The Value of Future Officers’ Foreign Language Training for Participating in International Peacekeeping Operations

The article deals with providing future officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with foreign language training for participating in international peacekeeping operations. The purpose was to analyze specifics of foreign language training for international peacekeeping operations. The content and essence of future officers’ foreign language training for participating in international peacekeeping operations were studied. Further, the state of future officers’ foreign language training for participating in international peacekeeping operations in higher military educational institutions of Ukraine was determined and consequent proposals for improving the content of future officers’ foreign language training for participating in international peacekeeping operations were elaborated. The main research methods were as follows: comparative, problem-based and retrospective information analysis; testing of cadets, surveying the officers of the Armed Forces, enhancing the pronunciation and articulation of cadets. The results of cadet testing showed the need to improve the content of future officers’ foreign language training for participating in international peacekeeping operations. The survey of the officers serving with the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the urgent need to provide foreign language training in higher military educational institutions of Ukraine. According to the results of various survey forms applied, the main ways to improve the content of the future officers’ foreign language training aimed at participating in international peacekeeping operations were identified: the use of open training platforms, the use of information and communication technologies, use of mind mapping, situational tasks, interactive technologies.

Challenges in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

Given the variety of actions concentrating on peacekeeping with significant successful operations, the United Nations (UN) continues to encounter concerns and challenges that have hampered its peacekeeping operations’ efficiency, effectiveness, and performance. This article aimed to investigate the primary challenges that adversely influence peacekeeping operations and challenge them based on the security theory proposed by Barry Buzan. According to the study’s findings, UN peacekeeping missions have been successful in addressing conflict situations and promoting peace in many regions of the world. Nevertheless, faults and challenges, notably in terms of the operations’ political, economic, and societal factors, have restricted the peacekeeping operations’ ability to achieve their objectives successfully. Therefore, a better policy that includes all involved actors, especially local government and the population, should be established in order to rebuild a conflict-torn country.

Malaysian Peacekeepers Perspectives on the Influence of Governance and Ethnic-Cross Relationship in Enhancing Ethnic Tolerance during Peacekeeping Operations

Ethnic tolerance among peacekeepers plays an important role in ensuring the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse the influence of governance and ethnic-cross relationship towards enhancing of ethnic tolerance based on the perspectives of Malaysian peacekeepers. This study applied quantitative data collection method through a set of questionnaires with 432 participants that previously being deployed to various United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKO). The result indicates that both governance and ethnic-cross relationships have a positive correlation towards enhancement of the level of ethnic tolerance among Malaysian peacekeepers. The findings could strengthen the code of ethics for cultural competence, which emphasises the importance of understanding ethnic tolerance during peacekeeping operations or deployments. Received: 4 October 2021 / Accepted: 21 November 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

Recent Developments in Japan’s International Peace Cooperation Under the Second Abe Government 2012–2020

This chapter will consider the noteworthy changes in Japan’s peacekeeping policy under the second Abe administration (2012–2020), with special emphasis on the period between 2013 and 2017. Since its outset in the early 1990s, Japan’s peacekeeping policy had been gradually shaped by the trends of “integration” and the “robustness” in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKOs), but various problems remained unsolved, especially in terms of “robustness.” With the return of Prime Minister Abe at the end of 2012, reforms to follow the trend of “robustness” were carried out as part of his all-inclusive renovation of Japan’s security policy, namely the Peace and Security Legislation, to resolve numerous long-standing problems in the field. With this in mind, this chapter starts by considering new developments in Japan’s security policy as a whole before examining how these sweeping reforms transformed the quality of Japan’s peacekeeping, paying special attention to the newly added roles, such as the “coming-to-aid” duty. This chapter will also trace moves toward “integration,” especially regarding the “All Japan” approach.

Conclusion: Japan’s Search for a New Direction in Peacekeeping

First, this chapter will briefly review the contents of each previous chapter. Chapter 10.1007/978-3-030-88509-0_2 examined the historical background from the immediate aftermath of World War II to the establishment of the Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) Act in 1992. Chapter 10.1007/978-3-030-88509-0_3 considered the evolution of Japan’s peacekeeping policy under the PKO Act from 1992 to 2012. Chapter 10.1007/978-3-030-88509-0_4 investigated the transformation of Japan’s peacekeeping policy under the second Abe administration, especially during the period from 2013 to 2017. Chapters 10.1007/978-3-030-88509-0_5, 10.1007/978-3-030-88509-0_6, 10.1007/978-3-030-88509-0_7, and 10.1007/978-3-030-88509-0_8 considered the cases of Cambodia, East Timor, Haiti, and South Sudan respectively. Second, this chapter will analyze the consequences of Japan’s pursuit of the trends of “robustness” and “integration.” Third, we will consider possible explanations behind the withdrawal of the Japan Engineering Groups from South Sudan in 2017. Fourth, we will demonstrate that troop deployment to the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKOs) has become commonly difficult for the Global North countries, causing a shift in focus away from personnel contributions to more material UNPKO commitments. Fourth, this chapter will illustrate how the Global North is still trying to make personnel contributions to UNPKOs wherever possible. Lastly, we will discuss what Japan can do from now on in its peacekeeping policy, or more broadly its International Peace Cooperation commitment.

Haiti: The Development of “Seamless” Assistance from Disaster Relief to UNPKOs

In this chapter, we will examine Japan’s response to a complex crisis in Haiti, in which a natural disaster and civil unrest were compounded. Persistent insecurity and confusion in Haiti, albeit under the presence of an ongoing United Nations Peacekeeping Operation (UNPKO), further deteriorated after the great earthquake in 2010. This challenge unexpectedly propelled Japan’s move toward closer “integration,” since several layers of civil-military cooperation rapidly developed to cope with the complicated emergency in post-earthquake Haiti. First, the Government of Japan (GoJ) deployed a civilian medical team and the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) emergency medical assistance unit (hereafter, the SDF medical unit) under the Japan Disaster Relief (JDR) Act. Following the SDF medical unit’s JDR work, the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) carried on with medical assistance. Second, once emergency medical support ended, an SDF contingent was dispatched under the Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) Act. The Japan Engineering Groups’ (JEG’s) engagement in reconstruction served as a useful opportunity for the GoJ to refine the “All Japan” approach, further encouraging Japan’s inclination toward “integration.” Meanwhile, the experience in Haiti shed light on the gap in the legal assumptions between the JDR Act and the PKO Act, since neither of them anticipated the protection of civil JDR teams in insecurity.

South Sudan: The SDF and “Protection of Civilians”

The Japan Engineering Groups (JEG) deployment to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) from 2012 to 2017 exhibited consecutive aspects of “integration” and “robustness.” During the first two years, Japan’s method of “integration,” or the “All Japan” approach, fit well with UNMISS’s focus on statebuilding. It yielded various outcomes, not only in the restoration of facilities and infrastructure (e.g., road construction) but also in the nonengineering support provided to the locals (e.g., job training). With the outbreak of de facto civil war in December 2013, however, UNMISS’s top priority moved from statebuilding to Protection of Civilians (PoC), thereby intensifying inclinations toward “robustness.” Afterward, the JEG mostly focused on the construction of a PoC site, that is, a shelter for evacuated locals and internally displaced people. While security in South Sudan continued to deteriorate, the amendment to the Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) Act as part of the 2015 Peace and Security Legislation enabled the Government of Japan (GoJ) to assign the JEG to partial security missions, such as the “coming-to-aid” duty. In the end, however, the GoJ abruptly withdrew the JEG in May 2017, thereby discontinuing the series of SDF deployments to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations since 1992.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Peacekeeping Operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The study relied on qualitative methodology while data was gathered through key informant interviews and documentary search. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the humanitarian situation in the DRC. This has seen rising unemployment, political instability, and domestic violence being witnessed. The pandemic has fuelled geopolitical friction. Peacekeeping missions are necessitated by the need to facilitate and monitor the political process, protect civilians, assist in the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants and support the organization of elections, protect, and promote human security. If peacekeeping operations are disrupted, there will be chaos, abuse, and forced displacement of people among the region and internationally. It can be concluded that the pandemic has negatively affected peacekeeping operations in the DRC.

Introduction: The Pursuit of “Integration” and “Robustness” in Japan’s Peacekeeping Policy

Here we will present two research questions: first, why did Japan suddenly discontinue a quarter-century history of troop contribution to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKOs) in 2017; second, is there any possibility of resuming large-scale military deployment. Hypothetically, we will argue that Japan’s retreat from South Sudan in 2017 should be regarded not as the revival of old anti-militarism but as a recent tendency of reluctance among the Global North countries, concerning the personnel deployment to the UNPKOs. Since the start in 1992, Japan had deployed only the limited personnel contribution under the strict constitutional ban. To overcome this situation, Japan had tried to trace the global trends of “robustness” and “integration”: the former encourages more proactive use of arms for peacekeepers to remove obstacles for the UNPKOs, while the latter promotes peacebuilding-like military roles along with the cooperation with civilians. In the late 2010s, however, Japan could no longer accommodate the recent international trends, mainly due to the increasing insecurity in the UNPKOs today. Likewise, the other Global North countries had also become hesitant for the personnel contribution to the UNPKOs. We will argue that Japan’s retreat falls in the common trend among the Global North countries.

Myths of Multipolarity: The Sources of Brazil's Foreign Policy Overstretch

In this article, we provide a framework to analyze the foreign policy overstretch of middle powers, that is, their recent tendency to expand foreign policy goals and ambitions beyond their capabilities. We propose that overstretch results from the interaction of permissive international environments and the collusion of domestic actors to produce foreign policy myths. These myths, in turn, justify unsustainable swelling of foreign policy expenditures until they are shattered. After laying out our theory, we test it against the case of twenty-first-century Brazil. First, we document how interest groups logrolled to foster and capitalize on a “myth of multipolarity,” which, once entrenched in elite discourse and public opinion, resulted in a tangible overgrowth of foreign policy. Second, we show the extent of overstretch across four indicators—number of embassies, participation in peacekeeping operations, membership in international organizations, and aid projects overseas—using the synthetic control method to compare Brazil with a plausible counterfactual.