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| 1 |
ID:
170278
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| Summary/Abstract |
Since the end of the Cold War, international interventions have increasingly been deployed to deal with internal conflict. Liberal peacebuilding has been a guiding concept for many of these interventions, in particular those deployed by the UN. This article argues that liberal peacebuilding is waning in importance, both as a guiding concept and in practice. After long engagements in Afghanistan and the enduring effects of the financial crisis, Western states are shifting their strategy from liberal peacebuilding to stabilization and counterterrorism. In Africa, regional ad hoc coalitions set up to fight terrorists and other armed groups are on the rise, and progressively included in UN peacekeeping operations. To examine these shifts more closely, the article focuses on the crisis in Mali since 2012 and the growing Western security presence in neighbouring Niger. The article concludes that the turn from liberal peacebuilding to stabilization and counterterrorism is likely to be counterproductive, as it will lead to more oppressive governments and more disillusioned people joining the ranks of opposition and terrorist groups, as well as undermine the UN in general and UN peace operations in particular.
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| 2 |
ID:
170281
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| Summary/Abstract |
Contrary to most debates about state formation, this article outlines an alternative perspective on the shaping of political community – and the international peace architecture – based on the agency of actors engaged in peaceful forms of politics after war. Drawing on long-standing critical debates, it investigates the positive potential of ‘peace formation’, outlining the theoretical development of this new concept as a parallel process and often in opposition to modern state formation with which it is often bound up. It also examines the limits of peace formation and its engagement with old and new types of power and conflict. This perspective on the formation of political order has implications for the international peace architecture and its evolution, including in terms of a shift from analogue to digital form of peace.
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| 3 |
ID:
170280
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| Summary/Abstract |
Applying a Bourdieusian feminist practice theory approach to the study of norm implementation, this article introduces a fourth level of analysis, the embodied subject who is expected to be governed by peacekeeping norms. It does so by examining the training experiences of Rwandan tactical-level female military peacekeepers deployed in mix-gender contingents to UNAMID. It is argued that the pre-deployment training space is a field of norm contestation and negotiation, wherein gendered peacekeeper subject positions and gendered peacekeeping labouring practices are constructed and performed. The research findings suggest that by partially complying with the UN’s gender mainstreaming norms, the Rwanda Defence Force strengthens the military’s gender protection norms and establishes the sexual division of labour of the mission area. Trained to perform a scripted Rwandan female subject position, some women find they are not adequately prepared for the more challenging situations they find themselves in when working in multi-dimensional peacekeeping operations and devise alternative, informal training practices to better equip themselves prior to deployment. The case study draws on 65 depth-interviews with Rwandan military personnel, trainers and external consultants and non-participatory observations of field exercises.
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| 4 |
ID:
170279
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| Summary/Abstract |
The assumption that peacekeeping requires soldiers carrying weapons is widespread; 35 years of successful peacekeeping by unarmed civilians is often overlooked. The original definition of peacekeeping is being confused with peace enforcement and peace operations. Limited interest has led to underfunding of unarmed civilian peacekeeping (UCP) with fewer resources for both study and praxis. Marginalization of civilian peacekeeping has restricted the options for complex interventions; this reduced vision of peacekeeping is open to challenge in the light of evidence from the field. This paper first examines what is meant by peacekeeping and UCP. The relationship of UCP to nonviolence, feminism, and peace studies is considered. The constraints and limits of peacekeeping by armed military personnel during, or after, violent conflict are outlined. The core tasks of peacekeeping are analysed, and evidence from the field is presented to show that these core tasks can be (and have been) successfully undertaken by unarmed civilians for three decades, world-wide. The argument that armed military personnel are necessary, even essential, for peacekeeping is not supported by the evidence of civilian success in undertaking the core tasks. The paper ends with conclusions and a call for a new paradigm for peacekeeping.
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| 5 |
ID:
170282
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| Summary/Abstract |
The body bag syndrome is often described as a casualty aversion that decreases public support of participation in military missions. As policymakers believe in the body bag syndrome, they may adapt their foreign policy accordingly, leading to reduced willingness to supply personnel. This article seeks empirical evidence for the existence of the body bag syndrome, or the influence of casualties on the decision to remain engaged in a UN peacekeeping mission (PKO). A dataset containing all UN peacekeeping missions of OECD countries is set up for a period of 1996 to 2014, specifically focussing on decisions during ongoing missions. To capture the body bag syndrome, the casualties a country incurs during the previous year are included into an existing model for the supply of peacekeepers. The results show no evidence on the body bag syndrome for both the level of total casualties and casualties due to malicious acts, but casualties due to illnesses cause a reduction in personnel supplied to the mission. Other determinants which explain why countries remain engaged in a mission are mostly related to the conflict or the mission.
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