| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
During the cold war period, Portugal was largely absent from participation in United Nations Peacekeeping operations (UNPKO). However, since the end of the cold war, Portugal has reviewed its peacekeeping policy and has made a strong commitment to UN operations. The aim of this article is to determine Portugal's motives for participating in PKO, a costly and hazardous venture, especially for a small country with limited resources. I argue that Portugal's involvement in peacekeeping stems from the belief of policy-makers that such activities promote the country's national interests by enhancing its influence in key international fora such as the UN. However, the article also argues that the concept of national interest is best understood through the lens of constructivism, because constructivist scholarship has largely been interested in how international norms, rules and principles shape and constitute state understandings of practices and order. Peacekeeping has thus been pursued by Portugal as a vehicle for the pursuit of a socially constructed conception of the national interest, rooted in a commitment to particular hegemonic values and conceptions of international peace and security embodied in, and by, organizations such as the UN.
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