armed violence against civilians in turn triggers a vicious cycle of reprisals and counter-reprisals. As an alternative to state-centric peacebuilding operations that incentivize local violence, we suggest that the UN should shift strategic resources away from central governments and toward UN policing, support of traditional and religious authorities, and the training of local security institutions.

When Do-Gooders Do Harm: Accountability of the United Nations toward Third Parties in Peace Operations

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 86-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin C. Chang
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Human Rights Standards

The United Nations’ mandate in a peace operation can be multi-dimensional, ranging from ceasefire monitoring to investigating human rights abuses to post-conflict stabilisation and recovery. The exercise of wide-ranging powers comes with risks of failure and unintended consequences. Like any organisation, the un is subject to flaws in decision-making that may result in harmful impact to the local population. Until recent times, international lawyers have paid scant attention to the un’s potential to inflict harm in the pursuit of its noble aims. The expansion of the un’s role over the decades has given rise to greater awareness of its accountability gap under international and municipal laws. The organisation’s response to recent claims from third parties illustrates the challenges that lie before victims in attaining accountability in a manner consistent with international human rights standards. This article examines the multifarious questions of accountability of the un toward third parties in peace operations. It argues that greater accountability is most practically achieved not through attempts to close gaps in international law, but through giving effect to existing mechanisms by applying a balancing approach to immunity and strengthening internal oversight and redress mechanisms.

Beyond Keeping Peace: United Nations Effectiveness in the Midst of Fighting

2014 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 737-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
LISA HULTMAN ◽  
JACOB KATHMAN ◽  
MEGAN SHANNON
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
United Nations Peacekeeping ◽  
Peacekeeping Missions ◽  
The Cold War

While United Nations peacekeeping missions were created to keep peace and perform post-conflict activities, since the end of the Cold War peacekeepers are more often deployed to active conflicts. Yet, we know little about their ability to manage ongoing violence. This article provides the first broad empirical examination of UN peacekeeping effectiveness in reducing battlefield violence in civil wars. We analyze how the number of UN peacekeeping personnel deployed influences the amount of battlefield deaths in all civil wars in Africa from 1992 to 2011. The analyses show that increasing numbers of armed military troops are associated with reduced battlefield deaths, while police and observers are not. Considering that the UN is often criticized for ineffectiveness, these results have important implications: if appropriately composed, UN peacekeeping missions reduce violent conflict.

Incredible Commitments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjali Kaushlesh Dayal
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Peace Negotiations ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Peace Agreements ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Negotiation Processes ◽  
United Nations Peacekeeping

Why do warring parties turn to United Nations peacekeeping and peacemaking even when they think it will fail? Dayal asks why UN peacekeeping survived its early catastrophes in Somalia, Rwanda, and the Balkans, and how this survival should make us reconsider how peacekeeping works. She makes two key arguments: first, she argues the UN's central role in peacemaking and peacekeeping worldwide means UN interventions have structural consequences – what the UN does in one conflict can shift the strategies, outcomes, and options available to negotiating parties in other conflicts. Second, drawing on interviews, archival research, and process-traced peace negotiations in Rwanda and Guatemala, Dayal argues warring parties turn to the UN even when they have little faith in peacekeepers' ability to uphold peace agreements – and even little actual interest in peace – because its involvement in negotiation processes provides vital, unique tactical, symbolic, and post-conflict reconstruction benefits only the UN can offer.

Part 3 The United Nations: What it Does, 27 Peacekeeping and other Peace Operations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Higgins Dame Rosalyn, DBE, QC ◽  
Webb Philippa ◽  
Akande Dapo ◽  
Sivakumaran Sandesh ◽  
Sloan James
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Military Personnel ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Legal Requirement ◽  
Host State ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
The Future

This chapter examines the UN’s peacekeeping operations. A peacekeeping operation may be defined as a UN-authorized, UN-led force made up of civilian and/or military personnel donated by states or seconded by the Secretariat, physically present in a country or countries with a view to facilitating the maintenance of peace, generally after a conflict has ceased. Many consider that for an operation to be peacekeeping, it must take place with the consent of the host state. However, this may or may not be a legal requirement, depending on the constitutional basis of the operation. The chapter discusses the fundamental characteristics of peacekeeping; categories of peacekeeping; legal basis for peacekeeping; peacekeeping and consent; peacekeeping and the use of force; peacekeeping and impartiality; functions of peacekeeping operations; UN Transitional Administrations; and the future of UN peacekeeping.

UN Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Progress and Paradox in Local Ownership

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-328
Author(s):  
Susanna P. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Peace Operations ◽  
Government Ownership ◽  
Local Ownership ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Host Government ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Democratic Principles

AbstractUN peace operations have increasingly focused on the importance of “local ownership.” The logic is simple. For peace operations to succeed in helping war-torn states to create accountable, democratic institutions grounded in the rule of law, peace operations need to internalize democratic principles by making UN missions accountable to different domestic constituencies—crossing ethnic, religious, racial, social, and gender lines—within the war-torn country. As part of a special issue on “The United Nations at Seventy-Five: Looking Back to Look Forward,” this essay argues that while there is widespread consensus among UN member states and UN bureaucrats that local ownership is necessary, UN peace operations have faced significant obstacles to creating true local ownership. These obstacles include the UN's focus on host-government ownership; the challenge of creating trust with different domestic constituencies that represent diverse perspectives; the supply-driven nature of UN intervention; and the mismatch between the UN's ideal post-conflict state and the preferences of post-conflict societies. To make UN peace operations more responsive to post-conflict societies, UN staff often have to bend or break rules established only to hold them accountable to their member states.

Making Peace or Preventing It? UN Peacekeeping, Terrorism, and Civil War Negotiations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaisa Hinkkainen Elliott ◽  
Sara M T Polo ◽  
Liana Eustacia Reyes
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Direct Test ◽  
Monthly Data ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Un Peacekeeping

Abstract Previous studies have highlighted that United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations are effective at reducing violence during civil wars. But can these operations also change the incentives of the warring parties and lead them to pursue non-violent alternatives? This article provides the first direct test of UN peacekeeping troops’ effectiveness at inducing non-violent engagements, specifically negotiations during civil wars. Our analysis of disaggregated monthly data on peace operations, negotiations, and violence in African conflicts (1989–2009) reveals that sizable deployments of UN military troops, by themselves, are insufficient to foster negotiations, even when they reduce battlefield violence. Instead, the probability of negotiation instances is conditional on rebel tactics. We posit, when rebels engage in terrorism, peacekeeping troops can inadvertently alter the “power to hurt” of the belligerents in favor of rebel groups and create conditions conducive to negotiations. Our results have important implications for research on the effectiveness of both peacekeeping and terrorism and for policy-making.

Establishment of UN Cyber Peacekeeping Force: Prospects and Challenges

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahad Nabeel
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Cyber Warfare ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Significant Research ◽  
Near Future

With the emergence of cyberspace as the fifth domain of warfare, the prospects of cyber conflicts have increased significantly. Around 300 state-sponsored cyber operations have been conducted since 2005. The future uncertainty of cyber-warfare has prompted calls for necessary measures to regulate the actions of states in cyberspace. In this regard, cyber-peacekeeping has also emerged as a significant research area to distinctively deal with the cyber component of future conflicts. Although, a number of challenges exist regarding materialization of full fledge cyber-peacekeeping force, it can be easily integrated into the current United Nations (UN) peacekeeping organizational structure. In legal terms, operationalization of cyber-peacekeeping force will depend on the mandate of peace operations approved by the UN Security Council (UNSC). This paper discusses the challenges confronting the creation of a cyber- peacekeeping force and also offers recommendations by presenting a general framework regarding how such a force can be operationalized. Despite the fact that a dedicated cyber-peacekeeping force seems a far sighted idea in present times, a distinct cyber unit can certainly be formed and integrated into UN peace operations in near future.

The United Nations Prosecution Support Cell Programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo – A Strategy to Combat Impunity for Serious Crimes

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-362
Author(s):  
Charles Briefel ◽  
Ignacio Tredici
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Support Cell ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Military

The Prosecutions Support Cells is a programme of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), aimed at improving the capacity of the military judicial authorities to investigate and prosecute the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of sexual violence perpetrated in the eastern provinces of the country. Notwithstanding the challenges faced by the pscs and, subject to a number of adjustments and improvements, this model of assistance in the fight against impunity for international and other serious crimes (including transnational crimes) could be replicated in similar post-conflict contexts where United Nations peace operations are mandated to support efforts to achieve peace, stability and security.

Informal Justice and United Nations Peace Operations

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-192
Author(s):  
Bruce Oswald
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Informal Justice ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Serious Crime ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Military Members ◽  
Justice Systems

This paper seeks to address how UN military members undertaking UN peacekeeping operations should engage with customary or informal justice systems that they encounter. The relevant guidance that exists suggests that, as a policy matter, informal justice systems should not be allowed to deal with matters of serious crime because of the danger they may violate basic rights, and because dealing with serious crime is a key prerogative of the state. However, there is a growing movement away from adopting a unitary, state-centric rule of law orthodoxy approach, towards viewing the rule of law from the perspective of legal pluralism. Using that perspective, and in acknowledging that military members of UN peace operations are highly likely to be confronted by informal justice systems during peace operations, this paper maps three principles that UN military members should apply when dealing with informal justice systems in the context of UN peace operations: giving due regard to applicable informal justice systems, maintaining oversight of the application of informal justice norms and practices, and avoiding corrupting informal justice systems.

When They Overstay Their Welcome: UN Peacekeepers in Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 179-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis M. Tull
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Weak States ◽  
Host State ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Power Game ◽  
Domestic Power

United Nations (UN) peace operations are once again at a crossroads, partly due to overstretched capacities. In the meantime, there are indications that peacekeepers face a new and perhaps less expected challenge. Over the last few years, rulers in Burundi, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have pushed through the reduction of peacekeeping personnel or forced the wholesale withdrawal of peace operations – despite the concerns of the UN. This paper explores whether there is a new hostility to peacekeeping in Africa’s weak states. What should and can the UN do if the assistance they offer in support of peace consolidation is rejected by their putative national ‘partners’, especially when the countries in question continue to face serious post-conflict challenges? Using the cases of UN missions in the DRC and South Sudan, this article examines why the well-established principle of consent of host state governments cannot any longer be taken for granted by peacekeepers. It argues that the increasing hostility towards peace operations is a function of their becoming actors in the domestic power game, as a result of their ever longer and intrusive presence.

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